1970 Sport Seat Upholstery Installed. Review and Pics inside.
05-18-2009, 02:38 PM
#1
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1970 Sport Seat Upholstery Installed. Review and Pics inside.
Ok, I did the sport seat conversion in my 70. I wanted the red mach 1 stripe to match my red car, so I got that color combo.
I'd like to premise this by saying I am NOT a professional upholsterer. This was my first time doing it, and all in all, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out considering this fact.
Review:
Price: Pretty comparable to standard seat reupholstery for my year. A good upgrade for a similar price.
Quality: The material matches the original stuff exactly (comparing to mach 1 upholstery, I had standard prior)
Installation: Fit could've been better, but everything aftermarket tends to not fit so well. The foams were SUPER stiff, which is fine, but the upholstery did NOT fit like it should. I know it should be tough to install, but I know for a FACT the top of the seat back is where it should be, and there was not enough material to come down to the seat latch button. There should've been another flap of fabric to help hide the extra foam at the bottom and there wasn't. I made it work with some pieces of the old upholstery, but I shouldn't have had to.
Comfort: I LOVE this stuff. The side bolsters prevent me from sliding out of my seat on a rough turn.
Fit: I hadn't considered the height difference as opposed to my original, crushed foam, which I sank into, so now my head is SUPER close to the sealing, and I see a tilt column in my near future. (I'm 6'4"... I don't slide right in like I used to.)
Time: Took maybe 3 days total, working on it here and there when I had time. This was my first time doing upholstery at all, so I'm sure others could do it in an afternoon.
Overall cost: Upholstery, seat foams, hog ring shears and hog rings and pliers kit; $490.
Overall: A good investment. Looks good, feels good. I like it and am happy I did it (though I had to sell one of my rifles to pay for it.)
Pics: (Keep in mind the camera is very unforgiving with wrinkles, they don't look so bad in person.
)
Before:
During and After:
I'd like to premise this by saying I am NOT a professional upholsterer. This was my first time doing it, and all in all, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out considering this fact.
Review:
Price: Pretty comparable to standard seat reupholstery for my year. A good upgrade for a similar price.
Quality: The material matches the original stuff exactly (comparing to mach 1 upholstery, I had standard prior)
Installation: Fit could've been better, but everything aftermarket tends to not fit so well. The foams were SUPER stiff, which is fine, but the upholstery did NOT fit like it should. I know it should be tough to install, but I know for a FACT the top of the seat back is where it should be, and there was not enough material to come down to the seat latch button. There should've been another flap of fabric to help hide the extra foam at the bottom and there wasn't. I made it work with some pieces of the old upholstery, but I shouldn't have had to.
Comfort: I LOVE this stuff. The side bolsters prevent me from sliding out of my seat on a rough turn.
Fit: I hadn't considered the height difference as opposed to my original, crushed foam, which I sank into, so now my head is SUPER close to the sealing, and I see a tilt column in my near future. (I'm 6'4"... I don't slide right in like I used to.)
Time: Took maybe 3 days total, working on it here and there when I had time. This was my first time doing upholstery at all, so I'm sure others could do it in an afternoon.
Overall cost: Upholstery, seat foams, hog ring shears and hog rings and pliers kit; $490.
Overall: A good investment. Looks good, feels good. I like it and am happy I did it (though I had to sell one of my rifles to pay for it.)
Pics: (Keep in mind the camera is very unforgiving with wrinkles, they don't look so bad in person.
)Before:
During and After:
Last edited by Waffles; 05-18-2009 at 09:56 PM.
05-18-2009, 04:54 PM
#4
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Location: San Diego, CA
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Hey, I got the red stripes to match my blue car! 
actually thats just how my car came from the factory. Well yours looks good, I thought about doing the sport seat conversion myself for my car because I thought it was cool. Sometimes I wish I would have because I still slide around in mine a little bit, but not too much.
the foam really does add extra height, my foam was so dead prior to the restore. But in my case it was a good thing, right now I'm still only 5'8" (that shall change soon... I hope) so the extra height was a bonus
on a side note, some of those wrinkles do look pretty gnarly... I hope it is indeed the unforgiving camera (thats usually the case). I spent weeks doing mine to insure as many wrinkles came out as possible, worth it for me. It looks good though, gotta love the mach 1 stripe plus the bolsters seems cool
actually thats just how my car came from the factory. Well yours looks good, I thought about doing the sport seat conversion myself for my car because I thought it was cool. Sometimes I wish I would have because I still slide around in mine a little bit, but not too much.
the foam really does add extra height, my foam was so dead prior to the restore. But in my case it was a good thing, right now I'm still only 5'8" (that shall change soon... I hope) so the extra height was a bonus
on a side note, some of those wrinkles do look pretty gnarly... I hope it is indeed the unforgiving camera (thats usually the case). I spent weeks doing mine to insure as many wrinkles came out as possible, worth it for me. It looks good though, gotta love the mach 1 stripe plus the bolsters seems cool
05-18-2009, 07:08 PM
#6
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Location: Detroit; where the weak are killed and eaten.
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She was an incredible aid in it.
The wrinkles are really not bad at ALL, I think they're largely due to the shape of the foam and the upholstery, I honestly don't know any way I could've pulled the fabric for them to go away that I hadn't already tried... it's weird, on the insides of the bolters, there was no listing wires, it velcroes inside there... thats how they do it on new cars, so velcro is what holds it's shape... there was no way around it. Thats what the black **** is on the new foam in the picture.
The wrinkles are really not bad at ALL, I think they're largely due to the shape of the foam and the upholstery, I honestly don't know any way I could've pulled the fabric for them to go away that I hadn't already tried... it's weird, on the insides of the bolters, there was no listing wires, it velcroes inside there... thats how they do it on new cars, so velcro is what holds it's shape... there was no way around it. Thats what the black **** is on the new foam in the picture.
05-18-2009, 07:14 PM
#7
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Location: San Diego, CA
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wth velcro? thats weird, but probably easier. The hardest part on mine was getting the listing wires in the right spot and THEN putting hog things through enough foam (and hopefully the frame if i'm lucky) to get it to hold. Thats what took me the longest on mine, I also broke one pair of hog ring pliers in the process, don't know how I did that...
did you try using a heat gun to stretch the vinyl at all? that helps out a lot But I have to agree that its probably the weird shape of the bolsters that create them, hence why you don't see a lot of racing seats with that kind of padding and vinyl haha
did you try using a heat gun to stretch the vinyl at all? that helps out a lot But I have to agree that its probably the weird shape of the bolsters that create them, hence why you don't see a lot of racing seats with that kind of padding and vinyl haha
05-18-2009, 07:24 PM
#8
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Location: Detroit; where the weak are killed and eaten.
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The velcro is only on the front, to hold the shape of the bolters, it was really surprising, and I thought it cheap quality, so I called a buddy of mine who upholstered seats at the Wixom MI Ford plant for 35 years, and he said that's how they do all new seats now.
Anyway, even with a couple little wrinkles, they're small enough that I'm comfortable believing wearing into the seats will get rid of them. The camera REALLY makes them look bad. They aren't.
Next thing on the list is mach 1 door panels with black or brushed alluminum inserts instead of the woodgrain.
Anyway, even with a couple little wrinkles, they're small enough that I'm comfortable believing wearing into the seats will get rid of them. The camera REALLY makes them look bad. They aren't.
Next thing on the list is mach 1 door panels with black or brushed alluminum inserts instead of the woodgrain.
