Front Seat Upholstery Help

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Lo4dapack
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:18 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Pininfarina

Front Seat Upholstery Help

Postby Lo4dapack » Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:16 pm

After searching the forum and finding individual portions of this project described, I thought I would see if anyone has a good description of how to change out the front seat upholstery and/or seat foam bottom on a 1979 spider.

Specifically, how is the existing upholstery removed from the seat foam and seat pan? It seems like the upholstery is stitched around a groove on the seat pan, but was not immediately obvious to us how to remove it without cutting seams.

Also, are there any tricks to attaching the typical upholstery obtained from vendors on this site to the seat foam bottoms (original or purchased from vendors) having wires through them?

thanks!

davery
Posts: 804
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:51 pm
Your car is a: 1985 Spider
Location: Ohio

Re: Front Seat Upholstery Help

Postby davery » Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:14 pm

Lo4dapack wrote:After searching the forum and finding individual portions of this project described, I thought I would see if anyone has a good description of how to change out the front seat upholstery and/or seat foam bottom on a 1979 spider.

Specifically, how is the existing upholstery removed from the seat foam and seat pan? It seems like the upholstery is stitched around a groove on the seat pan, but was not immediately obvious to us how to remove it without cutting seams.

Also, are there any tricks to attaching the typical upholstery obtained from vendors on this site to the seat foam bottoms (original or purchased from vendors) having wires through them?

thanks!

On my 85 the bottom cover has a small metal/plastic strip sewn into the cover. This strip fits into a groove on the pan and is held in place by the upward pressure from the foam. To take mine off, I just knelt down on the seat bottom to compress the foam and reached under the seat to slip the strip out of the groove.
Don Avery
Dayton, OH/Sarasota,FL
1985 Pininfarina
2011 Eos
2012 Mercedes E550 Cabriolet

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joelittel
Patron 2018
Patron 2018
Posts: 1013
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:53 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000 FI
Location: Evanston, IL

Re: Front Seat Upholstery Help

Postby joelittel » Mon Mar 28, 2016 7:50 pm

Check YouTube for good general videos on auto upholstery, you'll learn a lot about what to do and what not to do.

It seems like seat covers are all attached in very similar ways, so the YouTube videos will give you an idea of what you are getting into before you take your seats apart.

Lo4dapack
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:18 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Pininfarina

Re: Front Seat Upholstery Help

Postby Lo4dapack » Mon Mar 28, 2016 11:31 pm

Excellent, thanks for the help!

baltobernie
Patron 2020
Patron 2020
Posts: 3466
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:00 pm
Your car is a: 1973 Spider [sold]
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: Front Seat Upholstery Help

Postby baltobernie » Tue Mar 29, 2016 8:15 pm


Lo4dapack
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:18 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Pininfarina

Re: Front Seat Upholstery Help

Postby Lo4dapack » Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:23 pm

Thanks for passing that link along. Yes, I saw that before, but was still a little confused without the help of pictures. With the help of davery and youtube, I have gotten everything to work. I will try to remember take and post pics when I do the next seat so that other's with my experience level will have a visual reference.

Thanks again


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