BillGrissom
Well-Known Member
Posting PN's for posterity since tossing the old foam. My bucket seats were in bad shape and new replacement foam and covers runs ~$700 for both fronts. While bucket seats look great restored, I replaced with seats from a 1990's Sebring, mainly for the integrated shoulder belts and head restraints for safety ($150/pair Mopar swap meet). Before storing the OE seats, I stripped them down, sand-blasted and painted the steel frames, and tossed the OE foam. The first photo captures the OE PN's. I recall the scrap of foam was from a seat bottom. You probably can't make out the numbers cast in the foam, which are (best I could read):
Passenger's: 24106 NO 7M, GRADE ??, AT
Driver's: 241064AT, NO 8M, GRADE #2, AT
I stored the vinyl covers in case needed someday for patterns. The mid inserts are in surprisingly fine condition and might be re-used by sewing on new vinyl pieces. I did that for the rear bench seats, as shown in the last photos.
The main problem in the rear was the thread was coming apart, and the lower piece of vinyl on L side had become hard and cracked in sunlight (perhaps where I stored them). I bought new faux leather vinyl at Joann's fabrics and sewed on a matching piece. The rope band where they get hog-ringed had degraded, so I cut new burlap (paint tarp at Home Depot, 2 layers) and sewed it over 1/8" poly rope, then to the vinyl covers. I used a home sewing machine, with largest needle it can fit and thickest "outdoor" thread at Joann's (dealt with many jams). I hand-sewed the panels back using a leather sewing kit with thick wax thread. In most places, I could just pull the OE nylon clear thread tight and re-tie (still sound), so just had a to add thread to secure the ends of each run.
For stuffing, I used 3" thick foam for the bench seat bottom and 2" thick for the back, gluing on pieces at the top and sides w/ spray adhesive for foam. I covered with thin poly-fill to bulk out the corners. I bought the foam at Joann's and Home Depot. To support the foam, I wrapped 1/8" nylon cord across the top of the spring base, then covered the top w/ vinyl carpet protector w/ spikes (to not slip), then the OE wires in burlap where still sound. That has worked for me on other car seats, along w/ thick "shelf liner" w/ embedded fibers from the dollar store, all hog-ringed so it stays in place. Since the black vinyl surface looked sad, I spray painted with special vinyl paint gloss black from Ace. It has smelly solvents (sprayed outdoors) so might be good nasty solvents which dissolve into the vinyl to bond securely. I suggest 2" foam for the bench seat bottom since compressing the 3" foam to hog-tie the vinyl was quite challenging.
Passenger's: 24106 NO 7M, GRADE ??, AT
Driver's: 241064AT, NO 8M, GRADE #2, AT
I stored the vinyl covers in case needed someday for patterns. The mid inserts are in surprisingly fine condition and might be re-used by sewing on new vinyl pieces. I did that for the rear bench seats, as shown in the last photos.
The main problem in the rear was the thread was coming apart, and the lower piece of vinyl on L side had become hard and cracked in sunlight (perhaps where I stored them). I bought new faux leather vinyl at Joann's fabrics and sewed on a matching piece. The rope band where they get hog-ringed had degraded, so I cut new burlap (paint tarp at Home Depot, 2 layers) and sewed it over 1/8" poly rope, then to the vinyl covers. I used a home sewing machine, with largest needle it can fit and thickest "outdoor" thread at Joann's (dealt with many jams). I hand-sewed the panels back using a leather sewing kit with thick wax thread. In most places, I could just pull the OE nylon clear thread tight and re-tie (still sound), so just had a to add thread to secure the ends of each run.
For stuffing, I used 3" thick foam for the bench seat bottom and 2" thick for the back, gluing on pieces at the top and sides w/ spray adhesive for foam. I covered with thin poly-fill to bulk out the corners. I bought the foam at Joann's and Home Depot. To support the foam, I wrapped 1/8" nylon cord across the top of the spring base, then covered the top w/ vinyl carpet protector w/ spikes (to not slip), then the OE wires in burlap where still sound. That has worked for me on other car seats, along w/ thick "shelf liner" w/ embedded fibers from the dollar store, all hog-ringed so it stays in place. Since the black vinyl surface looked sad, I spray painted with special vinyl paint gloss black from Ace. It has smelly solvents (sprayed outdoors) so might be good nasty solvents which dissolve into the vinyl to bond securely. I suggest 2" foam for the bench seat bottom since compressing the 3" foam to hog-tie the vinyl was quite challenging.
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