Automotive Upholstery & Interior Restoration. Fred Mattson
Applying a small amount of heat to the vinyl helps it to conform to the shape of the trim panel as it is pulled over the edge and glued into position.
A prominent feature of this era of car seat is the lower side skirt. This front skirt has a decorative band of stainless trim that helps the cover material contour to the profile of the skirt. The stainless trim is held in place by small pins and a trim screw.
The decorative stainless trim should be marked on the backside or with a piece of masking tape as to its orientation on the panel. Clean the stainless with #0000 steel wool to bring back its luster. Repair any broken mounting pins if necessary.
Cover Removal
The wrapped cover material of the panel is glued and/or stapled to the backside of the panels. These fasteners are lifted from the panel and then the cover material can be peeled off. Retain the old cover material so that it can be used as a pattern for the new panel cover.
Panel Cleaning and Prep
Under the upholstery material is usually thin cotton padding or coach wadding. Remove this by scraping it off with a putty knife and de-scaling the panel with a wire brush. Clean the surface of the panel with lacquer thinner to remove any residual glue and dust. The surface of the metal may be rusty and it should be sanded, primed, and painted to prevent it from further corrosion. If the panel is damaged or rusted out, proper repairs must be made before the panel can be re-covered. Replace the cotton coach wadding by gluing a felt underliner or foam-backed headliner material to the metal skirt. Wrap the padding around the edges of the skirt and trim the padding to fit.
Cut a new piece of vinyl about 2 inches oversize and set the skirt panel on the vinyl. Spray glue onto the backside edges of the skirt and around the vinyl cover material. Now stretch the vinyl over and around to the back of the skirt on the top and bottom edges. Add a couple of staples to hold it in place. Pull forward on the vinyl to remove any wrinkles and staple the vinyl to the front edge. Apply heat to the vinyl if necessary to help it stretch and lay smooth, and finish working the vinyl until it covers the skirt.
Welt Edging
Sew on a 5/32-inch welt to trim the upper edge of the skirt. Cut a vinyl strip 2½ inches wide for the welt cover. The extra selvedge material is stapled to the inside of the skirt. This decorative welt gives the skirt a finished appearance and it looks nice once the skirt is fit to the bottom of the seat, giving the skirt some extra definition.
Trim Installation
Before the stainless trim can be re-fit on the skirt the mounting holes need to be opened. From the backside of the skirt locate the trim mounting holes and with help from a regulator, poke through the surface of the vinyl to open the hole. Set the stainless trim in place by guiding the mounting pins through the holes in the vinyl.
Secure the stainless trim to the skirt by bending the mounting pins over with a tack hammer. Take care when bending the pins so that you do not break them off.
Cover over the staples and trim pins with a new inner liner made from a piece of panel board. Staple the liner in place.
Apply any other badges or trim pieces to the skirt. The skirts are finished and should be set aside until they are needed for the final assembly of the seat.
Restoring Seat Skirts
1 Before the skirt can be re-covered it is stripped of all the old upholstery materials. The inner liner of the skirt is removed along with all the staples holding the cover material in place. The old cover material is removed and used as a reference for the new cover.
2 Special care must be taken when removing the stainless trim from the trim panel. Lifting the mounting pins is a delicate job if you do not want to break them off. The pins are raised from the backside of the trim panel with a staple lifter.
3 The stainless trim piece is lifted carefully from the panel without bending it. Clean the stainless by wiping it down with a damp rag and polishing the surface with #0000 steel wool. The mounting pins are also straightened so that the piece can be reinstalled.
4 After the removal of the old cover material and coach wadding, the metal surface reveals some signs of corrosion. A light wire brushing and some sanding yields a clean surface for a new felt underliner to be glued in place.
5 With the padding applied and trimmed, the outside of the skirt can now be wrapped in vinyl. An oversize piece of vinyl is cut and fit to the skirt. Glue is applied to the backside of the vinyl and inside edges of the skirt.
6 The vinyl is heated and stretched over the skirt and stapled along the backside to hold it in place. To get the vinyl to conform to the contours of the skirt’s profile, additional heat is applied while the vinyl is pulled forward and worked around the corners.
7 A finishing touch is added to the skirt. The upper edge of the skirt is adorned with a decorative bead of welt. The welt on the outside edge of the skirt helps the skirt stand away from the seat cover boxing.
8 Replacing the decorative stainless trim on the skirt helps the vinyl keep tight to the surface. A regulator is used to pierce the vinyl, which then allows the mounting pins to easily pass through to the backside of the skirt.
9 The stainless trim is secured in place on the skirt by gently tapping and bending the mounting pins over with a tack hammer. The staples and mounting pins are concealed on the inside of the skirt with a new inner liner.
10 The lower seat skirts are completed and ready to be installed. The seat trim makes all the difference in how finished the seat looks once it is installed in the car. These trim pieces are mostly decorative but worth the effort to make them new again.
Seatback Panels
The outside seatback also must be stripped down and reconditioned. Finish removing the robe cord from the inside of the seatback by removing the hook end of the robe cord from the spring-loaded tensioning retainer. The robe cord also needs to be restored. You will reuse some of its parts; set it aside until you address it later.
Remove the decorative welt cord from the edge of the seatback by lifting the staples that hold it in place. Continue around the shell, removing all the staples that are holding the cover in place. Peel back the edges of the old cover material and remove the cover from the shell.
With a putty knife, scrape off the cotton coach wadding that is on the seatback shell and clean the metal as you did with the skirts. Since coach wadding is no longer available, apply a layer of foam-backed headliner material or