Page Sixty-Six - Back to It

 

I left off with the seat bottoms, now for the backs.

Maybe you have noticed – I have – that many Alpine seats often look deflated.  The foam decays, yeah, but the cardboard Rootes used as structure absorbs water and collapses over time, especially the cardboard behind the foam in the seat backs, if it's there at all.

(Pic above - the lumpiness is slowly working its way out as the vinyl slowly stretches and constracts.  I set them in the sun too loosen the vinyl.  I'm working on the pieces that cover the hinges.  One was missing and one was pretty rusted - I'm fabbing those two pieces.)

I bought some matte board (the stuff used to frame pictures) and fitted it to the frame.  When I took Alphie’s seat backs apart, they didn’t have cardboard behind the foam, so I cut some matte board to fit it.

But, as I was researching seats on the forum, someone mentioned that they had used Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic and it occurred to me that ABS plastic will not absorb water and will retain its shape indefinitely, so I ordered some.

ABS sheet, cardboard pattern and my jigsaw with a metal cutting blade.
Cut at a slow speed because fast will melt the ABS.

I got two 24” X 48” sheets, big enough for two outer and two inner panels - I used the cardboard pieces as patterns.  ABS isn’t as easy to work with as cardboard, but the results are strikingly better.  I bent the outer pieces with a heat gun on low.  The stuff melts if you get it too hot so go slow.

ABS outer panel before bending

Outer ABS panel after bending.
There were wrinkles to work out, note the top edge of the frame.

With the ABS in place, I found I didn’t need glue when I fitted the foam.

I strayed from Mr. Parlanti’s instructions in that he glued the center section of the seat cover to the foam.  I found that glue wouldn’t pull the vinyl tight enough, and Alphie’s seat covers are later model ones with the “hinged” centers section, where Mr. Parlanti’s were one-piece covers.

I inserted metal rods into the finish seams on the front side pieces (see the pic) so that I could pull the sides tight with safety wire looped around the frame, again, see the pics.

Metal rods inserted in the finish seams

Inner panel attached to the frame with slots for the safety wire.
Safety wire looped around the frame to pull the seat cover sides tight

Safety wire pulled tight and trimmed

Bend the wire so that it won't poke through the vinyl.
The covers are significantly tighter than if I had glued them.

The rest of the installation followed Mr. Parlanti’s instruction except that I added extra polyester batting over the outside of the frame and under the top portion of the center section to add fill and smooth over the frame pieces.  (Don’t use cotton batting, by the way.  It will collapse over time and absorb water.)

Issues of Note:

The sprocket for the back recline-adjuster is made of some seriously hard steel.  Long story coming.

The sprocket on the recliner gizmo is made of VERY HARD steel.
Note that I got new bolts because 3 inch long 1/4 inch screws are hard to find.

The flat head screws that attach the sprocket to the seat frame use Wentworth threads, infuriatingly hard to find.  (OK, I had the old ones, but they were very rusty, they are flat-headed, and they just suck.) Maybe some specialty fastener companies have Wentworth threaded hardware on the web somewhere, but they are WAY more expensive than it’s worth. 

FYI - pushing the adjuster lever down until it meets
the metal frame locks the seat back in place - unlike modern cars.

SO, I decided to rethread them with a 5/16” tap – broke two taps before it dawned on me that the steel is amazingly hard.  SO, I tried drilling them out, destroyed a 5/16” bit and only drilled one hole – gave up and bought some ¼” socket button head machine screws because they don’t stick out much and just bolted it together.  Not stock but sorted!

Socket button head screw in place
Pro-Tip: Take the pics before assembling the seats.

Seat Springs

(The ones that push the seat forward when you pull the handle.)  I had noticed that many Alpine seats have bent springs, and that the springs tend to drag across the vinyl as they flex.

Perhaps Alphie's seats had been reuphostered or "fixed" at some point because the springs were attached directly to the bottom seat frame.  The spring in Mr. Parlanti's instructions were attached to a tab of sheet metal attached to the frame, which moved them away from the frame so that they neither bent nor rubbed against the vinyl.  I fabbed up a set for Alphie's seats.  You'll see in the pic below that my first attempt didn't clear the frame far enough so I made some longer ones.

Spring mounts - the first and second attempts.
Note that the springs doesn't contact the frame or vinyl, smashing!

Since the springs were bent and rusty, I found some new ones.  They were a bit shorter and have less pull tension, but they work well and two small "S" hooks fixed the length problem.

The old, bent and rusty springs

Console

I upholstered console top.  I will add pics or maybe a new page about restoring the console, but here's some pics until then.

Underside of the console lid

I lined the inside with some
rubber liner for tool box drawers 

The console box is painted and ready. 
I'll glue the vinyl to it and finish the edges soon