The Upholstery Forum

It is exciting to me to have found the forum. I have been doing my own trimming as a hobby for years and had a dear friend who owned a trim shop also. I spent many hours hanging around Bob's shop while we waited to go to lunch together.

My last project was a '36 Ford roadster and am currently working on a '53 Bel Air convertible.



I have told my wife and daughter I would like John's training for my birthday next week. That should keep me entertained for a while. :-))

John

Hello and welcome to the forum
I am new myself just a week or two.
John's training coarse video's are pretty good , I am leaning a lot

Thanks for the welcome Tom. I am looking forward to them for sure.

John

Welcome. Keep the updates on the '53 vert. I'm working on a '54 Belair coupe.

WOW a lot of 50's going on here. Makes me want one too..... Welcome all

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

As with most ragtops, this old girl was pretty rough. It has been a 6 year project but it is now yard driving and needing something to sit on pretty soon.

John

I stumbled on the Lucky Needle site looking for information on repairing broken springs. Inwas surfing YouTube and stumbled on John's videos and that lead me to his web site and then to the forum.

LOL, Pretty cool but I am still looking for what information is out there on the springs. There are 4 broken. As rough as the seat is, I am seriously considering doing away with the original springs and using a quality high density foam in their place. I had to make the rumble seat from scratch for the roadster and really liked the end result.

John

Welcome aboard @John Long those are just hobby jobs?!? I wish I could put out that good of work.

As far as the springs are they the typical zig zag spring? Should be easy enough to just order new and replace it. You have to measure the thickness and buy replacement that size. The supplier would have the attachment clips to go with.

On the rumble seat did you use a listing and pull it down or glue to the seat

I am frugal to a fault. I have resisted buying Baker's Clip pliers so far. I may see a pair coming my way in the future though.

Since it was made on a wood base, it was a simple thing to drill holes in the base, pull the listing down with waxed cord, and staple. That also allowed me to pull the the listing to the exact depth I wanted.

John

@John Long ,

Very nice looking work and hey frugal fits with me man. Dont hesitate to share the frugalness

Hi @John Long !!! Welcome to the forum!!

That is some really nice work you have done! For the spring repair like Cody said baker clips are what the factory uses and they work well. You can install them with channel lock pliers but its much easier with the tool.
I pretty much always prefer to get rid of the springs and use full foam if the budget allows. The ride is just 1000 times better.

Cant wait to see how your project turns out!

Thanks John. I suspect my final design is going to utilize some listings but I would like to run some heavy webbing under the foundation which will complicate that a bit. I wonder how much a solid plywood bottom would negatively impact the comfort. Many bucket seats have foam on top of a steel pan. It certainly would make the installation of the cover easier.

If I don't appear to be too vain I may start a thread and show what I run into with it.

John

@John Long I don’t think that’s vain at all.i for one would love to see this, and I’m sure others. Let us learn what works and doesn’t for you.

On the wooden frame question. I think you’re in the right page thinking along the lines of modern car feel. A lot of custom interior builders use the plywood and foam method. It will be firmer like modern cars, but not stiff and make you sore.

Thanks Cody. My intent though is not to use a wooden frame but to use the original frame and modify it to have a wooden bottom to support the foam. I will drill holes in it in order to pull the listings down with cord. So far, I am still working on a pattern in my head but I did go ahead and order some firm foam.

I’m currently working on a very similar project for myself. I gutted all the springs from my stock seat fame and replaced them with plywood. Then I cut my foam similar the the shape of the Snowden foam. I was worried that it would be too still but it feels very comfortable when you sit in it. I have seen where some guys cut out the plywood directly below the foam where you sit and put nylon or jute webbing in that area to have a little give. But I think as the foam breaks in it will give a little more and be very comfortable. This is my first time doing one of these, so I figure if it ends up being too stiff I can always take it back apart and go the webbing route later.

That is very close to my idea Mike. My contour will probably be less modern but the construction will be very close.

Why don't we start a thread entitled "Bench seat, replacing springs with foam." Others can join in and contribute to or learn from those that are doing it.

I like what you have so far.

John

Thanks John. The interior you did in the roadster looks incredible. What material did you use on it?

Mikesimpson wrote:Thanks John. The interior you did in the roadster looks incredible. What material did you use on it?

I used Ultra Leather but would not use it again. It is great to work with, has a great feel and look but.... It does not wear well. The rumble seat looks great but the front seat after a few years.....Not so much. I have bought Allantra for the '53 Bel Air. Ironically almost the same color as John used. I swear I bought it before I knew John existed.

John

Here is the front seat right after it was upholstered. It is the middle seat out of a Dodge Caravan.





Here is the seat today. You can see it has a pretty distressed look that I don't think it ought to have this quickly. In defense of the Ultra Leather, the front seat was sewn on a Mini Brute machine that leaves a lot to be desired. The rumble seat was the first thing I sewed after I bought the Adler 267. What a nice upgrade that was.

I've kinda wondered how ultra leather held up long term. I have talked to some guys that have used it in show cars that don't get driven much, they let me check theirs out and it feels really nice. But when I looked into getting some samples I found out that its not really rated for automotive use.