Photos Seat Reupholstery

[plywoodkid]

All,

I have really learned a lot from watching JL in Lakewood, California.

Honest and down to earth. Makes the covers and shows you how to put them on. For the average DIY guy.

https://fb.watch/4_60_xLWtm/

[dr8track]

I thought I'd finish off my thread with some photos of my front cab. Here's what work I did:
1. Refinished headliner
2. New seat pedestal rubber
3. Hand made kick panels covered with orange vinyl
4. New component speakers in kick panels
5. New orange carpet
6. Orange bordered floor mats
7. New seat upholstery for bucket seats and box top
8. And a nifty little cloth trash bin that my sister made

Thanks for all the help and advice along the way!
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1974 Westfalia Deluxe Campmobiles - Lake Stevens, WA

[dr8track]

Thanks to everyone for all the photos and advice. Here's a couple pix of the seats installed and the new pedestal rubber. I'm holding off installing the new orange carpet until I get some wiring work completed.

The only thing I'm not totally satisfied with is that the big round seat adjustment knob doesn't seem to be working right since I disassembled it when working on the upholstery. (photo taken before reassembly)

I got it all put back together but it doesn't turn far before it binds up. I believe its supposed to adjust the position of the seat back? Whatever it's supposed to do its not doing it.
Also I still haven't attempted to cut the holes for the headrests. That will be a project for another day.
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1974 Westfalia Deluxe Campmobiles - Lake Stevens, WA

[dr8track]

Exactly what I needed. Thank you! I now know the order to reassemble it, I'm just struggling to get the rounded end of the bracket to align with the threaded screw hole in the frame. No matter how hard I push on the bracket I can't get it down far enough to line the bracket up with the hole. I'll wait until the muscle (my wife ) gets home to lend an extra set of hands.
Just about finished although I admit I'm paranoid about trying to cut the headrest holes. Hard to explain w/o photos, but that tall lip the coco fiber back created at the top of the chair back left about an inch and a half difference in height between the top of the coco fiber and the frame where the holes for the headrest are. It created a saggy gap at the back edge of the top of the chair back so I added several layers of batting to fill the space. As a result I can't easily feel the head rest holes through the vinyl.
what I will probably do is use the old covers as a template to mark the holes.
Wish me luck!
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1974 Westfalia Deluxe Campmobiles - Lake Stevens, WA

[mikewire]

[dr8track]

Here is the almost finished results. I haven't cut holes for the headrests yet.

I do have a question someone can hopefully answer. I needlessly removed the driver seat back adjustment rod. Now I can't remember how it reattached.

Wondering if anyone might give me some guidance.
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1974 Westfalia Deluxe Campmobiles - Lake Stevens, WA

[dr8track]

I'm running into a few challenges, but am forging ahead. I had hoped to finish last night, but I wore myself out trying to wrestle these covers into place. Here's the progress so far.

The seats went pretty smoothly, but the seat backs are a pain! I don't see any possible way that bottom flap of plaid material is going to wrap under the seat back and attach to the metal bar in back like the original did. These covers could have definitely been bigger and they would still have fit snugly. As it is, there just isn't enough material to reach that bar.
I'm going to try a couple of things. First I'm going to swap the gray batting for some thinnere batting I got. That should give me a bit more fabric to work with on the cover.
However, I'm doubtful its going to be enough. My second option is to stitch a strip of orange vinyl to that plaid fabric to give me enough length to pul it tight and attach it to the bar in back.

I'll send an update later.
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1974 Westfalia Deluxe Campmobiles - Lake Stevens, WA

[mikewire]

[Globespotter]

The hog rings are used to attach the bottom cover to the seat base. They basically grabbed around the wire or string and allowed you to pull the cover tighter by attaching to the metal frame underneath.
_________________
1977 Westfalia - October 2015 - Current
1971 Super Beetle - May 2012 - Current
1979 Westfalia - 1986-1991
1971 Super Beetle - 1977-1980

1971 SB Survivor Story: https://globespotter.com/
Road Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=511800&highlight=
My 77 Westy Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647114&highlight=

http://vw-mplate.com/mcode.php?lang=EN&id=30990
https://vw-type2-id.xyz/mplate/72067382

[dr8track]

Thanks for the photos and the info everyone. I'm thankful for the photos becaause mine were in such terrible shape there were few clues to know what the materials originally looked like.

I have everything now and am about to start. Here is my list of materials:

1. Coco fiber seat cushions and backs for driver and passenger seat - Wolfberg West
2. Orange plaid seat covers from NLA VW Parts
3. Grey batting material from TMI Products

Extras I picked up for the project:

4. Light canvas to cover springs
5. Very thin batting material for covering any exposed coco fiber
6. Hog Ring pliers and assorted hog rings

Before I jump into this I had a couple of questions. For those who used the coco fiber pads, how flexible is it? It's a tight fit on the seat back.

In just checking the fit, if I slide it into position on one side of the seat back there is probably a 3/4" lip on the other side.

Can I safely carefully pull the edge of the coco fiber back to slip over the frame w;o the coco fiber breaking?

Another question is about the seat bottom covers. The new covers are slightly different in the way they attach. There is a fairly thick wire that runs through the seam and then ends with a small loop.

The old covers had a series of thinner wire that was run through the frame and then out holes and twisted to secure it.

I'm assuming on the new one I just pull those wire ends tight to secure it and then connect the looped ends to each other? To somewhere on the frame?

