69 Barracuda seats

[mikekfr]

I got hired to do a complete interior in a 69 barracuda here locally, figured i'd share some pics seeing i don't get to do this every day. Owner bought all new foam lumbars for front, 2 full hides of black leather and a back seat restore kit ( solid pc of foam and some cotton batting ). Yesterday, tied springs off w/ braided rope ( this is something that'd be done on your sofa ) secured the pull rod i'm going to hogring to, mounted the foam on the frames, sliced the slit for the pull cloth i'm gonna sew into the covers.

Today, got the 2 bottom diamond pleated inserts made, ( forgot to mention, i'm doing custom diamond pleats ) cut & sewed the ears to the diamonds to complete the 'body' of the seat bottoms. I make duplicates of everything so they end up looking the same ( luckily the seats aren't opposites of each other - only the front plastic pc that holds the seat belts are opposites ).

Topstitched the ears to the insert, i already cut the leather for the welt cord for all 4 pcs( beading some people call it ) Gonna try to have the bottoms complete by tomorrow's end.

p.s. He also gave me some huge burlap coffee bags to use to keep the foam from pushing through the springs in years to come, i folded the bag in half and that provided 4 layers on each bottom.

 

[mikekfr]

day 2

 

[bofa]

That's a pretty cool job you have there man. Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest.

 

[mikekfr]

Thanks man, i have a long way to go but have got a good start on things. Thankfully the springs weren't broken. I forgot to mention the thread is a marine grade 'dabond' grey thread. Even the thread to sew everything together is marine grade black. Don't want this job coming back over some cheap arse thread.

 

[ddnww]

in on interior thread:bluejump:

 

[mikekfr]

So the foam lumbars he got weren't exactly what was there, only diff i saw was i had to cut my own slit in them for the hogring pull cloth. And the backrest, as far as i can tell, there's no back foam parts to cover the seat frame, the back of the headrest part is a glue in pc, not a problem, just odd, usually the foam is together up top and slides in place, but whatevs, i can fix it as i keep plenty of foam in stock

Rather than just hogring the pull cloth i made and hope it was pulled tight enough later, i tied 3 strands of 1/8" braided rope into the pull cloth i made, and inserted the steel rod in the pull cloth, then poked 3 holes thru the burlap ( right beside the pre-mounted steel rod attached to the seat frame ) for each pull cloth, and braided the rope into the springs underneath. In the end, what that's given me is an adjustable pull cloth, i can pull that valley in the seam as tight as i choose, after = keyword, the cover is hogringed on.

Pics...

Also, the foam they sent was flat like a truck bench seat, the last pic shows what little 'valley' i created by adding a 1/2" piece of sewfoam to the sides of the diamond pleat insert, on the seat foam itself. .

 

[Hepar]

Seats are looking great. Looking forward to seeing the final product. Especially IN the 'cudda.

 

[mikekfr]

Thanks !! The pics in the car will be awhile. I turned the owner onto a body and paint guy, and i believe in about 2 weeks, it's headed out to get some small rust areas fixed, and the two front floorboards replaced, then prime & paint i believe. However, you can count on me getting some pics of the seats in the car, just unsure when.

Finished the bottoms and sewed the diamonds for the bkrests, tore off the old ragged foam and got the 2 new backrest lumbars on. /yawns ....back to fitting more pieces tomorrow morning.

The ice falling from the tree branches and limbs today, landing on my metal building, along with landing on the top of my boxtruck, beside my shop, made for an exciting afternoon. Thought the oak tree was gonna come down.

 

[mikekfr]

....

 

[wake_rider]

I love seeing this kind of stuff. Tools, metal, foam, leather, hands, skill, and not a single computer or robot involved

 

[bofa]

Curious - what color is the cuda? Black/Silver as well?

I love seeing this kind of stuff. Tools, metal, foam, leather, hands, skill, and not a single computer or robot involved

Don't know man.. those space heaters look like Decepticons.

