Seat tech - made from scratch

[LEEVON]

My motivation for doing a seat this way was wanting to retain a mostly original look and feel in the interior, including the seat frame/floor riser set-up but with more comfort. I first tried modifying an '88 bench seat and it was comfortable but just not quite "right" for Popeye the '50.

I started with an original seat. Then I deconstructed the seat frames by removing the locating/mounting tabs (two on the bottom front, three on the bottom back and three on the top back). I cut the welds from all of these and set them aside. Then I used the back and bottom for size and shape and created new bases out of 7/16" plywood (the good stuff, woodworking grade). I then sanded and fit them to the seat frame utilizing the tabs attached with wood screws. From that point I attached the correct density of foam for the seat back and bottom, gluing it to the plywood with spray adhesive. I rough shaped the foam with an electric carving knife, then fine-shaped with 80 grit media on my grinder. The upholstery shop took it from there and did an outstanding job. I recommend this approach if you're looking for more comfort in an original seat.

[LEEVON]

pics 2

[LEEVON]

pics 3

[LEEVON]

The final result

[_Ogre]

i like it, i like it

[MARTINSR]

Nice work, looking good!

Brian

[mongocanfly]

wow....wasn't expecting that....it looks great!!

[oldman3]

Seat looks great...Jim

[bigdaddyfuselier]

Were did you get the foam from?

Thanks
Billy

[Coach529]

Looks fabulous. More info on the foam would be great!!

[Jemezcrusher]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

The final result

What was your cost from the upholstery shop?

[whitedog76]

Great, job. I was thinking of a way to firm up my seat springs, but I like your method. The diamond pattern and the bolstering are the cats meow.

[MIKESAD50]

looks great and nice work.

[NeoJuice]

Love the seat and the way it turned out. I'll be doing the same thing to my origional bench seat in the future. Where did you get the foam?

Love the steering wheel in that picture. What is it off of? I'll check out your build thread.

[Richard2112]

Outstanding work! I can do alott of things but that isn't one of them. So how did you decide on the density, and thickness of foam to use? Is the foam stitched into the final shape or is there more cutting/adding required to achieve the border shape? Nice project.

[LEEVON]

Thanks all! I will do my best to answer questions. Unfortunately I lost the invoice for the foam. I will say this, I thought it would be easy to find information but I scoured the internet and only found one reference from another forum about proper density for car/truck seat bottoms and backs. I couldn't translate any of those numbers into supplier websites, etc. So I called an upholstery supplier, told them what I was doing and they knew exactly what I needed and shipped it to me. If I ever run across that invoice with specs, I'll update this thread. I think for this reason it's not a "totally internet" project if that makes sense.

The interior guy added the bolsters at my request, and he said the way I shaped the foam was good for final fitting, he was somewhat impressed actually which I was not expecting. His charge on the seat cover and door panels was $1200 and I'm still going to have him do a headliner and carpet so maybe another $1000 to go for interior. I am also going to change out my brand new seat belt set for brown. I had originally planned for all black interior. Yes, that's a major investment in just a seat but I wanted the truck to have a higher-end look.

Steering wheel is 65 Chevelle I think...it's been awhile and I pulled it from a stack of old steering wheels I have stashed. Still needs a horn button.

[NeoJuice]

LEEVON,

Thank you for the reply about the steering wheel. I thought it might have been an Impala steering wheel. Looks like it matches up nicely.

I think I might start a 'show me your steering wheel thread' I need to find something for my truck but I cant decide on what i want.