New Seat, What a Treat - Headrests

This is the final installment of the seat reupholstering effort. I have stripped down, sanded, rust-treated and painted the original seat frames (in Part 1). Onto those frames, I have installed the seat webbing (Part 3), new hard-backs (Part 2), foams and covers (Parts 2 and 3). The seats have been installed back into the little car, with head rests, but I have not yet talked about that upholstery effort for those. I will cover that today.

Headrest Extraction

First, you need to separate the headrest from the seat. Obviously, but it's not that easy. With a convertible, moisture gets everywhere. In the Pacific Northwest, moisture gets everywhere. Add those together, and moisture truly gets everywhere. Even into the headrest tube, and enough of it to rust through chrome. My driver seat was easy, but I had to resort to these more drastic measures for the passenger seat: with the top down and the seat still bolted to the floor, stand behind the seat, place one hand on either side and lift as hard as you can. If you are lucky, it will come flying out, bang against the ceiling and not hit you in the head on the way down. If you are unlucky, you may just hurt your back, and the head rest is still stuck. Seriously, these buggers can be that stubborn. Use your best judgement, but it needs to come out to do the seats at all, so if you cannot get it free, forget about recovering your seats.

Old Cover Off
Once in hand, look at the underside of the headrest. There is a plastic strip that runs along the bottom which is held on with 2 Phillips head screws. Mine were really rusty (so I ultimately replaced them) so I needed to take care coaxing them out. If you keep yours, it may be worth soaking them in vinegar to get them rust-free Set the plastic strip aside for cleaning with dish soap and grab a thin slotted screw driver and a pair of needle-nose pliers. The plastic strip covers up staples which hold the cover on. With the screwdriver, work the staples free enough for you to grab with the needle-nose pliers and then pull the staples out. If you are not concerned about the old cover, you can tear the cover off and pull the staples afterwards. I prefer to not destroy things, but everyone is different.

With the staples out, the cover is only holding on through friction. Pull the cover and the foam off of the head rest stem. Do this whether you are reusing the foam or not. If it is original foam, I strongly encourage replacing it, though it can be hard to locate for some cars. I found the MGB headrest foams at Mirror Trim in the UK, and while the cost is a little high, it was worth not having the old foam disintegrate while installing.

Repair and Rust Treat
In my case, there was rust on the square metal head rest "head" as well as down near the bottom of the chrome post. The wood into which the staples were driven was shattered in the driver-side headrest (passenger side wood was in great shape). So, there was some repair and rust treatment needed. First, I taped off the top 3 inches of the chrome post with painters tape. This part of the post on both headrests was in decent shape, and I was opposed to painting them. Once taped, I sanded the "head" thoroughly and scuffed the rust off the chrome below the taped off section. I felt this chrome would not be seen, but needed to be clean for the head rest to work better. Then, I shot the "head" with some gloss-black Rustoleum and removed the tape. The wood strips in the driver head rest needed to be replaced, so I took one piece that was still intact and used it as a pattern. From my woodpile I found a strip of cabinet edging that was the right height and width, and cut two pieces to length. Before I started re-assembling, I cleaned the plastic strips with dish soap and found 4 Phillips head wood screws which would fit through the holes, sit flush once installed and were about the same length as the originals. I used "size 6" thickness, 3/4 inch long wood screws.

Re-Assemble

The headrest foam and cover are not uniform. Both are side specific (front and rear). The nicely tailored edge is on the edge from the front while the un-hemmed edge runs from the rear, and under the front, hemmed edge. The foam is thicker in the front than the rear, but that part is a little more obvious. Similar to stuffing a pillow into a pillowcase, stuff the foam into the cover, making sure that the corners are in the corners and the edges align with the edges. The foam is way bigger than the cover, so I used my thighs, arms, and abdomen to get the foam into the cover. Then, it was a considerable finger exercise to get everything aligned. Once set, though, you will see a slot in the foam for the "head" of the headrest to slide into. With the glossy paint, it slides right in. On the passenger head rest, I found I spent more time fiddling with the head rest post to get it at a depth I liked, but you may not have that issue, as I did not with the driver side. Shrug,

Staple and Screw
Before you grab your staple gun, I suggest that you take your nice and clean plastic strips and test fit them. Similar to the foams, the strips are not mirror-images, the rear side is thicker, but the distance from the post to the screw hole is the same on either side. So, consider where the screws will go, and then plan your staples. Remove the plastic strip, pull the rear flap forward, and under the front (hemmed) flap and hold it in place with your finger. I held it in place where the screw hole was so I would not lose track of it while stapling. Check that you are centering over the wood and place at least 1 staple on either side of the screw hole. There were 2 per side originally, so I did the same, making sure that the amount of stretch across the headrest was uniform as I did. There is a lot to keep track of in order to make it look good and lots of ways you can lose focus so it looks bad. Just do not staple until you are sure.

