Project Project My modest
1979 refresh
- slow_and_ugly
- Short Shifter
- Posts: 55
- Joined: October 10th, 2016, 6:35 pm
- Province/State: Alberta
- Hometown: Edmonton
- Model: 1979 Hatchback
My modest project
The seat had typical cracks and splits in the vinyl. The worst feature though, was that the seat sagged. I feared the foam was totally broken down but when I took the seat the seat apart I found that the foam was pretty much okay except for a split along the bottom where there was thin trough to allow a series of springs to pass through and hold down the seat bottom. The split allowed all the weight to press against a single cross spring which couldn't support it. I reinforced the seam with a piece of leather I had left over from the steering wheel cover (never throw anything away!) and covered the bottom with a piece of canvas.
The canvas should help distribute the weight.
I considered many options for the seating material. In the end I wanted to keep the simple nature of the interior and decided to keep it black. I did a brief search for a replacement for the original vinyl weave but I remembered how much I detested it back in the day and opted for a black faux suede.
When the fabric arrived I found that I preferred the back side of cloth to the front. The back had a simple ribbed texture that reminded of the seats of my former 91 Si. SO I used the back. It made it a little more difficult as I them had to deal with the alignment of the ribbing, but it wasn't that big a deal.
I used the old pieces of the seat as guides to cut the new pieces. The outside piece of the seat back was too long so I had to cut it out in two pieces. The assembly was straight-forward. Just match up the edges and sew together. A bit of trial and error, but that's essentially it.
This is the result: Not exactly perfect, but not a disaster either.
I reused all the foam and hardware. All the vinyl pieces except the back of the seat, the skirt at the bottom, and the piping have been replaced. I am encouraged enough to continue. The next task will be to do the passenger seat and the back seats to match although those seats are in very good condition.
I do not endorse the site nor was I asked for permission to use or re-publish the information from here.
He scraped the web for past pages that are already included in the database of this site known as 1StGenCivic.com/org or previous generations and upgrades.
I am closing site down as an open discussion forum.