Chaos13

I'm "upgrading" my standard interior to a new set of pony sport seats (from TMI). I've got the original upholstery off of the seat back and I'm about to put the new upholstery on. The problem is, the listing for the new upholstery looks a lot longer than the listing in the original seat. Is there a different listing (wire) for the pony seats?

67t5ponycoupe

I have no idea what you mean by listing but you do know that the sport seat upholstery requires the sport seat foam, right?

smittycm

Why don't you just cut the listing wire to fit? Many people just use a coat hangar and don't bother buying new listing wire from the vendors.

nba1341

I'm going to second the question of do you have the sport seat foam?

Chaos13

I've got the foam (ordered as part of a kit). I found that the old listing wire is 12 gauge (diameter ~0.08"). I purchased some galvanized wire from the hardware store today. Upon returning home I discovered that the new wire is a bit more pliable that the original (non-galvanized wire). Now I'm torn between searching for a new type of 12 gauge wire, digging up some old coat hangers, or going with the galvanized wire I purchased.

Chaos13

OK...I just spend 2 hours digging around target and Walfart looking at hangers and every other piece of steel wire with about the same diameter (plant prop stakes and all). None of these wires had the same rigidity as the original seat lists. Is it me, or is the steel in the country a lot wimpier than it used to be. Maybe I'm getting stronger!

Chaos13

So I found some piano wire at my local hardware store that might work. I can use a torch to heat-up the ends and wrap them over. Now my only question is...Is the listing on the seat back on the pony interior comprised of two separate listings or a single listing formed in the shape of a "U".

Adrenolin

I used a set of needle nose pliers to bend the ends. Also note that instead of using those cursed hog rings I instead used nylon zip ties. Had bought a bag of 1000, either 10" or 12", at Home Depot for the garage. Worked GREAT! Used a small knife and needle nose pliers to cut & poke the ties though.

What I found great about this was you could loosely get all the ties set then go around and tighten them each for the tension you needed. Made for nice even tension all the way around. They also will not rust nor poke though your seats and you cant rip your fingers/hands open reaching under the seat or behind the rear seat if removing.

I also installed heated seat elements in our seats and the last thing I wanted was metal hog rings around those.

As for your last question regarding listing wires and shapes... It doesn't matter. Originally I think it was a U however you could just as easily use 3 straight sections. Run 2 pieces up each side and a 3rd along the top. IIRC I used a U shaped wire on the seat bottoms and straight coat hanger sections for the backs.

nba1341

that zip tie idea sounds really good. I'm going to have to try that when I get to upholstery

Adrenolin

I don't know if its easier then using hog rings and it could actually be more work in fact. main reasons for using them was to be different, less sharp areas and no metal around the heated seat elements. That and I really have a dislike to hog rings. I really enjoyed doing our seats and have had many complements on them.