Once the staples are in, the hard part is over. Slide the plastic strip back into place and screw it to the "head" with rust-free screws. If you ever wanted one of those seat belt keepers (like these in the picture), now would be the time to install them. I do not like losing my seat belt, reaching around for it nor having it bang against the car when I take it off. These little plastic keepers really help, though getting access to a parcel stowed behind the seat is not as easy.

Re-Install
This should be straightforward. In my case, the seat foams were manufactured without holes for the head rests. Perhaps the seat foams were developed to span many years, including years without head rests. Regardless, If you did all-new foams like I did, you will need to find the rectangular hole with your fingers and cut the foam. Take care as you align the cover, the foam and the head rest post. Do not simply grab the chrome lip on the seat cover and push/pull. The chrome lip will easily separate from the cover if you do that. Once you find alignment, trim what little foam you need to and slide the head rest into the seat. I took an extra minute and applied some PB-Blaster brand white lithium grease to the post so it would move more freely in the future. I also applied this grease to the cleaned-to-the-steel seat rails and workings so the seat would slide forward and aft more easily. These little final touches really made a difference in the usability and perception of the seats once you were sitting down in them. I highly recommend taking the extra few minutes to apply the lithium grease.

So that's it. Over the course of about 2 days per seat, they are completely renewed. New foams, new webbing, new covers from top to bottom. The headrests are more functional, the seats tilt and move more freely. Most importantly, they are comfortable. Now that they are installed, I will either finish the wiring of the seat heat, put some effort into the amplifier for the speaker box or carpet the trunk. I will see how I feel when I get to the garage.

Thanks, as always, for following along.

New Seat, What a Treat - Part 3

Today, I'll complete the story of getting the driver seat stripped, recovered and installed. When we left off (See New Seat, What a Treat - Part 1 and Part 2) , the old covers had been removed and set aside with the old padding, hog rings and ratty hard-back. The upper seat had been re-foamed with a heat unit, and recovered with a new hard-back. Now held in place with hog rings, it is a completed unit.

Back to One Frame
Before getting to the lower seat, the upper and lower halves need to be put back together. This is quick work with a couple of 1/2" spanners per side. Over each of the hinge points, a plastic protective cover is installed. These keep fingers, cover material and grime from getting into the hinges. They are held on with a single Phillips screw each and are side specific. I had washed these with dish soap, removing 30 years of gross beforehand. At this point, I tested the action of the seat release lever and the movement of the hinge to make sure nothing was binding and that it had a smooth movement. Check.

Lower Seat - Webbing
The upper cover was similar to a pillowcase, with an opening at one end (the bottom). The lower cover only has 4 sides: top, front, left and right. So, it is more like a fitted table cloth. No forceful stuffing to get everything to fit this time. While that sounds easier, the material does not stay put as easily, so I found myself double and triple checking everything at each step.

First, we start with the webbing. I found little advice for how to do this, and based my entire plan on pictures I found on the internet (like this one on the right from MGExperience). The webbing has 4 straps which run left-right and 2 straps which run front to back. These straps are loosely threaded onto a thin, 3-sided, u-shaped metal bar (I'll refer to as the U-bar). The replacement kit arrives with 12 little hooks which hold the webbing contraption to the lower seat frame. The frame has 16 little holes: 2 along the front, 2 along the rear, 5 along each side... and one in each front corner. Apparently, those corner 2 are unnecessary and there is an extra pair along the sides for personal comfort configuration. The bottom of the "U" faces the front of the seat, so the 2 holes in the rear of the frame are for floppy straps that are not dire-connected to the thin metal U-bar. I started at the front, threading one hook each through the gap at the end of the strap, around the U-bar and then into the hole in the frame. With the front done, I worked my way down to the rear, doing holes a strap at a time, one side, then the other. I left the last pair, closest to the rear unused, choosing for the more forward pair thinking it would be more supportive. Last, the rear-end of the straps are hooked into the frame. To help prevent the straps from cutting through the foam, I put a small thin white hand towel on top of the webbing. Others use burlap or canvas. The hand towel was available, free, fit, and will do the job at least as well. There was nothing between the foam and the webbing when I tore the seats down.

