Swingin' '73 Dart
I should be able to make that! Yes, some people don't understand the *** search...
OK, I got a late start today because I woke up feeling like poo. I guess I may have over done it yesterday. Anyway, it was 1pm by the time I made it to the garage, so not a lot of progress today.
I wanted to see just how bad the front seat is. I knew there was some broken springs, just not sure what else I'd find under there.
The headrests came off easy, just two screws each.
The drivers side headrest has been sun-baked to the point it's hard as a rock and cracking. I doubt that it is save able, however that doesn't stop me from trying.
I'm trying gap-filling super glue, I'll let you know how it comes out.
OK, after a little pondering I figured out that all you need to do to get the backs off is remove a little push-on axle nut (easier said than done). A chisel and hammer persuaded the little buggers off.
Driver side.
Wife's side. :snakeman:
With the backs off, it was easy to turn the seat over and start on the bottom.
Those wires are supposed to be connected somewhere. This is the driver's side.
Yep, that spring is broken. Driver's side.
After cutting and or twisting about 3000 hog rings off (plus or minus a few thousand) I got the cover off.
Dart pelt. Looks pretty sad.
The foam was in fair shape, other than sunken where the busted springs were.
36 year's worth of smelly farts trapped in there. :bootysha:
Under the foam, the plastic "burlap" was shot. All the wires that are supposed to stabilize the springs were not attached to anything, so they weren't doing any good at all.
Yuck.
I found more broken springs on the driver's side.
Broken spring on far right by the rust. :sad9:
Same side, but towards the front of the seat.
This pretty much confirms my hypothesis that the PO was a big person.
On the passenger's side there was only (only!) one broken spring.
Broken spring and inspection tag.
I washed up the now naked frame, and a bunch of the paint came off with the dirt. I think tomorrow I'll drive the wife to work so I can use the car and schlep this up to the local auto upholstery shop and get an estimate on rebuilding / recovering it. As I expect that will be really expensive, I am looking for another used seat to either replace this or that I can harvest springs from. Or it may be time to start looking at aftermarket buckets, since MoPar ones are REALLY expensive.
I decided to remove the rest of the sound deadening and padding from the car so I could asses the condition of the floor. As a couple people expected, there was more rust under the padding.
Drives side.
Not driver's side. :evil: This is the worst, something has been leaking on this side.
Back, again the passengers side is the worst.
So there is some rust, but no rust-through that I've found yet. I need to get a wire cup brush and really go after this to make sure there are no pin-holes. The wires there are for the new for '73 seatbelt interlocks and will be eliminated (if you need a seat switch for your 100 point restoration, I posted one for free in the classified section)
I should be able to make that! Yes, some people don't understand the *** search...
OK, I got a late start today because I woke up feeling like poo. I guess I may have over done it yesterday. Anyway, it was 1pm by the time I made it to the garage, so not a lot of progress today.
I wanted to see just how bad the front seat is. I knew there was some broken springs, just not sure what else I'd find under there.
The headrests came off easy, just two screws each.
The drivers side headrest has been sun-baked to the point it's hard as a rock and cracking. I doubt that it is save able, however that doesn't stop me from trying.
I'm trying gap-filling super glue, I'll let you know how it comes out.
OK, after a little pondering I figured out that all you need to do to get the backs off is remove a little push-on axle nut (easier said than done). A chisel and hammer persuaded the little buggers off.
Driver side.
Wife's side. :snakeman:
With the backs off, it was easy to turn the seat over and start on the bottom.
Those wires are supposed to be connected somewhere. This is the driver's side.
Yep, that spring is broken. Driver's side.
After cutting and or twisting about 3000 hog rings off (plus or minus a few thousand) I got the cover off.
Dart pelt. Looks pretty sad.
The foam was in fair shape, other than sunken where the busted springs were.
36 year's worth of smelly farts trapped in there. :bootysha:
Under the foam, the plastic "burlap" was shot. All the wires that are supposed to stabilize the springs were not attached to anything, so they weren't doing any good at all.
Yuck.
I found more broken springs on the driver's side.
Broken spring on far right by the rust. :sad9:
Same side, but towards the front of the seat.
This pretty much confirms my hypothesis that the PO was a big person.
On the passenger's side there was only (only!) one broken spring.
Broken spring and inspection tag.
I washed up the now naked frame, and a bunch of the paint came off with the dirt. I think tomorrow I'll drive the wife to work so I can use the car and schlep this up to the local auto upholstery shop and get an estimate on rebuilding / recovering it. As I expect that will be really expensive, I am looking for another used seat to either replace this or that I can harvest springs from. Or it may be time to start looking at aftermarket buckets, since MoPar ones are REALLY expensive.
I decided to remove the rest of the sound deadening and padding from the car so I could asses the condition of the floor. As a couple people expected, there was more rust under the padding.
Drives side.
Not driver's side. :evil: This is the worst, something has been leaking on this side.
Back, again the passengers side is the worst.
So there is some rust, but no rust-through that I've found yet. I need to get a wire cup brush and really go after this to make sure there are no pin-holes. The wires there are for the new for '73 seatbelt interlocks and will be eliminated (if you need a seat switch for your 100 point restoration, I posted one for free in the classified section)