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Triumph TR6 - reupholstering seats

I am looking for some information on reupholstering the seats on my tr6. recommendations of were to by kits would be good also. Took the old stuff of off one last night and could not believe the rust. thanks dave
dave

Dave
you need to talk with Keith Dixon
OK just kiddin' ya Keith ( Keith and I have been talkin via e-mail on this subject...new it should have been a thread:)
I hope you took some pictures. It will help on the put back together side. Do one at a time so you have a "model" to go by. It really is not difficult. A lot of cutting when putting the side pieces on and cliping to frame. I ended up making new " kidney" pads for the bottom of the side pieces..they where shot. You will probably want to replace both diaphrams as they have probably had a lot of sitting on. Read another current thread that also suggests this. In order of do: seat, sides, back, then the solid board back. Not sure of your year so you might also have a seperate head rest. I did not change all the foam pieces and if I where to do it again, I would. My kits came from MOSS and am satisfied as to fit. Had to sew a little further up the piping on the side pieces where it disappears under the head rest
(1971, one piece back with head rest). The bottom of the seat is a little tricky as it seems ( excuse the pun) everything comes together here. The material ( I think for the back piece) is actually under the seat locking bar assembly. Ya I had a little painting to do. I also pulled the tracks and clean and paint. NOTE the location of the plates attached to the back of the track as they are used as the seat locking point. Also a little tip. I reversed my 2 chrome handles as the tops of them where pitted ever so slightly now the pit is on the bottom.
WOW a case of DE Ja Vu.
Have fun..I know you will appreciate what you sit on.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Dave--Nelson Reidel has a tech bulletin on the reupholstery job at http://www.buckeyetriumphs.org/

Rick O.
Rick O.

Dave,
Along with the one Rick gave you here is another site that helped me. I re-did mine last year, bought 6" foam and fashioned it with my wife's electric carving knife ( she just shook her head !) They turned out well, I beefed up the "butt" part and noticed it made them much more comfortable.

http://pages.cthome.net/BobD/seat_guide_page_1.htm
Charlie

Wow,Rick C. depending on the year of Dave's car you should just copy him on the e-mail you sent me. My 2cents the 2 links shown are great examples of doing the job on 73 or later(separate headrest) cars.The job on the earlier models is a little more involved. Witness the sewing reference from Rick C. However he has me convinced to do the job if the budget allows. Moss has a current sale and because of that LBC has a sale also (slightly cheaper than Moss same good stuff).Also the recent TRF(the-roadster-factory.com)catalog mentions an upcoming upholstery sale. Their regular pricing is less than Moss/LBC so I am interested to see if anyone out there has info on their quality. Let this be a public thanks to Rick C. for the gratefully offered advice on seats you are right it should have been a thread from the start.
Regards to all,
Keith
K.B.Dixon

Rick C and KBD, any chance of you doing the "cut and paste" of your e-mails into this thread or forwarding some e-mails my way? I decided that my early beasty needed some interior work (it was mostly presentable, all leftover stuff from DPO, VW pattern vinyl on seats, wrong carpet, etc. Most people would not know, Triumph folks would) while I have it apart for painting. Since it has the fixed integral head rests, and you guys have already been there, I would like to learn a little more about some of the traps and tricks you found on those.
SteveP

Steve P
Ah the modern magic of computers and cut and paste. As the saying goes " ask and ye shall receive"
This info is based on '71 seats with the NON-FOLDING integrated head rest...TRF PLATE GH.