Foaming
Unlike the upper seat covers, the lower seat covers and foams are side specific. On the underside of the foam, you will find either LH or RH embossed into the foam. This is because the little notch-outs nearest the seat hinge are not the same. Also, the seat edge along the transmission tunnel is more straight and narrow than the seat edge which runs along the door sill. This allows the seat to move forward and aft on the seat guides much more easily, without hanging up on the transmission tunnel. Since your backside sits in the wide center anyway, you may not really notice. The covers are cut differently, just as the foams are, so match them carefully or you'll be re-doing part of the job. Ask me how I know :)

Lower Seat - Covering
With the webbing in, I pushed the lower seat foam onto the frame and took a seat. Wow. It was like the difference between an old saggy couch and a nice new desk chair. Firm, but totally comfortable; I felt I could sit in it for hours. Those few minutes were inspiring. I pulled the foam and attached the other seat heat unit to it. Similar to the upper, I didn't cut the heater. Instead, I ran it from just behind the front edge all the way to the front edge of the upper cushion. I'll have warmth from the back of my knees to the top of my shoulders. Ha! Once I got the double-sided tape figured out, it attached and held well through the process. For more wiggle room, I tilted the seat upper slightly forward. I took out the new cover, oriented it where it belonged on the foam/heat unit pair and pressed it onto the frame. I say "pressed" because with the seat upper, it took more than just setting it. There was resistance to my getting it all the way back in place. Again, there were many cycles of fitting, adjusting and re-fitting to get the foam aligned with the seams. Minutes taken here are where you'll see the difference in the finished product.

Ring It Up
With the seat bottom where I wanted it, I tested it again (Ohh.. soo nice). If you are following this as a how-to, I strongly encourage you to try this in-the-car! You may find the seat too high. I, regrettably, didn't do this test. Instead, I started on the hog rings. I made sure the heat unit wiring was on the transmission tunnel side, like the upper. With the seat upper helping hold the rear in place, I started there (along the rear) with the rings. Like the upper, I pulled the material until it was well aligned and put 2 rings about a fist apart in the center. Again, following the pattern from before, I did each side of the rear, checking for alignment. Then, I switched to the front, and followed the same pattern: center first, then outer edge, checking for alignment, no wrinkles, etc. Last, I did the rings along the sides, starting with the edge nearest the transmission tunnel. Since the hog ring pliers I got at Harbor Freight were useless, I used my fingers to get them in place (not easy) and channel-lock pliers to snug them down.

Install
So, there were things I did, and things I would encourage others to do differently. I changed my disposable gloves often so I would keep the seat clean. I covered the seat with a large trash bag for the same purpose. One of the things I had failed to do was test out the seat in the car before hog-ringing the lower cushion. Had I done that, perhaps I may have omitted one or more of the webbing straps. I say that because with all of the straps in, and the seat tilted fairly straight up, my line-of-sight out the windscreen is too high. Since the straps are what hold the foam up, I could have tested, removed one, tested again, etc before putting on the cover.

Instead, I carried the finished light-cream-colored seat into my cramped, filthy garage. I held it overhead and found that getting it into the car with the top up was simply frustrating. So, the seat went onto the dinner table while I lowered the top. Take 2: carry the seat high overhead, lowering into the cockpit. For some reason, all of the challenges I expected when I put in the old seats on top of the new carpet happened this time. I couldn't find the holes, then, when I found them, I couldn't get the bolts to thread. Then, once they were finally threaded, I realized that the seat runner was oriented incorrectly.... Last, one of the worst things happened: the front outer bolt and captive nut pairing got stripped.

Fix It

The bolt wouldn't come out of the captive nut, so the captive nut had to be separated from the new floor.... while holding my light-cream-colored seat loosely on top of it. I went the brute-strength method and used a pry bar. In retrospect, this was a great test of the welding of the floor we had done; the welds held better than the sheet metal. The nut released from the floor, the seat was returned to the table and I went looking for a replacement nut. I found one, and, with the welder I had used 18 months earlier to install the floor, I welded that nut into the hole created by the removal of the old one. I covered everything with canvas painting tarps before I welded so any possible errant spark would not land on my new top or new carpet. Since the top of the new nut didn't sit exactly flush with the floor, I slid a washer on top of the other front seat-mount hole to level the front of the seat. I left it alone overnight and the next day the seat went in easily.

