Weekend Workshop

Paying for a retrim can empty your bank balance very quickly, so why not add value and save cash by doing it yourself?

How to refurbish your sports car’s seats at home.

Seat refurbishment kit

Contains covers for the squab (back) and cushion (base), with horsehair pads, foams and wadding. You’ll need paint for the frame and spray adhesive plus clips and hog rings.

Glue edges of the foam

Turn the seat frame over and trim away excess foam, leaving an overlap of two inches. Turn over and glue to the front of the seat back. Cut notches so the foam lays flat around the curved edges.

Spray glue inside cover

With the back of the cover clipped and the seat turned over, allow cover to hang down from the horsehair. Spray glue onto the inside of the cover’s fluted area and the horsehair. Don’t join it yet.

Awful old seats

The covers of our seats have split across their shoulders and in the base fluting. The base foam has degraded, crumbling under the cover. Strip them carefully and retain re-useable clips.

Fitting the horsehair pad

Select the correct horsehair pad from the kit – these are handed. Spray glue across the frame back and the rear of the pad. Once the adhesive is tacky, press into place and trim any excess with scissors.

Tuck in the corners

Slit the bottom 3in of the piping tails and remove the core. Trim back wadding, expose a small triangle of horsehair at its lower corner. Turn the cover’s back flap inwards, glue to horsehair. Clip piping to frame.

Frame first

Clean away rust from the frames using a wire brush then treat with a rust neutraliser. Make welded repairs to any serious corrosion or cracks and spray with etch primer followed by satin black topcoat.

Shaping the pad edges

The horsehair pad needs a bevel forming around its edge. Spray glue into the exposed edge of the horsehair. Wait until the it is almost dry, then press down around the edge to form a bevelled contour.

Bond cover to horsehair

Turn the frame over and ensure the piping is aligned. Press fluted panel down onto the centre of the horsehair, bonding it in place with the previously applied adhesive. The squab is nearing completion.

Fit tack strips

Cut strips of 4mm plywood and fit inside back of the seat frame, securing with small screws. Dampen the plywood so it bends more easily and use clamps to hold in place before finally fixing.

Padding the squab frame

The squab frame needs padding to protect the cover. Glue a strip of wadding around the edge of the frame. Cut a strip of plastic and glue over the wadding to help the cover slide on easily.

Fix cover with tacks

Turn in the front corners either side of the squab and tack neatly into place. Stretch and hold the lower front edge of the squab cover down over the tack strips and secure with 3/8” tacks or staples.

Gluing the rear foam

The seat back has foam across its rear surface. Spray the back of the frame with glue, avoiding the reinforcement cross. Apply polyester-backed foam and gently press into place, foam side down.

Fitting the squab cover

Select the correct squab cover and slide it down over the frame back. Hold at the sides, where the front and back flaps join, gently work the cover down. Adjust alignment of piping as necessary.

Finishing the squab

Clip the squab cover’s back flap to the rear edge of the steel seat frame. The squab is now finished and should look like this. Enjoy a good rest. Feet up. Well done.

Cushion foam

The cushion foam is in two pieces, a flat base and a U-shaped top roll. The base in our kit is marked to aid centring the cover, critical for the following steps and the final appearance of the cushion.

Marking the inside of the cover

Using a rule and marker pen, draw a line down the inside of the cover’s centre. Align the cover on the base foam and mark the cover twice, where the edges of the fluting touch the front line on the foam. Draw a line between these marks, as shown.

Glue the calico edges to the foam

A second strip of calico runs around both sides and the front edge of the inside of the cover. Glue it down over the sides of the foam to hold the piped edge of the cover neatly around the cushion foam assembly. Take great care to avoid wrinkles and avoid getting glue onto clean faces.

Fit base to frame basket

Turn the cushion assembly over. Bend the cardboard stiffening tongue to shape and place it inside the frame’s wire basket. Position the cardboard and basket on the underside of the foam.

Front edge of cushion

The front of the cushion cover is still inside out. It will be fairly tight, so press the wire basket into the foam and gently turn the cover over the front of the foam and the top of the wire basket.

Fitting the cushion to the frame

With the seat resting on its back, taking care not to snag the new cover on the corner of the workbench, fit the cushion assembly’s rear edge into the frame, over the tacked bottom edge of the squab cover. Evenly push the leading edge of the wire basket down and into the steel frame. The spring tension of the wire basket means that the cushion assembly should be tight enough to remain in place.

Glue cover to base foam

Spray glue inside the marks on the cover and the base foam. When the glue is almost dry, align the marks inside the cover with those on the base: press in place. It should be central and overlap all around.

Glue side calico to base

There is a flap of calico sewn into the edge of the fluting on either side of the cushion cover, to secure the fluting in its central position. Glue flaps to the base, avoid overspray and smooth the calico flat.

Glue the top roll foam

Fold back the front edge of the cover and glue the U-shaped foam top roll to the base. Glue the front edge first then the sides to the base, over the tops of the flaps that were bonded in the last step.

Secure to the wire basket

Pull side flaps over the wires at the sides of the basket and fix with two hog rings each side. Check the fit then secure with more hog rings. Fold the back flap round the basket and fix with more hog rings.

Secure cover’s front edge

Pull the front flap of the cushion cover over the steel frame and clip in place at the front. Using small scissors, make short cuts in the flap for the hinge brackets then clip the sides of the flap. Finishing line

The seat assembly is now complete and should look like this. Finish by piercing two small holes in the back of the cover and fitting each seat’s securing catches.

Bolt the seats back into the car. Marvel at your newly acquired skills while enjoying a well-deserved brew!