I have also thought about doing my seats myself. Just another way to cut
foam; An electric carving knife like the one used to cut turkeys at
Thanksgiving works very well for trimming foam. They also make an electric
hot knife for this purpose (foam not turkey).
John
----- Original Message -----
From: Ree Gurley <reegurley@mindspring.com>
To: <wrgingerich@uswest.net>; <SMatson802@aol.com>
Cc: Spitfire List <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2000 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: Seat Foams
>
> Bill, Steve et al,
> I am 3/4 of the way through re-doing my seats (& won't be making any
more
> progress soon because they are over 400 miles away right now). The
> houndstooth was virtually non-existent & the foams were cruddy -
crumbling,
> disintegrating and apparently rat-chewed in one area.
> Made new foams from the stuff I had on hand, namely a large 4" block of
> upholstery foam, a 2" block (old crib mattress), & some 1/2" carpet
padding.
> Am very pleased with the results, and it took no great skill but,
> admittedly, a whole lot of patience. My out-of-pocket expenses were less
> than $30 - for 2 yds. of vinyl (to replace the center-section
houndstooth),
> but I did have to teach myself to sew on the wife's trusty old Singer. (My
> resume now reads: gas-pump jockey, meat-cutter, Naval Aviator, inspection
> pilot, chart-compiler, military planner, DIYer, half-axxed mechanic, PLUS
> seamstress (seamster?).)
> If you decide to try, here's some hints from my experience;
> - Disassemble one seat at a time (so you'll have the other one as a
> reference for how things go back). With a piece of chalk, number the
> elastic bands in the seat-back, so you'll know which goes where.
> - Scissors work better than a knife to cut the foam.
> - On the seat-bottoms, sew a flap on the underside of the vinyl
> replacement (where it dips down about 1/3 of the way back), run a tough
> string through the flap, down through the foam on each side, pull it snug
> from the underside and tie it to the seat basket.
> - On the seat-bottoms, I used double corrugated stuff for the
card-board
> & put a liner of scrap vinyl completely under the foam to keep any
> "foam-powder" from migrating down to the carpet. (That may theoretically
> screw up seat ventilation, but frankly I don't think that's really a
> problem.)
> - Using the 4"/2"/1/2" stuff, shape the center sections first. After
the
> center sections are to your liking, the side bolsters can be done (I used
> the 2" foam & a lot of patience snipping, trimming, stuffing & unstuffing,
> etc.).
> - Your snipping & shaping of the foam does not have to be perfect - its
> natural resiliency takes care of small irregularities when you snug the
> vinyl with the hog-rings. (BTW, get some new hog-rings if you can; I
> didn't, & it was a pain bending each old one back into useable shape.)
> - Get a #18 needle for the sewing machine (a #16 is probably OK if you
> don't have a #18). Accept the fact that you'll have to hand-stitch the
upper
> part of the seat-backs (where there's a tough piece of plastic beading
that
> the sewing machine won't penetrate).
> - If you are an expert seamstress/seamster & can sew straight lines (I
> can't yet), think about sandwiching 1/2" foam between your vinyl
> center-panels and a backing material and sewing in some factory-like
pleats
> to your center sections.
> - Learn how to properly cuss the sewing machine - loudly & often.
>
> All in all, I'd definitely say Go For It if your Spit is not your daily
> driver. If it is your daily driver, you might be hard-pressed to finish
the
> project in a single week-end.
>
> Cheers, Ree Gurley in Mexico, NY - (sans) 78 Spit FM73070U O
>
>
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