Recovering the Seat Base in an 84 Westy (many pix)

[Ahwahnee]

I prefer to keep my 84 Westy fairly stock so when the original fabric seat covers were again available I decided to replace the rather worn old ones.

The covers are available from Günzl in Germany but also from the Bus Depot. I didn't really bother to calculate exchange rates, foreign transaction fees and shipping, I just went with Ron's offering:

Yeah, I actually like that vintage striped look.

The old seat foam was in pretty good shape and comfortable so I did not order new. Replacement bases are available but may have attachment systems that differ from the originals and I expected the replacement covers would be looking for the original set-up.

The surface of the old foam had some minor deterioration so I glued a layer of 1/8" landau foam over it:

Anytime you're working with foam an indispensable tool is an electric knife. Available at Amazon and other fine stores.

The top foam is trimmed to the shape of the big cushion:

I then added slits to allow access to the wires embedded in the foam:

At the suggestion of other threads on this subject - I used zip-ties instead of hog rings. Much easier and less blood spilled:

Easier to use but not as strong & possibly not as long-lasting as hog rings, so I doubled up to have some insurance:

The seat covers have a strip with a reinforced edge that gets drawn down to the embedded wire. To make a hole for the zip-ties I used a hole punch - seemed less likely to tear further than a slit:

The zip-ties are then fed through the holes - 3 holes and 6 zip-ties on each side:

I marked the ends of one of each pair of zip-ties so I knew which pointy end went with each gripper:

You do not want to cinch those zip-ties down tight as you will get dimples (thanks to Gnarlodious for that tip). Rather you want to simulate the slack offered by hog rings. To do this evenly I inserted an allen wrench into each pair, cinched them tight, then removed the wrench ending up with about 3/8" of slack:

The replacement seats did not have a provision for attaching to the embedded wire that runs along the back edge of the seat so you do not get as defined a crease there - but hopefully still okay. The rest of the installation is a tribute to German engineering as there are no staples, glue, etc. - just pull the cover right side out and tuck it into the lip around the base of the seat:

Next up are the seat backs where the horsehair and stuffing will be replaced with a fitted foam from Sewfine.

[alaskadan]

Just a suggestion, the outer bolsters get worn out and soft from getting in and out of the vehicle. Swapping the foam bases will give you a fresh firm bolster to beat up on for the next 20 years.

[Ahwahnee]

Thanks - good point that they are swappable driver to passenger so might as well have the firmer foam on the outboard side.

[RoryGirl]

Hitting the stock foam with some steam can bring some life back into them

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1991 Double door pop top conversion