See Keith. it is easily turned it into a thread:)



Hi Keith
Sorry, next time I will take longer :)
The seat backs are infact 4 pieces..if you also consider the back hardboard piece that is last to go on. So you have the seat sides (TRF Green book GH66) and the back piece also refereed to as GH66. The side pieces (2) are the illustration that shows the V shaped notches down one edge and yes this is what I was referring to having to cut. The seat cover set I got from MOSS was straight material and did not have these Vs already cut in them. The sewing is going to be a little more difficult to point out but here goes. Look at PLATE GH item 66...specifically the right side seat cover as it is pictured( actually becomes the outside of seat when in the car)...the number 66 has a line down from it to the seat side cover...go 1/4" to left of this line and you are at the join area where the seam where piping is, joins with the piece that has the cuts (Vs) in it. It is at this point that the set I got this seam was not sewn up as high (to the end) as you see in the illustration. Take a look at your seats now and you will see that this piping disappears under the edge of the headrest. ( the piping is the white piece of plastic where material is wrapped around it to give a " tube" at a seam join....hope I make sense here and no offense if you already know what piping is:). So if you can imagine where this piping disappears under the head rest this is where it was not sewn far enough as I would of had a "gap" right at the head rest.....hope I am clear here. You are welcome to call me if you have any questions (519)599-2417. It is staring to come back to me as I look at the PLATE. I recall now I had to make 4 new "kidney" pads ( PLATE GHQ) as my boards where shot. Same wood press board can be had at a lumber store. Drill out the pins ( not rivets as I recall) that hold the metal clips onto the boards and pop rivet back to new board. If yours are in good shape then reuse.
Keith like I said...do one at a time so you have the other to look back at. My friend, it really is not that bad..if I can do anyone can do it. I did not even ask my wife for help and I know she has recovered a few chairs and chesterfields in her time. Also it is clip GH67,69-72,and 75 ( all the same clip) that I think is not available anymore. GH67 are the ones for the V notches in the side pieces. GH73 where a little difficult as you are kinda working blind to line them up with the holes in the frame. Use a rubber mallet to bang them into place. This is the very last step...to put the back on. I also did a clean and spray paint to the seat slide assembly. NOTE location of the plates at the back of the seat slide if you remove...these are the seat locks.

IN GENERAL:
The seat is done first and is very straight forward. Second the sides are done, then the center back piece is pushed into place and attached with clips and gets wrapped around the bottom of back of seat bottom frame. At this point you will be putting the black lock control rod back in place (GH19) along with the tiny little pieces used to stop travel of the control rod...GH26. I recall one of the screws was rusted here and had to drill and tap for replacement....GH28. Finally the back piece is put on with the rubber mallet. A tip. I swapped the 2 chrome handles as the top side of each was slightly pitted and the underside looked good...now a top side.
Have fun
Regards
Rick C
----- Original Message -----
From: Keith B. Dixon
To: Richard J. Crawford
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 8:12 PM


Rick C,
Thanks for the reply much speedier than I would have thought. The seat backs are what really mystifies me with the 3 pieces of material (am I right in this area) TRF green seems to show this as 3 separate pieces is this where you mentioned cutting for the clips . Also you mentioned sewing is this along the center seam or elsewhere? I really should just dive in (experience is such a good teacher), I already know more about this car than I ever thought I would. I guess I will start on the passenger side first so I don't have to ride on all my mistakes.
Thanks for your help,
Keith
Rick Crawford

Thanks alot for all the help. I have a 72 so it has the included headrest in the back. I have a couple of questions. I am into the recovering process. I ended up doing on seat at a time and totally striped off everything and could not believe the rust on the frame I sand blasted, used POR 15 and then painted. I followed some of the web site directions from buckeye and others but they are for other seat types. Bottom is done and worked out well. Does the back foam get glued to the center piece and then to the straps? Also, the set I bought does not have the v's cut into them so are they cut to go around the framing parts in the back. It is a little confusing to me because the po or someone recovered the seats already and simply put the new covers over the the old ones after triming some material out of the wa. These seats did not come with the car and I do not know how to tell left seat from right seat. Thanks for all the help Dave
dave

