1965 barracuda seat upholstery kit install difficulty

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Scott Bowers

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Hey all,

Wondering if anyone has had experience putting on new foams/vinyl skins from classic industries? Never done any unholstery before so wanted yalls opinions before I bite the bullet and buy the kits.

Easy for a newbie?

Thanks!
 
try and put them on softened like layed out in the sun (if Seattle gets sun in January) and turn them inside out, that way you can grab the foam and then roll the cover back down over it. I also heard that plastic bags over the buns help them slide into the upholstery, then you can just rip them out once they are in. The corners are almost impossible if you just try and stuff the buns in the seat backs.
 
working on the seats

front seats

wish I had known about the plastic bag trick for the bottoms and the zip ties to let them relax for awhile so you can get them tight ?? next time// I would stay away from silicone sprays taking a chance that it would mess with the foam and $400 + seat covers is a chance I would avoid

and when you think your good the HEADLINER:D
while you have the seats out

69 fb headliner
2018-05-31-wash-me-005-jpg.jpg

hang in there !!
 
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Haven't looked in awhile, but Legendary has how-to videos on their site.
Classic most likely gets their stuff from Legendary anyway. Look and wait for sales at 20-30% off. Legendary is (was) always at major shows with show special discounts. They are sold on a per order basis, not stocked, so you have to be patient for your order to be made. There also is a shipping charge so allow for that.
 
There's lots of youtube help out there too. Tricks from the guys that do it every day.
You can do this well for sure.
 
Standard rear benches are fairly Easy to do. Not sure about a folding bench back.

Bucket bottoms are easy as well.

My 73 bucket backs were difficult as they had listing wires in the front.

Those low backs look a lot easier.

Hog rings can be had a Tractor Supply. Hog ring pliers at Harbor Freight.

I used 2 pair of channel locks and a welding vise grip (with the wide jaws) to pull the material tight while I hog ringed it.
 
I bought my legendary covers through Classic Ind, as the sale price was better that way.

One or both typically have either a 20% or 30% off sale around November.

Too bad you just missed that.

Sometimes they have a lesser sale (15%) in the summer.
 
(sigh) - but, alas, here in Canada we just add another 30% plus taxes plus shipping - to whatever the rest of you pay. (sigh again) :(
 
I've started restoring my '65 Barracuda front buckets with a full Legendary kit including foam. My buckets are original and they have fine wires woven in the burlap about an inch apart (see picture). I asked tech support at Legendary about these and they said they were not necessary. This does concern me a bit, because the factory wouldn't have put them there if there wasn't a good reason to do so. It seems to me that they spread the force on the seat to distribute the load over more springs. Am I too concerned about these? Has anyone else retained these during the rebuild of the seats, or should I just forget about them?

DSC_7034.JPG
 
Bob Jasinski said:
I've started restoring my '65 Barracuda front buckets with a full Legendary kit including foam. My buckets are original and they have fine wires woven in the burlap about an inch apart (see picture). I asked tech support at Legendary about these and they said they were not necessary. This does concern me a bit, because the factory wouldn't have put them there if there wasn't a good reason to do so. It seems to me that they spread the force on the seat to distribute the load over more springs. Am I too concerned about these? Has anyone else retained these during the rebuild of the seats, or should I just forget about them?

View attachment 1716285951
Click to expand...

Oh you just had to ask............. I restitched mine using the original wires, far from perfect and no one will ever see them.

1722962784697.png
 
69FBCuda said:
Oh you just had to ask............. I restitched mine using the original wires, far from perfect and no one will ever see them.

View attachment 1716285962
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69FBCuda thanks for the reply. I'm looking at mine and these things look very challenging to reinstall. Did you use new cording at the ends where the wire wraps around? Did you need to bend the wires around the cording, or did it clip on?
 
Bob Jasinski said:
69FBCuda thanks for the reply. I'm looking at mine and these things look very challenging to reinstall. Did you use new cording at the ends where the wire wraps around? Did you need to bend the wires around the cording, or did it clip on?
Click to expand...
Bob,

I gently straightened one end of the wire enough to push through the burlap, it doesn't have to be perfectly pointed to get it threaded. For the cord I used 1"+ strips of the same burlap and kind of roll twisted and pulled it straight into a rope. The loops on the ends of the wire should be open enough the slip the cord in and on the straight end a pair of needle nose pliers did the trick relatively well.

If took less than an hour to get it to this stage.

1722975069217.png


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And later using the original listing wires. The ones that were rusty and ragged I ran across a bench grinder wire wheel. These have a brown paper wrap, I used the craft paper from a shipping box with a bit of glue. Then reused most of the original edging felt simply by flipping and repositioning it before applying the hog rings.

1722974128289.png


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1722974669041.png


1722974709366.png
 
69FBCuda said:
Bob,

I gently straightened one end of the wire enough to push through the burlap, it doesn't have to be perfectly pointed to get it threaded. For the cord I used 1"+ strips of the same burlap and kind of roll twisted and pulled it straight into a rope. The loops on the ends of the wire should be open enough the slip the cord in and on the straight end a pair of needle nose pliers did the trick relatively well.

If took less than an hour to get it to this stage.

View attachment 1716286047

View attachment 1716286023

And later using the original listing wires. The ones that were rusty and ragged I ran across a bench grinder wire wheel. These have a brown paper wrap, I used the craft paper from a shipping box with a bit of glue. Then reused most of the original edging felt simply by flipping and repositioning it before applying the hog rings.

View attachment 1716286036

View attachment 1716286041

View attachment 1716286042

View attachment 1716286043

View attachment 1716286044

View attachment 1716286045
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for the details on the installation, it looks great. I'm doing one seat at a time so I can refer back to the second one if I need to, along with pictures of course. I still have to strip the first frame of the old material and prep and paint. I've watched all the appropriate videos from Legendary and the rest seems very straight forward. I am reading about challenges to getting the covers pulled over the foam, so we'll see how it goes.
 
My '65 Barracuda front buckets have listing wires attached to the springs under the burlap from the factory. Does anyone know why Legendary instructs you to add them on top of the burlap?
 
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