Seat upholstery; what have folks done?

[robroy]

Good morning,

I pulled the seat out of my truck last weekend and it looked pretty chewed up on the backside. Plus it was never all that comfortable; it seemed excessively springy.

The seat was bolted up in the back in some way that locked the back in place, so I hadn't seen the backside of the seat in over ten years. Here it is when I discovered it:



I'm going to take it to an upholstery shop in Palo Alto, California to have it re-done. Since I like how easy to clean vinyl is I'm probably going to go that route, but I'm not certain about that. In any event I'm thinking of re-doing it with a bright yellow color (which probably means vinyl, since cloth that color would look horrible in a year)!

What have other folks done with their bench seats? I'm curious to see examples to give me more ideas.

Thanks!
-Robroy

[seattle67]

Hi robroy.

I redid mine using an upholstery kit from NPD. I had to repair a few broken springs by basically splicing the broken ends together with small U-bolts. Sounds goofy but it worked pretty well.

The upholstery from NPD fit nicely, though I did have to use some creativity as not all the tie down points matched up. But all in all, it maybe took me 2 hours from start to finish.

[kaptnkaos]

Hey seattle67...

Good job man, that looks great...
I'm still playin' with the idea of going to buckets.
I have a nice set of charcoal gray ones out of a Pontiac Grand AM I might try to use.
Otherwise, I'm gonna do the same thing you did...

KaptnKA S

[robroy]

'Evening Dan and Kaptnkaos,

Dan, that seat looks very nice! A kit is an option for me, but since the color and fabric I'm looking for is pretty unusual I think I'll try a custom upholstery shop. But yours sure turned out looking fantastic!

Thanks folks,
-Robroy

[basketcase0302]

Robroy,

Here ya' go:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-198 ... 0276764268

Basketcase

[robroy]

Good morning Basketcase,

Wow that's a sweet find! Are those springs really as hard to locate as the post makes them out to be?

Thanks!
-Robroy

[FORDification]

No, any upholstery shop will have (or can get) those as well.

[robroy]

Great, thank you Keith! -Robroy

[td]

i had a shop do mine here's a pic.

[robroy]

Hi Td! Thanks for the great photo. That seat looks fantastic--what an excellent fit!

What's it like to sit in? Does it feel just like the stock seat, or is the padding/springiness different in any way?

I'm thinking of asking the shop to put it together so it has a more solid, cushy feel to it (almost like memory foam) instead of the raw, ultra springy feel that my stock seat had.

Thanks Td,
-Robroy

[td]

robroy, i know what you mean about the springy feel. in my experience owning several different ford trucks and either replacing or reupolstering the seat in just about all of them their are to different seats, the (springy) ones and the (solid) feeling ones. i to love the solid feeling ones and i have no idea what makes them different. unfortuatly the one i have now is the springy feeling one but i had upolstry man add some pad to firm it up a little but it still not the best ive sat on. i remember a 78 4x4 i had man what a good setting seat that one had! wished i had that one back. anyway good luck on your seat project!!!

[robroy]

'Morning Td,

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has noticed the springy vs solid difference! Hopefully the upholstery guy will know what I'm talking about.

Yesterday evening I opened up the back of my work truck where the seat has been sitting all week (under a camper shell in the sun), and WHEW--I'm glad I'm taking it in to the shop! It didn't look necessarily all that bad, but now I can smell the odor of rats big time! Nasty.

I'll post tons of pics of the seat when it's done!

Thanks for all the great advice,
-Robroy

[td]

i'll be watching for the pics

[427blackpearl]

i used the cover from npd, it looks good, almost factory too.
the springy thing is part of driving the old cars and trucks with stock interior.like the brakes, original ones are bad and you can upgrade them to your liking,
same with seats. you dont like them just upgrade them.

[robroy]

Good morning 427blackpearl, that's a great looking interior you've got there!

When you say that we should upgrade the seat if we don't like the old fashioned, springy feel, do you mean upgrade the seat guts (springs and foam) or update to a more modern bench seat from another truck? Or either/both?

I hadn't really considered swapping in a seat from a newer truck, since I like to keep it classic and original-ish. But I've read that lots of Ford seats will bolt right in.

Thanks!
-Robroy