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The new seat leather arrived and it is time to take out the front seats.
I got them unbolted and disconnected the ribbon connector from the ECUs. Will take them out of the car tomorrow and see how hard it will be to remove the seat rails from the bottom cushions. With any luck it won't be a nightmare and will deliver them to the upholstery guy on Monday.
It's pretty easy to take the seat frame off and also to split the cushion and seat back apart.
However, to take the frame off, you need to undo the two bolts that are currently exposed (depends whether you finished with the seat in it's foremost or rearward position when removed) then reconnect the seat plug and motor it back the other way. This will then expose the other two bolts.
Got the seat rails off. It was easy. Just layed them in the car and connected the ribbon connector back up to move the rails to get at the other bolts.
However I did not take the back of the top section apart because it seems that it is glued in. Not to mention the lever to tip the seat forward to get in the back seat didn't want to pop off. I'll let the upholstery guy do it and hope he has experience with this type of seat.
That plastic cover on the seat tilt lever is on quite a tight spring clip but it will come off. And yes, there is often a bit of glue helping to hold the back trim in place but it just pulls off with a bit of persuasion,
OK two pictures. The seat is the passenger seat and is in not bad condition. I had to buy the leather replacements for both front seats. I'm going to see if I can sell the leather that comes off this seat. (In the back of my Subaru waiting to be delivered Monday.)
When all is done, please update with where you ordered from, cost (if you care to share), where you had them done and cost (again, if you care to share).
I ordered them through a local upholster in Windsor Locks, CT.
All I know is that they came from Calif. Were high quality leather, cost $1,300 with $65. shipping. Installation charge was $350.
I have the passenger side leather that is in real good condition. I'd
let it go pretty reasonably to someone who needs a driver side replacement. The covers are interchangeable with a small bit of patchwork and cutting that will not show when installed.
I wish I could have gotten just the driver side when I did mine.
I know it's an older topic, but how did you get that plastic tilt lever cover off? I've tryed pulling on it to no avail. Don't want to break it. Thank you!
Alex - I just did mine yesterday. A good hard pull is what's needed. It snaps on directly, so twisting and so on won't work. There's a double-sided metal catch at the end of the lever bar that fits into the plastic, holding it by pressure. Maybe a small amount of wriggling will help, but other than that, just a good pull should not end up breaking it. You'll need more force than you initially think, however, as it's a good tight fit.
I, too, found some small amount of adhesive holding the plastic seat back sides on, but it pulled away easily, eased by my fingers, and when I replaced the seat back you'd never know there wasn't any glue there (it's really a pretty insignificant amount). Don't forget the two small black screws to remove the tilt lever socket plastic (not the lever cover itself), then it's just one screw on either side and two on the bottom of the seat back, underneath. The top is held in place with small velcro tabs so just pulls right off.
Sorry I couldn't help you. I took my seats to someone who did the job. He did say they were the most difficult he had ever done though. Glad Some Day was able to help you.
If Alex is still interested, this is the seat tilt lever when removed:
The plastic handles are on TIGHT. Removing the passenger side one today, I finally wrenched it off with a good hard pull, and cut my finger on the metal attachment.
Anyway, once you get that off, the rest is gravy.
Four screws (and the plastic tilt surround) off, then the back just pulls off.
You can see the lumbar support gear (grey leather pouch) and electric motor for the seat tilt at the bottom left.
When all is done, please update with where you ordered from, cost (if you care to share), where you had them done and cost (again, if you care to share).
Apologies if I missed an earlier thread....
I did mine about 6 years ago , got the covers from a company called World Upolstery in California . They make them from original factory forms using leather sourced from Italy , excellent quality and fit.
Sorry Im late in responding to this thread but I wanted to get the seats back from my upholsterer. I got seat kits and carpet kit for my 92 convertible from World Upholstery in CA. Cost $1650 for the leather seat kit and $750 for the carpet. Then carpet was their less expensive set. Quality was excellent. I can't say enough about the fit of the carpet (so far). I'm not quite finished. The seats look great. The upholsterer didn't have any problems with the fit.
Catterwaller, What kind of a job is it to install the carpets? I might like to install new ones in mine. I think they are glued in and it doesn't look like an easy job.
I'm still in process. Most are glued in. I used a gasket scraper to get under the edges and pulled it off. Then a combination of Scotchbrite more scraping and some MEK to remove the old glue. You don't need to remove all the old glue. If it's stuck well just glue over it. I used Permetex carpet and headliner glue, 3 coats on the carpet and one on the opposite surface. It works very well. Just be patient. Make sure you know how you want it to fit before gluing. Mask off areas so you don't get overspray glue where you don't want it. I saved the old pieces until the I'm sure of the placement of the new. I have the plywood cubby in the back. Installing the carpet on the lid required extra care to have enough clearance to open and close properly. I used some staples there to hold the carpet in place while the glue set up. Some I left in where they didn't show. I'm still working on the pieces in the footwells. It's taking some study to be sure of the placement before gluing. I had to cut the hole for the kick down switch. It makes you nervous that you may miss the location but I think now I could patch it if I missed. There are some other places that require a good carpet knife to make it lay down around corners etc. So far I have maybe 100 hours of work into it. I'll may have another 30 by the time I'm done. I've been going slow.
New Seat Leather