Final question, what are the hog ring pliers for? I am not seeing any obvious rings that I had to remove and need to be replaced. I see in an earlier post that hog clips were used to secure burlap to the frame. I will use them for that, but just wondering what other purpose they serve in the process?
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1974 Westfalia Deluxe Campmobiles - Lake Stevens, WA

[69BahamaYellow]

Upholstery restoration starts on page 7

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

[Globespotter]

I did my Bug, but it should be the same. I ordered the covers and pads from Wolfsburg West and they came with a tutorial video.

Scroll to Day 13 here for photos:

http://globespotter.com/survivor/
_________________
1977 Westfalia - October 2015 - Current
1971 Super Beetle - May 2012 - Current
1979 Westfalia - 1986-1991
1971 Super Beetle - 1977-1980

1971 SB Survivor Story: https://globespotter.com/
Road Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=511800&highlight=
My 77 Westy Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647114&highlight=

http://vw-mplate.com/mcode.php?lang=EN&id=30990
https://vw-type2-id.xyz/mplate/72067382

[vintage water]

hi !

the doka top gun bus !

[mikewire]

I don't have a formal thread on the whole process, but I did take some pictures that may help you and others - if there's enough demand for a better DIY, I'd be glad to put something together.

My seats were pretty roached... the OEM coconut husks were crumbling and they turned to some kind of sticky mess on the rubber seat mats when combined with the humidity, and the original basketweave vinyl was just cracking and falling apart. I went with Sewfine covers, new foam and burlap base wrap, and one of the seats needed a new foam cap.

Burlap I picked up at a local fabric store. The rest came from Sewfine, which I highly recommend - they helped me over the phone and answered all my silly questions when I ordered. Be sure to pick up hog rings and hog ring pliers, I secured the burlap and foam base to the frame. And I used spray adhesive to secure the foam to the burlap (I think this is an optional step). It also helps to have some fine gauge solid wire (I used 18ga./1.2mm galvanized solid wire) if needed to secure the seat vinyl to the frame. Replace the foam caps if needed, these are required to be in good shape for your seat covers to install correctly.

Let me expand on that last statement...all years of Bus seats are different - I have an earlier Bay, so the seat frame has foam top caps, and on the side and bottom there are these nice little "V" shaped teeth around the perimeter of the round seat frame tube which puncture and secure the vinyl to the frame. The seat covers need a small run of wire inserted through vinyl edge to help secure the long sections to the "V" teeth. It's hard to explain, and I failed to get many pictures of that but I can pull them quick and capture that if needed. NOTE: always take pictures as you disassemble, so you have a reference for reassembly - your mileage may vary!


My configuration is the 1/3 - 2/3 seats (1972 non walkthrough) setup from Sewfine:

I started with the 2/3 side...here's what my seats looked like before:

Pulled them apart, and pressure washed all the gunk off, dried them, and then sprayed with a couple coats of satin black Rustoleum (this is a before picture):

Laid down a layer of burlap, 3" of overlap on the sides, and attached with hog rings, a ring every 6-8 inches around the frame:

Spray with some adhesive and set the foam on the seat over the burlap - be sure to get the foam lined up all the way back to the back edge of the seat frame:

At this point, I rinsed and repeated the back of the 2/3 side, and finished it up, and moved onto the 1/3 drivers side:


I worked on the back first this time, and then the bottom. Again, attached the burlap to the frame and got it ready for foam:

Same procedure as the passengers side, here you can see the burlap and foam, and also how I attached the bottom lip of the seat foam to the frame using the hog rings:

This is the set after install and put back into the Bus - one of the best investements in the transformation...they look fantastic, fit perfectly, and are super comfortable to sit on. Huge thanks to Sewfine!

_________________
-Mike

@countdowngarage
@bigskyeuro

1972 VW Kombi 9 Passenger Deluxe 221(5) w/ 2.0L F.I. VWAC swap
1965 VW Beetle Deluxe Bahama Blue

[dr8track]

[914guy]

We redid the front seats on our 74 Westy. My son posted detailed pictures and instructions. Look for ouir thread (My 74 Westy).

[skills@eurocarsplus]

i just did this on my single cab. prior to it, i did my 71 westy. at any rate, to do the job right (on the earlier seats) you need to run a stiff wire (mechanics wire) into the seat, using the string to pull it through the seat covers. i personally don't bother with the felt or any of that, but i do use foam (like OE) on the backrest corners. my first set (71 westy) came out *mint* the 2/3 1/3 in my single cab had me so pissed off, i about tossed the covers in the woods. both sets were TMI, but the ones for the single cab were too big. i finally got them smooth, but what a pain. i also cut a thick black trash bag and place it over the hair pad. the seat covers slide right on, and do not get hung up. just my 0.02
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[Sloride]

I threw my seat covers in the dryer for about 5 minutes to soften/heat them up before the install. It helped a lot.
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1972 Westfalia - 1.8 VW in-line h2o conversion
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Link to the engine swap:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=565304&highlight=

1964 Ruby Red Beetle

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=705757&highlight=ruby+red

[Kirk]

[dr8track]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Very helpful. Problem I had with my seats is all that was left was the vinyl/fabric cover. All the stuffing was long gone.
I'll see how I do and report back later.
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1974 Westfalia Deluxe Campmobiles - Lake Stevens, WA