Bucket seat restoration

[Blazerowner]

I'm looking for information on restoring the cst bucket seats for my 72 blazer. I will be going with the highlander covers as they were originally equipped. I have new foam and am in the process of stripping the frames. I see there are clips that look a bit like paperclips. I'm thinking they hold the foam in but don't see any wire above the foam in the crease. They were just sitting the holes in the foam. I did a search for a thread on this with no luck. I would also like to replace the springs and wonder if there is a source for these parts.

[Bigdav160]

A few months back I asked grumpy old man a similar question about my buckets. He said to hog ring the covers to the wire in the foam. It worked perfect.

Corvette suppliers sell a seat cover kit that has the little paper clip things. I needed those for my '72 Corvette covers.

My blazer seats were pretty tore up and I didn't find any of the paper clips thingys. I was just barely able to save the listing wires in the covers.

[Blazerowner]

I'm not sure how I could hog ring them in since it's right under where you sit. Does the foam have wire already in it? I haven't even looked them over well enough to know. Bad thing is I went to take apart the other seat and one side of the seat is cracked. Not sure what to do. I may have to replace it but I do have a welder. The bottom is fairly rusty. I wish they reproduced the frame.

[Bigdav160]

I bought PUI foam. It had wire embedded in it with small holes every few inches. The seat covers will corresponding sleeves that the listing wires go into. You will fold the seat covers inside out and attach, with hog rings, to the listing wire to the embedded wire in the foam. Then fold the seat cover over the foam and attach the bottom edge to the inside of your seat frames.

edit: I had to do some welding and reinforcing of my seat frames also. The hardest part was getting all the old foam off.

[pound41]

I think what you are talking about is a wire that runs through the foam right where the bead is on the seat bottom. mine is loose and will pop up. it has a little hook on the end that makes me think it was tied to the front. I have not torn my seats apart so i cant offer anymore info. My guess would be some kind of minimal structure

[Blazerowner]

Any ideas for the inserted nuts that the tracks bolt to? Some are pretty much gone and I'll have to drill them out. I've looked on the Internet and don't see anything similar. I may have to just weld in some regular nuts.

[Jerblazer72]

I have to tackle this job in the future on my blazer seats. Do yall have any pics of what you are talking about or how this process might go? Thanks.

[Blazerowner]

Ill try to get some on here but pretty much its tearing the old material off to get them down to the frames. I'm using a wire wheel on a drill to get off the old glue and foam once a tear most of it off. One of my frames is pretty beat and I'm looking for a replacement. I do know where two are but the guy wants over 330 for them with shipping. I only need one so Im thinking of getting them and selling the other one.

[69-72]

I wish there was a better provider for the paper clip clips, I litteraly spent years looking for them until recently finding out the corvette seats use them. I bought a kit and it didn't come with nearly enough to do both seats and I already had some of the clips.

[Blazerowner]

The low back seats for 73 up are the same frame right?

[70STOVEBOLT]

I know this is an old thread, but does anyone know if the listing wire that goes around the bottom of the frames is reproduced?

[a1vintage69]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

I know this is an old thread, but does anyone know if the listing wire that goes around the bottom of the frames is reproduced?

Check around at upholstery shops, they sell it by the foot.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Originally Posted by a1vintage69

Check around at upholstery shops, they sell it by the foot.

Ok, thanks.

[leddzepp]

I just reupholstered a bench seat. Use zip ties instead of hog rings, makes the job MUCH easier and a cleaner finish when done.

[A1971Blazer]

restored mine with new springs and new foam...
sand blasted the frames to get all the old foam off...bought new springs off eBay....
made the seats better than new...very firm and very comfortable....
I just bought some wire the correct size , cut and bent it to fit in the sleeves sewn inside of the covers...
the foam I got had the wires molded in....came from dashesdirect dot com....
PUI covers from LMC...guess I got lucky.......but I didn't want to wait for truckworld covers...
my seats were falling apart...someone had put plywood under the foam to support it...
turned out very nice..

[70STOVEBOLT]

What is the difference between the 69-70 and the 71-72 foam? The covers that most suppliers list fit all years. I know there was a difference in the vinyl pattern for the years but is the shape different? I can't see any in the pics I find online. Here is mine, which type do I have?

[a1vintage69]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

What is the difference between the 69-70 and the 71-72 foam? The covers that most suppliers list fit all years. I know there was a difference in the vinyl pattern for the years but is the shape different? I can't see any in the pics I find online. Here is mine, which type do I have?

those look like my 72

[A1971Blazer]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

What is the difference between the 69-70 and the 71-72 foam? The covers that most suppliers list fit all years. I know there was a difference in the vinyl pattern for the years but is the shape different? I can't see any in the pics I find online. Here is mine, which type do I have?

Best I could tell....... it's close to the same....what year are yours '70?
I wanted the 71-71 scroll pattern....so I got foam and covers for a 71-72.....the frames are identical....
I did glue some 1" foam around the bottom edges of the frame and rolled it under the lip...filled it in and hopefully will stop premature wear on the covers....
.....we shall see

[70STOVEBOLT]

Not sure what year these seats came out of. They had aftermarket black covers on them that had the backs covered completely. I want to strip them to the frames and blast them but I don’t know how to remove the back foam. How do I remove the back foam? I can’t fit the frame into the blasting cabinet at work in one piece. Do the frames come apart?Sorry for all the questions but I couldn’t find the answers by using search.

[A1971Blazer]

Originally Posted by 70STOVEBOLT

Not sure what year these seats came out of. They had aftermarket black covers on them that had the backs covered completely. I want to strip them to the frames and blast them but I don’t know how to remove the back foam. How do I remove the back foam? I can’t fit the frame into the blasting cabinet at work in one piece. Do the frames come apart?Sorry for all the questions but I couldn’t find the answers by using search.

unfortunately the frames do not come apart....

what I discovered was, it appears that when the seats were manufactured, they installed the springs onto the frame and then molded the foam onto them....

the reason I think this is because there was foam down inside every crack and crevice of the frames..... that process also embedded the springs into the foam...

replacement foam will not have the springs embedded.......

to get the back foam off fold it back and you will see the ends of the springs.......then pull the spring ends out of the keepers and the foam will come off.

look at the picture above that I posted........ you can see where the springs for the backrest attach to the frame

[70STOVEBOLT]

Thanks for the info, I am planning on stripping the frame tomorrow, going to the Chicago auto show today. I can blast the frames outside but I will have to wait for it to warm up.

[Blazerowner]

You can split the frames. I used a harbor freight spot weld bit and removed all the spot welds to take them down. You can get to all the rust that way and is worth it if you’re stripping them.