I am undertaking the very fun task of removal and repair of the seat pads in the old girl. I am excited for the new and clean install of foam to replace the nasty old horse hair. I thought that I would post some pictures of the progress. The first seat to be repaired was the front pass. That way if I scred it up I would be able to still have the english taxi look.
I gave the seat a good wipedown with warm soapy water after removal from the car. I found about $1.50 in some old (Late 50's) change. The tracks and various plastic parts came off easy; the arm rest was a little bit of a pain because I do not have the correct tool. Finally I was able to remove the vynal seat cover. The corners where the sun beats down on the shoulder of the back were brittle and I got a few small tears that were unavoidable.
First I removed the horse hair and liner on the springs for the seat. I then began stuffing pool noodles in the verticle between the seat springs to stiffin' up the seat. Next came a moving blanket layer, followed by a layer of foam. Finally I used a double layer of polyester batting. All of the foam and supplies were available at the local fabric store, the pool noodles were available at Shop-Ko for 1.99ea.
Same sort of deal went on for the back of the seat.Except there was not a need to support the springs because they were still strong. I used the noodles to develop sides and top, layer of foam, and batting. Then back together.
I cleaned up the tracks and all of the falling hair from the back seat area and installed the seat. There is a significant difference in the feel of the seat and the hight that I sit at in the car. I like the increaced ride height in the car.
My overall goal was to remove the horse hair and improve the seat "ride". I would say that is 100% accomplished. It would have been nice to get the same result and not torn the tex, but I don't think that is possible with the age of the vynal. I guess that I can cover the seats with a sheepskin and that would feel better in the summer.
Now I just have the drivers to do next and the back seat someday.
