Re-upholstery

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Wow, it seems like I'm making major steps in getting this Spider finished,...after 20 years of ownership!

Indeed! But you've got me beat, as it has taken me 28 years of ownership to finally (yesterday) fix the broken turn signal assembly on my '69 truck. I had to live with a toggle switch that I had jury rigged on the dash for the turn signals, for all these years, as the previous owner somehow broke the stalk and fried the wiring inside the steering wheel hub....

-Bryan

[wetminkey]

I've got my new upholstery in hand, now. Very nice, I must say.
Reinforced edge stitching, thick foam padding, proper attachment points (and methods), and nice, straight stitching similar to Fiat's pattern. You've already seen what the vinyl looks like,...
And it was half the price of World Upholstery or Autoberry, both of which I got swatches from. I also liked UpholsteryGuys vinyl the best, in the first place.
I'll need to make a couple more wires for the back seat, since those don't seem to have been used originally,...As stated previously in this thread, metal coat hanger wire works great.
I hope to start on front seat bottoms tonight,...
More soon, with pics.

[wetminkey]

Back seat bottom:
The bun has a wire lashed onto the frame in a slot on both sides of the center panel of the seat (see pic below).
Install a pair of wires in the upholstery sleeves.
Upholstery inside out,...align upholstery top edge and bottom edge evenly and set sleeves in slots. If you feel from below, you can feel where the bun wire is at. Working from the 'seat' side of the center panel, grab the center of the upholstery sleeve (wire inside) with the hog ring, push down to the bun wire and clamp the hog ring. Apply four hog rings along the wire, working from the center, out, and repeat on the opposite side.
Apply contact cement to 'seat' area of foam bun and upholstery.
Align all corners. Roll each front corner over and align front edge of upholstery. Roll each rear corner over. Smooth down each 'seat' area to adhere the upholstery.
I added a little foam to the curved front of my bun (to smooth the vinyl), but began setting hog-rings there, and working outward. Front edge first, along each side, then the back. Here's where I set my hog-rings, and my result:

Rear seat back needs a mounting tab welded before proceeding with it,...being arranged now.
My repaired original front seat frames and buns are now ready for the new upholstery:

Front seat back upholstery inside out, readying for installation...This is how the upholstery wires for the front seat backs are secured to the seat springs - heavy Italian "rubber bands":

We will see how those fit the front seats,...test fit of buns seemed good, but I find a couple of things different with my early 1979 car and the 1979 - 85 upholstery. I know that a number of changes to the cars occurred in 1979,...
I'll have to make openings in the upholstery for the seat belts to go through the rear seat back. And the front seat bottoms have XXL sized skirts,...but I've already figured out how to fix that nicely.
More very soon.

[wetminkey]

Guess what I did today,...?

My hands and fingers gave out after just one installation:

so I'll do the other tomorrow.
Headrest:
Identify upholstery's front/back. Apply upholstery right-side-out to one end of the headrest at approximately 90 degrees to the headrest. Apply hairdryer-heat to the upholstery opening and slide the upholstery up, and the 'close end', into place. Apply heat over the entire upholstery, and especially at the opening, again. Without pulling at the side seam, gently pull the upholstery up and over the top, while applying heat to the lower seams. It will not be easy, will take time, and compressing the foam bun with your fingers and body will help to move the vinyl along. Continue to apply heat to the upholstery as you advance it over the top at the front of the far end, and then over the 'tight-spot' of the interior metal frame at the back of the far end.
Once over, the headrest upholstery will slide into place. Apply heat to smooth it again, and slide the plastic strips into the headrest's central metal channel to tighten the vinyl.
Headrests are a real PITA! They do look cool when you're done,...!
My rear seat upper is 'done' other than finishing out the areas where the seatbelts pass through,...I'll also finish that tomorrow.

[wetminkey]

Finished the second headrest yesterday. Headrest secret,...lots of heat around the opening in the vinyl. BTW, it's the only upholstery piece that does NOT go on inside-out,...!
Rear seatback is finished like so:

Flaps cement back, and plastic pieces slide in from the sides,...two screws hold them in place. My rear seat upper did not have a pair of upholstery wires (like the lower did), so I lashed in a pair (just like the front ones have) and hog ringed the wires in my vinyl to those. So, my rear seat upper is now upholstered exactly like the rear seat lower.
My front seat upholstery seems to be made for slightly larger diameter seat bottoms,...two inches more strip and vinyl than my original upholstery (?). I had to find an inventive way to take up some slack, so I removed some of the strip on either side, rolled the vinyl a second time over it, and wired the corners down into the metal track:

Shouldn't be too hard to find an aesthetically pleasing way to tack the front vinyl panel down,...trim strip, perhaps.
I should be able to finish that, and apply the vinyl to the front seatbacks, tomorrow. And my paint for the plastic pieces has too much blue in it,...I'll find a better dark red.
A side note,...I've ordered some red dye for my faded seatbelts from Dharma Trading. We will see how that works out,...
More soon, Todd.