I fiddled with the seat incline and found a spot that, while tilted a little further back than I usually drive other cars, the angle totally suits the MGB. This little car has a deep foot well and a short reach of the steering wheel, so it is almost designed for someone who has long legs and a short torso and arms... until you tilt the seat back a little bit. Now, instead of having the steering wheel nearly against your chest, you have some living space... and the angle lowers your line-of-sight through the windscreen such that your eyes are below the sun visors.

That's it for today. I will wrap up with a post about the head rests. Thanks, as always, for following along-

New Seat, What a Treat - Part 2

When I last posted about Oliver's seat (See New Seat, What a Treat - Part 1), I had completed the tear down. The old covers were sitting in a pile with the nasty foam and rusted up hog rings. The seat frames and head-rest metal were painted with black Rustoleum and hanging from the beam on the front porch. Today, I start the re-assembly process.

The new covers are a leather / vinyl blend where the part that you sit against is leather but the back of the seat upper and the edges which hang down from the seat are an advanced vinyl that feels leather-ish. This vinyl is fairly durable. The blend reduces the overall cost of the cover by a couple hundred dollars US versus all-leather. The leather is backed with some thin foam padding.

Seat Gets Heat

I decided that going through all the trouble of redoing the seats would be even better if I had seat warmers when I was done. While our Pacific Northwest is well known for it's long periods of rain, we actually do get stretches of sunshine, and not just between July 4th and October 15th. We get some nice fall and spring days. Every once in a while, we will get a few days of dry, but cold weather in the dead of winter. On those days I would like the choice of putting the top down and driving in the sun. Actually, having warm seats when it is cold nasty would be super welcomed too. So, as I acquired the foams, seat backing, webbing, hog rings and all the other bits needed to rebuild the seats, I bought a universal seat warming kit for 2 seats. I got a very simple kit with a 3 position switch for each seat that I could install into a fairly small hole. The heating part is a simple white rectangle that rests between the seat foam and the new cover. The base and the back have separate heating elements. While the instructions indicate that the pad can be cut to fit, I chose not to, recognizing that I could render it useless by cutting it incorrectly. Besides, the pad covered the entire seat back and the entire seat base, so we will be getting warmed from the back of our knees to our necks. Yeah.. that is going to be sweet.

These attach to the foams with basic 2-sided tape that runs the length of the rectangle along each edge. The instructions say to tape the pad to the foam before putting on the cover. Cool. Finding the edge of the 2-sided tape was the hardest part.

Upper First

So, with the heating elements figured out, and taped to the face of the upper seat foam, I started with the upper section or the seat back. I had read different techniques, but tried my own. First, I took the new seat hard-back and worked it into the lip around the rear side of the foam. The seat frame will later fit into this groove. With the foam and the hard-back as a unit, I fit the seat cover over the top and stuffed the corners of the foam into the corners of the cover. This is similar to putting a duvet cover on a big old comforter. The corners need to fit right first. Once the corners were in, I set the seam edges of the foam and then the seat back so the lines ran along the edges of each. Now that the foam, back and cover were aligned, I slid the seat frame between the foam and the hard-back. I did this slowly so the foam did not shift inside the cover. The result was exactly what I had hoped. The lines were right on the foam where they should have been. I realize that most auto upholstery is done by setting the foam onto the frame, turning the cover inside-out and slowly rolling the cover onto the foam while applying glue. It did not occur to me that I had missed the glue because the old covers slid right off the old foams, leading me to believe that maybe they weren't glued on before. I should note that after everything was assembled, I have seriously considered removing the upper cover and re-installing it the auto-upholstery standard way.

Ring the Back
With the cover in place, I grabbed at the bag of hog rings and the hog ring pliers I had purchased at Harbor Freight. The pliers were useless, so I chose not to use them. The hog rings that were supplied as the hog ring kit for this seat only had one size of hog ring, but the front edge of the seat back cover needed a larger size if it was going to be mounted the original way. So, I had to solve for clamping down the front edge different than how it had been or find a different set of rings. I decided to mull that over while I did the back. First, I needed to route the cable for the seat heat to the inside edge, so the wiring for activating the seat heat will run along the transmission tunnel rather than along the door sills. The rear side of the cover is held onto the frame with 4 square clips. I pulled the seat back as tight as I could while still retaining the shape and straight lines. Starting in the middle, I pushed on the inner 2 clips. These held the cover in place so I could do each outer clip with just a little tension. The seat back looked really good, so I started looking at options for the front edge.

