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Re: TR4 seat refurbishing

To: TR4guyinVA@aol.com, british-cars@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: TR4 seat refurbishing
From: "TeriAnn Wakeman" <twakeman@apple.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 95 10:43:17 -0800
In message <950124111244_4984998@aol.com>  writes:
> The other day Charlie Farwell wrote:
> 
> >     Has anyone got any advice for a novice about to embark on
> >     refurbishing early TR4 seats. I've got the covers and hairlock
> >     pads, which came with no instructions, grrrr.
> 
> >     After a few phone calls, though, I think I'm ready to embark.
> >     I just thought I'd query the net to see if there are any major
> >     gotcha's or warnings like "DON'T DO IT", "take it to the trim
> >     shop", or others.
> 
> >Thanks,
> >Charlie Farwell
> >1962 TR4 #CT3852L
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I'm one step behind you!
> 
> I've got the seat pans blasted, welded up and painted.  I've got the Moss
> kit.  I even got those weird split rivots to hold the wooden tack strips in
> place.
> 
> Now I have to somehow make the wooden tack strips.  Did you have to do this?
> 
> Where'd you get the hairloc pads and how much did they cost?  I was just
> going to try using foam and cotton batting for pads. 
> 
> I took the seats and kits to an upholstery shop like the article in British
> Car magazine suggested.  But the guy wanted a couple hundred per seat to
> install them.  Yeah right!!!  When monkeys fly out of my butt!!!
> 
> Don't know what kind of help we're gonna get here on the infosuperhighway,
> but I am desparate to get these suckers done!
> 
> Sorry I'm not any help.  
> Misery loves company.
> 
> Scott Tilton

I'm only part way through my TR3 seats.  I use one seat to show me how to do the
other.

Please be aware this is how I did it on one of my seats (The second is not yet 
done) and may or may not bear passing resembulance to the correct way to do it, 
but it looks good so far.

The horse hair mat comes from The Roadster factory (they do not supply 
directions ether & when I called about part of the kit i couldn't find anyone 
who knew much about them).

If memory serves me:
The seat bottom is easy, a layer of horse hair pading (from the Roadster 
Factorys kit, precut), a layer of cotton batting.  Put the seat cushon over the 
springs.  Pull tight & tack down with a bunch of hog nose rings.

The back is more interesting. There is a 'U' shaped section glued to the horse 
hair seat back parts.  It goes twords the frame. You put the horse hair back on 
the inside of the back, with the 'u' shaped part at the top, turning it over the
top (after liberally smearing the side facing the frame with contact cement).

The horse hair back pad should extend down the back of the frame for a couple 
of inches.  Next get a pair of scissors, and feather the back edge of the hair 
mat.  You want a gradual taper of the mat from where it rounds the top to the 
bottom back edge.    Cotton batting gets glued to the rest of the back of the 
frame.  One thing that I am doing (& may need to undo in the future) is using 
additional cotton batting to layer up some lumbar support.  Anyway you put the 
back seat cover over the back.

Strips of uphulstry are glued to the edges of the seat frame around where the 
seat bottom goes.  The factory just seemed to cut & glue a bunch of misc shapes

The TR4 seats should be fairly close to the TR3 seats.  I did not have any wood 
blocks in mine.  Hope this is of use.  Just remember its the best I could come 
up with looking at how one came appart & memory from doing a seat 4 months ago.


TeriAnn Wakeman        Large format photographers look at the world
twakeman@apple.com     upside down and backwards     
              
                         
                       



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