Date:         Fri, 21 Jul 1995 13:17:17 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Alistair Bell <ui775@freenet.victoria.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: Re-padding seats - anyone done this?



On Fri, 21 Jul 1995, Lisa Quinn wrote:

> I'd like to repad the seats in the westy. They have good fabric, but
> the padding is shot. Hard on the fanny on long trips. Anyone here
> done this? Is it complicated and hard? Do you have to cut the old covers

Have doen this on my '72 and repaired the covers on my '82. Take the seats
out and separate the seat back from the bottom. The covers are held in
place by wicked looking steel teeth which you can bend up and stretch the
old cover off. On the '72 there was horsehair type padding which I
replaced with ensolite of all things. If I had to do it again I would get
some fresh horsehair and dacron batting (upholstery shop). The ensolite
pads are warm but aren't "shapeable" like dacron and horsehair. Did the
same on the seat backs. Sometimes the steel frames on the older seat are
broken and the springs have sprung. Eithher get a junkyard seat for parts
or weld the frame. You can repair the vinyl seat covers or buy new ones.
The '82's seat back has the added wrinkle of headrest tubes which have to
come out to get the cover off. They slide into holes in the back frame and
are "barbed" to prevent them slidng up and out. Look carefully and you
will see where to press to release them. I have had success stiching the
cloth seat covers at the seams which ofter rip.

Be carefull of those teeth that grip the seat covers, they can mess up
your knuckles!

Its a very do-able home job, maybe you can wire in some butt-heaters while
you have them apart?

Alistair