>In his book "MG Midget and Austin Healey Sprite, Guide to Purchase &
>Restoration," Lindsay Porter had a section on recovering seats using
>kits. I found it very useful; most of the procedures should apply to
>other seats. I suspect his MGB book also has a section on upholstery; I
>have it, and if I remember I will post whether it has a section similar
>to the Sprite book.
>
>As I recall, the biggest task is getting the cover on the back rest. I
>put a thin layer of a synthetic fiber "angelhair" over the top of the back
>and tapered it as TeriAnn described. Then I put a trash bag over the
>back, which made it relatively easy to slip the back cover on the back
>rest. It was all downhill from there. Looks good still, after 3 yrs.
>
> Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
> Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
> gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
I recovered the seats on my '76 B following Lindsay Porter's MGB book every
step of the way and I'm very pleased with the results - more so than a
commercial auto upholstery shop's similar job on my '73.
I would differ from Porter on one point. After doing the first seat,
covering the original foams and seatback support with sheet foam as he
recommends I found that since my original foams were in quite good shape,
I was able to get a better fit on the second one using a little less sheet
foam. This is because '76 seatbacks have a sharply defined inner contour
(differing from the ones in his illustrations) which is easily lost if
covered with too much additional foam. Next time - if the foams are not
good enough to get by without any additional material, I will replace them
altogether. On these seats, I wouldn't use the trash bag on the "front" of
the seatback unless glued down real well on both sides or the covers won't
follow those concave contours. With earlier seats, such as my '71 B, this
does not appear to be an issue - although I haven't done one of these yet.
Do replace the webbing or diaphragm or whatever supports the bottom. You
won't BELIEVE the difference! MGB seats can be very comfortable!!
Use good glue!
Allen Bachelder
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Allen H. Bachelder, Associate Professor of Trumpet
=iii=<
Department of Music, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0240
E-mail: Allen.Bachelder@vt.edu, Phone: 703-231-6713, Fax 703-231-5034
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