Seat foam replacement

[Tom Nas]

At 10:00 1-7-01 -0400, Konstantin Bogach <kbogach at home.com> wrote:
>I am probably going to do this job in my 2 cars.  (sigh)  Maybe one.
>Could you list what parts I need, how many and possible source for it? Thank
>you in advance.

Hi Konstantin,

All you need is the foam (dealer-only I think), hog ring pliers (dunno 
where to get these, really) and hog rings or a bunch of tie wraps (about 16 
for one seat bottom, IIRC), the heavy-duty kind. Oh, and triple-jointed 
fingers and a large dose of patience helps, too. It probably helps that I 
used to develop my own films and have been practicing inserting the film 
into the developer drum in the dark, as in this job you won't be able to 
see what you're doing 80% of the time. If the seat cover itself is worn 
you're in for a lot of work, it's not easy to separate from the seat frame 
(at least on the seat I looked at).
Snap the old hog rings off using bolt cutters, use regular pliers to 
tighten the tie wraps and make sure to remove the 'tails' from the tie 
wraps carefully, or they might cut into the upholstery.

Work forward when reassembling, carefully straightening the upholstery as 
you progress. Getting the wired edge of the upholstery back over the foam 
and the seat frame is tough, having something to lever it over is a bonus. 
Some 'fiddling' with the upholstery over the new foam may be required to 
get it to sit properly.

You may find that the passenger seats in your cars don't need doing. They 
certainly don't in mine, both high-mileage.

Good luck!

Tom