Problems Re-covering Seat Back (late-S1 & S2 seat)

I am re-covering the seats for my S2. The seat bottom went very well but I have reached a point with the seat back that has me stumped. Hopefully someone here has encountered this; otherwise, I’m open to suggestions.

I am using a seat kit from BAS/UK and the foam (not horsehair) padding from World Upholstery:

170-8653padkit

I have done a mock-up and see two problems.

First, the BAS seat cover appears to be narrower along the sides that the original I removed:

I then mocked up the seat foam to get an idea how thick the built-up seat back was going to be:

Yikes! Even with the plastic bag trick - I see no hope of stuffing all that into the cover I have.

I am not quite flying blind here as J-L member Steve H sent me some excellent step-by-step photos of a seat back built up with foam. From that set:


04 Seat Back 105

04 Seat Back 106

04 Seat Back 108

05 Seat Back Cover 104

I may reach out to BAS/UK - I realize they cannot give me detailed instructions (I’m supposed to know how to do this) but perhaps they can comment on the difference in the width of the side compared to the original (or the example in Steve’s photo above).

I would really like to stay with foam if I can make it work as I like the control and repeat-ability it offers compared to horsehair and stuffing.

Experience with this would be most helpful. Suggestions are also welcome (though ‘pay someone to do it’ is probably not on). Thanks.

I sent my BAS/UK skins to OSJI and they did a good job.

Try calling them, I’m sure they will help.

Marco

Hi George…I didnt use the foam but kept my original horse hair and added new Dacron wadding…then used the plastic bag…it really was a tight fit pusshing in 1/2in at a time each side but i wanted the seats with a bit extra padding…your first photo with your trial foam does look like u have it quite thick…this is the only photo i have of my seat from the side that i can get…hope it might help…PS getting the bag out is a struggle you have to force your arm in and rip it to get it out…easyer if you cut up each side of bag befor you try to push it all in…Steve

When I stuffed the foam into the seat back leather “glove” , I first of all put it into a thin film plastic bag.This allows the foam to be moved around for optimum fit , and when done, the plastic is ripped out and the plastic discarded.

Just for interest’s sake, why does the bag have to come out?

I think you would hear it rustling if left in might not let leather breath…bit like wearing a plastic bag under your pants

After putting the plastic bag over the seat back, have someone hold the bottom of the bag around the end of your vacuum cleaner hose and turn it on. It will greatly reduce the size of the foam while you put the upholstery on. It doesn’t hurt the foam which will return to it’s original shape. I also use this trick to insert the foam in the headrest covers.

Thanks for that tip. I was considering just lying on the seat back to push air out then close the bag but using a vacuum is a good idea.

I have the foam glued in place but not yet trimmed. I removed the two horse-shoe pieces and moved them inward and to the inside to more closely resemble the horsehair version:

These pieces:

170-8653padkit

Re-configured to resemble:

Now I will measure and trim trying to anticipate the shape of the foam that will suitably fill the seat back.

Wow - that was a great idea. I’m still whittling on the foam to get the ideal shape to fill the covers I have but meanwhile wanted to emphasize how great this technique works for all the trial and error fittings:

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Glad it worked for you, definitely saves frayed nerves.