Ring the Front
The front edge had been held on by 4 larger hog rings clipping to the large tube across the bottom of the back. Next to that large tube is a small tube through which the seat release is controlled. I decided to use the one-size rings on that smaller tube, and, after compressing the rings a little bit with my channel-lock pliers, I was able to use them. Similar to the rear, I pulled the material as tight as I could without distorting the lines (but centering the pleats) and did the 2 center rings first. I did the outer 2 rings one at a time similarly holding the material firm. Ideally, the large pipe would have been used. It occurred to me afterwards that as the seat back incline angle changes, the tension on the cover will vary because of the tube I used. If I am able to source an 8-piece set of larger hog rings, I may change these out without removing the seats.

Outer and Inner Edges

With the cover held on, I considered how to address the lower outer and inner edges which had been held in place with Phillips screws. I did not mention these in the tear down post, mostly because at the time they were a non-story. Down at the bottom, there is one screw on each side that passes through the cover, through a semi-circular, heavy, flat cardboard and then into the frame. You can see the screw head in the picture on the right. The cardboard fits into a little pocket on each side of the cover. I have been unable to find a source for a replacement. So, I put the old flat cardboard bits into the respective sleeves in the new cover, thinking that they, at the very least, would help the cover retain its shape. I chose to not re-install these screws since I could not determine how to best identify where the hole in the frame was without boring exploratory holes. I may come back to this later, though.

That's it for today. I will post about the lower seat, and the big fun of re-installing a light colored seat in a dirty garage later. Thanks, as always, for following along.

Flash gets Leather and Oil

Continuing the saga of Flash improvements....

Cool Cool Leather

Old seat pattern

Before the holidays, I connected with a new VW friend Jim over a set of seats. My old seats were black cloth. He had a full set of grey leather ones. Since my Jetta was silver, it had silver/grey highlights all over the interior. I figured the grey leather would brighten it up. In the end, I think the grey looks better than the black would have looked. These seats have the heater units in them, but I don't yet have the wiring harness nor switches to activate them. That's something for another day. Unfortunately for Jim, it turned out that the swamp-feet stink was in the seats, not the carpet as I had always thought. So, when we swapped seats (plus some cash on my end), I accidentally swapped out the stink.

Now, these seats are considerably colder in the winter time, as you can imagine. Additionally, the TDI engine is so efficient, it takes a long time for the heater to start producing perceivable heat. So, my commutes have suddenly become much colder. But so much more comfortable underneath. With the new rims (See Flash Gets New Shoes) and these new seats, Flash feels like a new car.

The seats remove pretty easily. For the front, there are plastic covers over the rails that need to be removed first. They are held on with a single Phillips-head bolt each. Then, at the front of the seat, near the center by the floor, there are two bolts which hold the seat down. Remove these bolts and push the seat back. For the rear seats, it is even easier. Fold the base forward, and there is a bail that holds the base to the floor of the car. Unhook this and the seat base comes away. Fold down the seat back, and look at the hingepoint closest to the door. There is a small (about as thick as your finger) silver bar protruding from the seat into a C-shaped clip within the plastic panel. With a slotted screwdriver, push the catch-ring from around the metal bar until the C-shaped clip has its open end facing upward. The seat lifts out... though you may need to wrestle it a little bit. Install is the reverse, and yes it is that simple.

Oil Changes

new grey leather

I changed Flash's oil last weekend, but I haven't been as consistent with my oil changes as I should have been. Honestly, it was much easier when I only had one car to keep track of. Now that I'm mentally tracking on at least 4, I can't do it. I know there are folks out there who use smartphone/PC tools, web based things or even spreadsheets. I am now doing it in a much simpler way: just watch the thousands place on your odometer. When it is a 0 or a 5, it's time to change the oil. This is easy to watch for, and I don't need to remember anything or write anything down. Yes, I know manufacturers say change the oil every 3k miles or every season (if driving habits mean you drive less than 3k miles per season) or after driving through dusty conditions. Most folks don't do the seasonal change because we drive so much. Unfortunately , most folks don't do the dusty conditions change either. That leaves the 3k interval.

I have heard from a few sources that the 3k is what they put in there knowing that most people will delay a little while and that the real interval is 5k.... which aligns perfectly with my little system. With drive-thru oil change places, it's easy to stay on top of it. I prefer to do my own, so I just make sure I have an oil-change-worth of oil available for my cars, and change the oil the weekend after the odometer hits.

That's it for today. More next time on Flash improvements...