Airtex Interior Refurbish - Day 48

Day 48 (The Seats)

Just completed the seats. Not as tough or as time consuming as I thought
it would be. Maybe 10 hours total time. As I said in the previous
installment, I reused the rear foam. The rear seat backs rolled back on
without a hitch. Minimal adjusting to get it to look just right. I hog
ringed the bottom of the seat backs shut. The rings can only be seen
when you look over the back of the rear seats. If I had a baggage area,
I probably would not have offset the rings as much towards the back, but
would have tried harder to get them exactly at the bottom where they
could not be seen from either direction. In reality, once the rears are
installed, the bottoms snug up against the backs in a way that you could
probably even put the seam towards the front a little and still not see
them.

As I also said in the last installment, I noticed a small flaw in the
fit of the old bottom foam against the new covers. The cover has a
slightly more square profile in the back as compared to the foam and
that left a small dimple in the piping that could not be worked out. I
even tried stuffing a small bit of foam in there to try to take it out,
but it looked better to just forget about it. In retrospect, I probably
should have purchased this stuff that I think they call “angel hair”
padding. It can be used to fill out small spots. Well, maybe the next
interior job I do(!). The dimple winds up being up against the seat back
and is also partially obscured by the seat back frame arm. Nobody on the
planet will notice except for me and upholstery folks (and now you).

I did buy an electric stapler at Home Depot for the bottoms. 3/8 inch
staples were the right size. Just the right amount of power to do the
job. I did not buy the Arrow brand because I already owned one of them
and it was junk. The other brand was the same price ($29) and had a MUCH
better feed mechanism (no jams). I really needed another electric so the
purchase was not entirely wasted.

The front seats needed quite a bit more attention. I found that you need
to REALLY slop on the glue to the seat sling material and foam. Airtex
recommends 2 cans. I used exactly 2 cans to do just the front 2 seats. I
now have to go get more for the carpet. Ace hardware has contact cement,
however, the Airtex labeled stuff has a convenient brush attached to the
can lid. I will probably pour the new stuff into the airtex can. If you
were doing the back seats, you will need another can and possibly a bit
more. It takes a LOT of glue to get the foam to stick to the seat canvas
webbing. The stuff just soaks right in. I have also used 3M Adhesive
“77” spray before with good luck getting fabric headliner material to
stick to its backing. Not sure if that would have been an easier route
than brush on was. It took some time to slop on the stuff quickly enough
so that it did not dry too much.

Contact cement has a range of time during its drying phase that is “just
right”. It becomes tacky but not dry. Remember that once you touch the 2
surfaces together, it is VERY difficult to separate them.

On the front seats, I used the old foam/sling material for patterns. I
threw out nothing. Once the sling material was glued on the frames and
the foam is stuck on that, it was time for the covers. Again, the backs
go on with minimal trouble. I roll them inside out and “unroll” them
down the seat back. That way you can back up if you see a spot that is
misaligned. This puts a LOT of stress on the seams so you need to be
careful that you don’t rip a seam, especially near the bottom. The seat
back bottoms are all velcro. Great idea. However, I would have liked
just a wee bit more adjustment. I ran out of velcro before I had them as
tight as I would have liked. Looks perfect to everyone else, even the
picky friends I showed.

The bottoms were a challenge. First, the profile of the foam vs. the
cover at the front corners is a little off. The foam is a bit rounder
than the cover corner piping. I had to put a lot of tension on the cover
towards the rear of the seat to stuff enough into the corner to hold it
out. Even now it needs just a wee bit more. Again, maybe a bit of that
angel hair would have done the trick. Unlike the rear seat bottoms where
this occurred, the fronts look perfect. I can just feel the very tip ¼
inch is unsupported and I fear it may not hold its shape over time. When
I did the foam on the front seat bottoms, I wrapped it down and over the
frame tubes. I absolutely hate the way many Pipers look with the seat
covers riding directly on the sling material that is wrapped around the
frame tubes. You can see every wrinkle in the sling material. Wrapping
the foam down there makes the sides of the seat bottoms look very smooth
and straight.

Another challenge with the bottoms is at the rear. Airtex foam curves
inward where the bottoms meet the seat backs. The covers do that too.
However, the side frame tubes do not. They go straight back. That leaves
a dilemma. The original covers had a “V” cut out so that that rearmost
piece of side material could go behind the frame tube and wrap
underneath the corner of the foam to get hog ringed underneath. But that
would have necessitated sewing up the cut edge that you made to give you
a finished look. The other method was to fold the excess under and wrap
it all over the outside of the tube all the way back. I did the latter.
Looks just fine.

Next challenge is the adjustable seat frame bottoms. They have 4 flat
v-shaped (wider at the top) “posts” (2 on each side) that are welded to
the bottoms of the seat frames. When you wrap the seat cover material
(in this case, vinyl) over the sides, part of it will continue to wrap
around and under the seat frame tube to be hog ringed underneath. You
have to cut the material at the flat post. Trouble is, you cannot leave
an unfinished edge just hanging there. I was tempted to stitch it. I was
pretty tired (well… lazy) and had the brilliant idea of just tucking the
little flap under. Since I left the side foam long to wrap around the
frame tubes, the little flap of foam left held the little cut in a
straight line with the rest of side material. And, the soft foam
provided the “bed” for the little tucked under piece so that it did not
show through. Turns out that you cannot even see the cut at all from the
passenger seat or anywhere else. You would have to be looking from the
floor to see it and that is almost physically impossible.

Last problem with the seat bottoms was that the adjustable seat frame is
REALLY in the way when you are trying to get the hog rings in. I had
about 4 or 5 where I did not get the ring to bite into the sling
material the first time because I could not get a good shot at it.

When I did the hog rings, I just used the crudely made ring pliers they
sent with the kit. Worked O.K for the 4-5 dozen rings you have to pinch
to do all the seats. You get a REAL fine appreciation for how tough the
dacron backing material is in underneath the seat center material. It is
VERY hard to get the hog rings to pierce the velour, foam, and dacron
stack. Tough stuff! Again, I believe I made a good choice in opting for
the “premium” material. The “base” stuff did not look as robust.

Next challenge, the carpeting!

End of Day 48.