 

[ran]

Miss my '69 Fastback, 318 4 bbl, dual exhaust. and yes, the front and rear bumpers are the same model.
______________
2007 SE V6

 

[mikekfr]

Bofa, it was a rust, bronze color, to the best of what was left to see ( the sides have been taken down to almost bare metal), i believe there's evidence it was once green in very tiny nooks and crannies. I think they've decided to use gun metal grey as a trim color. I took them a motorcycle seat i did in diamonds and grey thread, prior, and they both loved it . Actually i have a pic of the front of it. Glad you guys are diggin the pics, seems like a slow process compared to other jobs. Actually am enjoying the challenge of fitting new covers to the new foam, for a change.

Looking forward to being done w/ the bucket seats tomorrow, will be delivering them the minute they're done and going to get the back seats.

Some pics from before i started to show the car/color.

 

[mikekfr]

....

 

[mikekfr]

Some pics for Doc2012,

On corners, you have to make small relief cuts on the 'band' or middle piece. If you don't, the corners get bunched up and actually rise off the foam. I tried to take some pics to show you....also, on the design of the corner, you have to visualize that foam giving a good 1/2" when you pull the covers tight, so you have to fit it to accomidate that, in other words, sew up tight on those corners and take more than you think you need, and when you sew the band or joining piece to those corners....small relief cuts that don't quite reach the sewing line. Also, my way w/ fitting is i put arrows on seam lines to keep the lines seperated from the regular reference marks that line up the pieces being sewn.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Out of curiosity why burlap? Would something more akin to canvas or even denim (in weight) be more desirably? Or is it just one of those "old school" tricks vs. using a more expensive material?

You're upholstery work is beautiful by the way, I just did a seat and foam for a Highlander under warranty and I have to admit I kind of prefer older designs that used a ton of hog rings and such to some of the new stuff. The leather seats I did had a odd push/clip/fold over into a hard plastic retaining tube (different than the simpler fold over and clip design) that literally require so much force to get them to clip I could hear the joints in my fingers popping! Eventually came out nice, but no where near the beauty that you are showing us now!

 

[mikekfr]

Good question, to be honest, in regards to the burlap question, it's been used for that very thing for frikkin ever, but mainly in this case, it was free. I have oodles of various marine vinyls i could have used, and often, do use on fleet truck seat repairs. The only thing i can add is that the original burlap has very thin metal rods weaved into and through the burlap, the rods run across the grain of the springs, so i believe they were meant to serve as a cross brace to keep the foam from pushing through the springs, which would shove the spring upwards into the fabric, which would obviously end up ripping through, and leaving a nasty mark !!

Burlap could also be perfect in that scenario due to it's flexibility, seeing that those springs are going to see many different positions as various weights of people sit in them. Don't know if you know this but in the early model car seats & furniture, ( especially volkswagens ) horse hair was used in place of foam, along with cotton batting.

On large pieces of furniture, there's a bed of springs that are tied together, and then have burlap webbing hog ringed to the springs, often on top and bottom of the springs.

 

[ddnww]

Bofa, it was a rust, bronze color, to the best of what was left to see ( the sides have been taken down to almost bare metal), i believe there's evidence it was once green in very tiny nooks and crannies. I think they've decided to use gun metal grey as a trim color. I took them a motorcycle seat i did in diamonds and grey thread, prior, and they both loved it . Actually i have a pic of the front of it. Glad you guys are diggin the pics, seems like a slow process compared to other jobs. Actually am enjoying the challenge of fitting new covers to the new foam, for a change.

Looking forward to being done w/ the bucket seats tomorrow, will be delivering them the minute they're done and going to get the back seats.

Some pics from before i started to show the car/color.

"They" are doing it wrong, it's best to do paint first, then match interior to paint.

 

[mikekfr]

Well i believe they've changed their mind overnight lol. They were talking about some different color schemes today. Regardless, i'm glad to be done w/ the bucket seats and onto the back seats. It's all downhill from here. I'll get some pics of the seats in the car once they get it back. Starting back seats Monday morn.

 

[bofa]

Those are coming along nicely!

Given the material colors, I hope they go with silver for the exterior with maybe a black accent.