1968 Progress on recovering front seats, using 1969 headrests

[admin]

I just wanted to share some progress photos of recovering my seats this weekend. I'm using 1968 upholstery, but 1969 seat frames to get the factory headrests.

Original 1969 seats. These were pretty rough with quite a bit of rust on the frame. So I stripped them down, shot them with some rust converter, then semi-gloss black paint.





I bought some burlap and heavy backed foam at my local hobby store and attached via the listing wires and hog rings.



I used new seat foam buns with listing wires molded in, ordered from CJ Pony Parts (brand name "Dashes Direct"). I wasn't very impressed with the foam. The shape at the creases is a hard 90 deg bend, not a nice rounded corner. So it shows as a very distinct line once the upholstery is on. Below shows the crease in the foam that I'm talking about, at the top of the seat back. Drill bits added just to show how the foam has a very hard angle. 2nd photo is what this looks like when the upholstery is pulled tight. It's a very noticeable line. I had to pull the cover back off again and cut/sand/reshape the foam to get a nice rounded transition.




And here are the reassembly photos. The headrest isn't in yet because I need to get it recovered separately. I couldn't find a place to order just the headrest vinyl.

 

[admin]

A couple of people have asked in the past what the 1969 headrest mechanism looks like, so here are some pics of that.

 

[admin]

Oh and if anyone is looking to do this project I highly recommend compound diagonal cutters. These have 2 pivot points, so they cut with more force than standard diagonal cutters. It cuts through hog rings one handed with ease.

I also got these nice hog ring pliers. Years and years ago I reupholstered seats using the kit that most Mustang parts places still sell, with the very cheap red handled hog ring pliers. Those are such garbage compared to these.

The only thing is I got the version that's spring loaded to stay open (part # 1440-CO) . But now I realize I should have got the one's that are spring loaded to stay closed (part # 1440-CC). That would have been much more helpful to be able to load a hog ring in the pliers, then use both hands to pull the vinyl tight, then hold the vinyl with one hand and grab the pliers w/ hog ring already loaded.

Here's the one I should have bought: https://www.csosborneupholsterytools.com/product_detail.php?p_id=750

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C3IMRPS/?tag=calspecial-20