Gary Nafziger asked about D.I.Y. upholstery....
I redid my TR6 seats last winter with kits from Moss (vinyl covers) and TRF
(foams and diaphragms). If you take your time, the results can be truly
rewarding.
I stripped the old seats down to the frames, and then cleaned and repainted
the frames with Rust Oleum gloss black. The recliner mechanisms were rusty
and clogged with > 20 years of grunge, so I paid particular attention to
that area. I replaced the diaphragms as the old ones were both split.
Boy, I'd sure like to meet the guy who put those in all day long at the
factory! The last row of clips requires the strength of a bull to get into
the holes on the seat frames. (There was a picture of someone doing this
with a piece of string in the TR6 Restoration Guide by "Practical Classics",
but that sure didn't work for me!)
The Eastwood Co. has a tool called "stretching pliers" in their catalog.
Get them! They are large pliers with the pincer faces that must be 3" or
more wide. The faces are also serrated so the material won't slip out.
With them, you can tug and pull on all sorts of material without tearing
it. When you're wrestling with ~ $300 worth of upholstery, you don't want
to take chances.
TR6 seats are fairly complicated, so go slowly when disassembling the old
ones, Make notes about how the cloth strips are fastened and where they go.
It's probably best to do one seat at a time, so you will have one to look
at while you are working. Buy a couple of cans of the Scotch "Super
Adhesive" - I used a can per seat. Keep all of the old clips and also buy a
set of new ones (TRF has a kit), so if a couple of them go shooting off
across the room. you'll still have plenty.
The best possible way to put the upholstery on the seats is outdoors on a
warm sunny day (actually, that's the best way to do most things). This will
soften the vinyl and let you stretch it. If that's not possible, then you
may want to use a heat lamp (carefully, v-e-r-y c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y) to
achieve the same effect. The seat back covers are items that also require a
fair amount of strength to put on. They are held in place with fiberboard
(masonite) pieces with a steel thingy riveted to it and they go into pockets
at the bottom of the backs where they pivot. My upholstery kit came with
the masonite pieces, but not the steel parts that hook to the seat frame.
Don't throw anything away until you're sure you won't need it. Anyway, you
will have to cut the inner surfaces of the pockets that allow the steel
thing to hook onto the bracket on the frame. You will also have to punch a
hole to get at the seat recliner post. (It's scary, but it must be done).
For reasons that are known only to the few, the foam kits do not include the
padding (or enough of it any way) for the headrests on a '73 and up TR6.
There is a sheet of foam that can be cut and glued together to approximate
this omitted part (you out there Charles?) There is also a thin foam strip
that pads the very bottom of the seat "squab" (look that up in your "Funk &
Wagnel's") and it is not included in the seat foam kit either. I bought an
air conditioner filter kit at the hardware store to make this. Carefully
remove the old pad and use it as a pattern for cutting the foam to shape and
size. Reinforce this foam with some old cloth (my wife's hobby is quilting,
so I was all set), and then glue the whole thing to the bottom of the frame
before putting the upholstery cover on.
When I was done, I was very pleased with the results. I know that there are
a lot of suggestions that we leave the upholstery to a pro, but I found the
job to be almost fun, and I think that the seats look great now. Good luck,
and let us know how you're doing.
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