ImBatman

Ok I have read the instructions that came with the new covers also looked at the corvettemagazine.com article however what they descibe and what I am seeing is different. Both say to remove the old covers starting with the bottoms first. On the inside of the old covers compare the location of the old hooks to locate the new hooks in the new covers. Problem is the old covers do not have hooks attached to them. :confused: The old padding has the 3 rods in the "H" pattern on both the bottow of the foam and the top. The hooks hold the rods together sandwiching the foam in the middle. The old covers were just slipped over the foam and then attached to the seat frame with clips. Neither directions descripe the wires being used on both sides of the foam.

I can't even match up the correct length hooks! :mad Please help if you can.. :cry

ImBatman

Anybody :confused: :confused:

dath

I think your old covers were not installed properly. I believe the directions you found online are correct. I haven't finished recovering my first seat yet as I have about 20 projects all going on at the same time, but I did do the seat bottom taking my "best guess"... What I did was to put the rods in the "H" pattern and pull hooks through with the install tool that was part of my install kit. You should have rods that go in the little channels in the cover (you will probably need to snip two holes to get the rods in), and then rods that just sit on the bottom of the cover. I turned my cover inside out and stuck it against the foam with the foam facing upward. Then I had to kneel on the new foam in order to pull the hooks through and hook them around the "H" wires. It took quite a lot of pulling.

ImBatman

Thanks I will try this. I want to make sure that I under stand the instructions for putting the rods into the cover. I cut a slit in the thick grey band and then hook one of the end loops or the rod through it correct?


Thanks again for the reply. If anyone else has some advice please chime in.

Thanks
Wade

dath

You cut a slit in both ends of the material the same length as the rod (or very close to it) and then you feed the rod through one end and push the bent over section out of the other end. The bent sections hold the rod in place so that it doesn't come out of the seam. If you need it, I can take a picture of one of my covers that I've already done this to late this evening?

ImBatman

That would be great if you could take a couple pics for me. Now I am really confused. :crazy: So rods go through the seat cover in the heavy thick material that forms an "H" on the back side. then I cut slits along the areas that I just put the rods through and wrap one end of the hook around it and then the other end goes through the foam to the other rods. Is this correct?

Sorry to be a bother just don't want to screw these things up.

Thanks
Wade

dath

Sorry, I'm not the best at describing things verbally (or written). Here's step by step (I'll try to take pics late tonight), but until then:

1) Cut slits to the same length as the rods with the "U" bends in each end so that the rod will go into the seam with the "U" bends sticking out holding it in place at either end. These rods will form an "H" shape.

2) poke the clips of appropriate length (I had to guess) through the material and *AROUND* the rods that you have put in in the previous step. I used the holes in the cushion to figure out how many I needed, but not all of them lined up perfectly, though it didn't seem like a big deal as long as they line up with the channel...

3) Turn the cover inside out if you haven't already and set it on the cushion. Now flip the cushion over and lay the zig zagging (maybe yours are straight, mine zig-zag and were original) rods in the "H" area.

4) The fun part is now pulling the retaining rods through the cushion and hooking them around the rods on the back side. This is where I neede to kneel on the cushion (I have new cushions) to compress it enough to get the rods through. I had a tool that is a hook on the end of a long rod to poke through the cushion and grab the clips...

Basically the whole point of this is that the rods in the seat cover will hold the cover to the cushion using the rods in the cushion, distributing the force along the whole seam and along the cushion... I'll see if I can't post some pics later tonight or in the morning if it's too late by the time I get to it :rolleyes:

Also, like I said earlier, this is just how I'm doing it, I think it is correct, but I had to guess as I don't have good directions and I took the old seat apart so long ago. It did appear that I was doing everything correctly based on the forensic evidence from my old seat cover:D

ImBatman

dath,

Your last post finally clicked for me. Got both the seat bottoms mounted on the foam. Looks GREAT!!! :yesnod: Thanks for your help. Tonight I have to sand blast and paint the bottom frames and then I can mount the new cusions to the frame. The next step after that will be to tackle the uppers. Stay by your pc :D

Thanks again for the help.

Wade

dath

Great! I'm really glad to hear you got them on! I forgot to take the pictures last night (I'm trying to get my new 383 running) and didn't remember until this morning on the way to work... Let me know how the backs go, I haven't done that part yet. I've been too busy with the mechanical stuff to get back to the seat again. I also haven't put the seat bottom on the frame yet, it's just sitting there ready to put on. I wish I'd had a media blaster, It took a lot of effort to wire weel the frame and then paint it. Looks better, but they aren't perfect... I'm doing one seat at a time so I can still drive it when I get the engine and brakes finished:D