[69SCODE]

I have a 69 convt xr7 with leather black seats. I would love to restore them to there original glory. has anybody have experience doing this. I heard it pain and better left to a pro! How much does this cost? Is there different quality in different in repro upholstery kits out there? If so which is the best? Should I upholseter the back also? Its in good condition but will the new buckets match? Just a few questions, It is something I will do by summer. Thanks!!

 

[wvcat]

I reupolstered my seat in my 70 last year and you are correct its a pain. However its not too bad once you get the hang of it. The back seat was easy, the buckets took some patients. First tip is get some good hog ring pliers. I found the correct term for the hog rings is actually pig rings. Hog rings are way too big. Check out my page to see the finished product. If I can help with any advice just ask. I bought my seat covers from autokrafters.
John

 

[modifiedmark]

I also redone my 70 XR7 front seats last spring. I thought I would do them myself as I had done some truck seats before and thought I was up to it. I was wrong. I ended up having a pro do mine. A man has to know his limitations!!!

I dont know how the best way to explain it ,but where the seat bottom slopes down from the outside edges and the trim cord is fastened from the inside is where I had trouble.

My upholstery also came from Auto Krafters and they look great but they also scrimped some on them. The original upolstery had steel wires run through fabric flaps where the replacemnts had a nylon cord run through the flaps and would not hold the seams even when they were hog ringed down. The flaps were also a bit too long and the upolsterer ended up cutting and resewing the flaps and using the original steel rods in them.

The seat backs were not done and they match perfectly, along with the back seat. The guy was only going to charge me $75 to install the upolstery for me but ended up charging $125 after he ended up doing the cutting and resewing. Still that was very cheap compared to some of the quotes I recived to get them done.

From my personal experiance I would not go with Auto Krafters again even though they were reasonably priced and look great, I would spend a little more to make sure they had the steel rods and such. mm

 

[wvcat]

MM,
I had trouble in the same spot,I made a toolto pull the seeam down into the contour. After I figured that out it was no problembut still not easy. You have to hold that seam down while attaching the hog rings. I also put extra padding under the stock padding to make up for its age, that didn't make it any easier. I was going to have someone install them for me but I couldn't get it done that cheap, I was looking at roughly the same amount to install them as I paid for them. Overall I would use AK's seat covers again.
John

 

[73XR-7owner]

John,

I never get tired of looking at the interior!

 

[Logan]

No doubt, that's a gorgeous interior... I applaud folks who take the extra effort to restore "other than black" interiors...

 

[wvcat]

Thanks for the compliments Chas & Logan. I like the colored interiors also, not just because mine is blue but these days it seems the only colors around are gray, darker gray, or biege. You don't even see too much black anymore.
John

 

[modifiedmark]

John I wasn't really knocking the Auto Krafters stuff. They look great, its just if a pro or someone really handy isn't going to do it I think it would be better with them made the way the originals were.

I also was shocked when I started looking around for someone to do it for me. I don't mind paying, but I could'nt see paying what they wanted for basically a few hours work. (at least it should'nt take a pro much longer than that) The other quotes I got ranged from $250-$400!!!

I got lucky and found out about the place that did mine from a guy I was working with. The only thing is you would'nt want to go around the place after dark. The guy has been in the same place for 32 years which happens to be 1 block off of broadway in beautifull downtown Gary IN. Legend has it this guy has killed about 6 robbers (and wounded a few more) in the place over the years. mm

 

[sixt9coug]

theres a guy around here who said hed do a pair of high back buckets for the Mach 1 ( the eternal postponed project ) for 130 each. hes pretty good too. he did my vinyl top for 180 as well. original grain and correct pleats and all. looks good.

 

[Ray]

Seats

Catz I also have had several seats done over years and I use a local upolsterer who works from his home My cost is about $750 for frt seats done in leather complete including headrests dissassembly and reassembly as well as rear seats completely redone in vinyl. He also makes for me the straps for XR7 door pulls and the straps in seats themselves that are different grain and go cross wise. I'm attaching a pic of my Blk and Red 69 351 4V XR7 convertable seats I had done last year. They really are red but flash makes them look lighter. Currently I am doing the frt and rears White Leather seats in my Purple Rocky Mountain Cat as well as my 390 Aqua and White XR7 convertable. Everything new tops bottoms sides frts backs headrests everything for $1500 for both catz.All I have to do is bolt them in. I don't think anyone can beat this price for the quality and superior materials being used and should be a good guide for what costs are at a minimum for XR7 leather frts and vinyl rears.Custom built if you have the right guy is best in my opinion after all you'll hafta see an upolsterer to pig ring your cheaper production upolstery sets anyway.Catz yaz later,Ray

 

[69SCODE]

Thats why I love this site. You ask a question. And you get every angle. The way it looks, I'm going to buy the covers and have them done, but would be better and "correct" to have them made? Is it done often? I would want to keep the correct pattern and feel. Should also get my rear seat done? Its in great condiion, but will it match the front when the fronts are redone? Thanks

 

[CougarMike]

Seats for the pros

I had my seats don by a local shop. They stripped out the old seat material and foam. They installed and completely reshaped everything and customized them for less than $600. Best money I ever spent! Remember you have to sit in it to enjoy driving it!
See below before & after!



http://www.geocities.com/cougar_resto/2.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/cougar_resto/Seat1.JPG

 

[wvcat]

Those seats are sharp, looks really cool!!!