glenn37

I just purchased new leather seat covers and cushions for my 1979, do the seats need to be taken out to remove the cushions or to install the new covers? I'm planning to take the new covers and cushions to a professional to be installed. Any help or photos would be appreciated.

Pete79L82

You do not have to remove the seats to remove the cushions. On the seat backs there are 4 clips on the fiberglass shell that the seat cushions hook into. The clips are placed about 3 - 4" down from the top and up from the bottom. They are spring clips that the wire framework of the cushions hook into. To remove the wire from the clips you must push on the wire towards the center of the seat back. (on the drivers seat back you would push the outer clip towards the console, and the inner clip towards the door) The easiest way to push on the wire is to take a wide flat head screwdriver and grind a notch into it to create a U shape in the blade. Line the tool up with the wire in the seat cushion and push. The explaination makes it sound much more difficult than it is. I believe Paul67 had a picture of the tool he made. I will search the archives to see if I can find it, or he may chime in here.

The seat bottom has the same clips but they are placed at the top of the seat bottom back near the hinges. There are only 2 clips on each seat bottom.

Paul L

Pete, you have a long memory! I did that seat cushion work quite some time ago. The tool I used is available for about $5.00 from the Help section at any automotive chain store. Its real purpose is to grab and allow one to push on and expand drum brake return springs to get them into their mounting holes. It does the job equally well for those seat cushion wires. Believe me that job can be miserable without something similar: you can't get your fingers in there and the plastic seat back edges are sharp. My former 1979 has some serious blood stains behind those Al Knoch cushions.






[Modified by paul67, 9:49 PM 12/25/2003]


[Modified by paul67, 9:56 PM 12/25/2003]

glenn37

Ed/Pete, Thanks for the response. Want to send the new seat covers and foam out tomorrow to get installed and wanted make sure the whole seat didn't have to go.
Will try to get the old seat covers and foam out in the morning, after looking at the new foam I see where the seat bottom and top snaps in. Will try your suggestions, wish me luck. Also will the new cushions just snap in or is that other trick I need to know about. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

beige79

I know this is an old thread, but information I found here helped me change the seat cushion assemblies in my 79. The mention that special tools were needed got me thinking and I did locate and order something just for this purpose. However, if someone stumbles across this thread trying to do the same thing, I will tell you that you most likely have the perfect tool already on board your car. If you still have the OEM jack and jack "crank" you can change your seats easily with the jack handle.

The end of the crank has just the right shape at the end (not the socket) for grabbing hold of the seat wires. All you need to do is lift up the front of the bottom seat cushion and catch the wire in front of the seat on each side, push it backwards and the seat will easily lift out. I also used the tool to remove and install the upper assembly. You can hook onto the wire with the tool and push the wire into position to engage the clips for the seat back. It took me about 20 minutes a side to change out the seats.

Don't know what made me think about using that crank, but nice to know for someone that has been having difficulty changing out the seats, that you already have the tool you need to do the job riding around in the back of your car! I won't even need the tool that I ordered.

snoopykissedlucy

Once you know what the clips look like...its an easy operation.
BUT....if you've never seen them.....you end up bending at least one(if not snapping one off)
These are the very top clips....all the others look the same, just oriented in different directions.