Dave et al
OK from now on it is DPO!! He put the covers over the old set...MAN!!! talk about being lazy or simple brain dead.
1: If I recall correctly YES the foam gets glued to the seat back then gets glued to the webbing. Purpose: when glued to the seat back, the material will lay flat with no bulge/gap/space/play or what other word to describe it. Simply, if you touch it with your fingers and push the material it is in immediate contact with the foam (hope this is clear..best I could think of as an explanation). You will find a piece of plastic over the head-rest piece...keep it there...makes it easier to slide the head rest part over the foam. I also shortened some of back webbing as it looked like they had stretched a little....I think I did just the center 3.
2: the original seats under the replacement set should have the Vs cut in them. The Vs are simply to allow the material to go past the webbing clips and get clipped to the frame. My new covers also did not have the Vs cut and I think this is true for any new set. I did not simply take my new piece of side material and start cutting Vs in it... do one clip at a time.
Hopefully the original set has the Vs in it and you can see how they are attached. It is not that bad...as you bring the material around to the back, u will see that in order to attach the material to the flat part of the frame with the spring clip, you are going to have to cut some material away (to form a V) so that it goes past the webbing clips. I did one at a time and as I came to the next webbing clip I could see how much (or how little) material to cut so as to attach the next clip. When pulling the material (slightly) to attach material to frame with clip, do not pull up or down but straight so as to avoid "puckers" in the material. As you have seen, once these clips are on, it is difficult to remove without damage to the material. I swear this was the first time I have recovered a seat...if I can do it, anyone can. Besides, it was fun and I deffinitely appreciate the seats when I sit on them.
3: The seat left or right is determined by the handles. The seat handles (seat angle and seat lock) are always on the outside of the car.

Enjoy
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Want to know the latest craze in UK for TR6 seats ? Tear them out and put in Miata seats with speakers right in the headrests. Blows your mind, doesn't it ?

My TR3A doesn't even have headrests, never mind a radio. I sure love the sound of my motor with nothing to disturb my thoughts but to let it talk to me all the way to ..... wherever.

Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A
Don Elliott

rick thanks i understand now how the seat "works" but for a first timer it does take time spent about an hour on one side piece last night but i want it to come out right. seems like everything "ends" up in the back getting glued or clamped to the frame or each other. Thanks for the advice
dave

Hey Don. The Miata seat craze is alive and well at my house in western PA. Got the seats from a '95 miata and I'm adapting the slides to fit my six. I'm doing this mainly to get more legroom, but the additional thigh/back support and headrest speakers (2 in each headrest) are great additions.

Rick O.
Rick Orthen

Dave
I was thinking of saying that the back where everything comes together is the hardest...I think I did mention it above though. Yup, I found that the most difficult. I glued the material then mounted the bar for the seat lock. An awl will find the screw holes.
Rick C
PS your welcome
Rick Crawford

Dave

Eric from the Rocky Mountain Triumph Club hosted a Tech session on reupholstering the seats of a tr6, a few weeks back. He did a great job. The best part was the knowledge gained from reverse engeneering the old seats. First, he used new foam, which I believe to be essential.

We use the artical from Buckeye as a guide, but without close inspection it was not obvious how the seat skins glued to the new foam

The next most important bit, was the seat back straps. They has streatched conciderably. Eric removed the staples, shortened them, and restapled.

Important Note! The bottom strap was actually glued to the foam, on the seat we did.

Last but not least, A Warm workplace and Warm Material will facilitate the seat back streach. It is not a one person job.

If you remember the five P's, "prior planning prevents poor performance" you will have a lot of fun, pride in the accomplishment of a job well done and save a lot of money.

I would like to extend my thanks to Eric and the RMTC.

TriumphDaddy
triumphdaddy

TR 6's come with radios?!
Don K
DON KELLY

BC asks: whats the point? With the roof down, you'd have to crank the volume to deafening levels and you'd miss that throaty roar of the inline 6. Not to mention those odd squeaks and grinds that we must pay attention to. It's come to the point where I can identify any abnormal noise or smell with startling accuracy, no matter how slight. ie. rear beraring in the alt causes slight high pitched squeak and minor rubber burn. Remedy: shut off lights.
Bryn

This thread was discussed between 31/01/2003 and 08/03/2003

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