[wetminkey]

I found the PERFECT paint for the Fiat Spider's red interior plastic pieces,...it goes with the upholstery even better than the original factory red plastic! Rust-Oleum satin Claret Wine (paint and primer, "Ultracover", 249083, etc,..). Meant for wood, metal, and plastic. I painted all of my 'seat-related' discolored plastic pieces. They'll show up in the finished upholstery pics!
If you have a red interior, make note of this!
Considering the color of my seatbelt nylon,...I ordered 'Oxblood Red' dye from Dharma Trading Co today,...if I mix it thin, it could do the job,...what to test it on,...?! Hmmm,....

[wetminkey]

So, these are the newly finished pieces so far:

The wrinkle in the headrest will disappear when the weather warms,...This is NOT the right time of the year to re-upholster, but it sure is the most convenient! And I didn't even try to get the cigarette burn out of the bottom of the 'coin tray' cup.
The plastic pieces sure do match the vinyl nicely, don't they?
I've fashioned a pair of trim strips for the front seat bottoms, that will hold the lower front panel in place. I hope to finish those tomorrow, and apply vinyl onto the seatbacks. Pics when complete,...

[wetminkey]

I've been slow at continuing this thread, sorry. Lots going on as winter backs off a bit.
Front Seatbottoms:
Inside-out, with three upholstery wires in place (one down each side, one across the center section). Center the wire that crosses the upholstery in it's foam groove and set with hog rings. Hog ring the two side wires, from the center, outward. Invert the upholstery over the foam.
At this point, setting a plastic strip into a metal groove would secure the entire edge of the vinyl,...for correct fitting upholstery. My seat bottoms were slightly too large and needed some changes to fit. As posted previously, I had to cut the plastic strip, remove small sections, and wire down the edges at the front corners. I also mentioned metal trim panels to hold down the front center panel of the upholstery:

The rear of the upholstery simply folds over, and a plastic strip fits into a metal groove. The rear sides of the upholstery, next to the hinge plates, take two hog rings placed low, in the sides of the foam. I folded my rear corners to finish the upholstery a bit better, but in this pic, you can detect that I have yet to complete that:

I'll add front seatbacks to the thread tomorrow. Mine are just about done. I had to be a little inventive for them, also.
Manyana.

[RRoller123]

Nice job, this is a lot of work!

[wetminkey]

Thank you.
It wouldn't be so much work, if the sewn upholstery fits properly,...
I can usually do an entire interior on a car in about three days, without bustin' my butt - but a lot of older cars do not have separate headrests, and most all of the upholstery is simply hog ringed into place.
Fiat's headrests are difficult, and a few of the attachments are a 'slip-fit', which depends highly on fit to the foam bun. I believe that these front seat bottoms are sewn to accommodate repro replacement foam buns, which would probably be thicker. And several of the factory Fiat attachments cannot be used, as designed. It just requires some invention,...
But that's why I'm doing this thread,...so that others might feel OK about doing their own upholstery. Now everyone can see how it can be completed successfully,...hopefully, it will be easy to find on the forum via "Search".
In addition, finding paint to match (and not 'clash), having the seatframe repaired, repairing seat bun foam, and inventing new ways to attach and finish the upholstery, has taken an inordinate amount of time! BTW, just figuring out how to apply vinyl to the headrests probably took a VERY long time. It's too easy to rip a seam, or tear the vinyl, while struggling,...and then you've REALLY got a problem!
Anyway, I'll finish up with the front seat uppers later today,...
Thanks, again! I hope it's interesting, even if nobody ever tries to do their own re-upholstery!
Todd.

[wetminkey]

I forgot to mention what slows me up the most at this time of the year! The damned splits that I get in my fingertips from working upholstery, the Colorado winter dryness, and any solvents used in cleanup. I'm typing with some odd fingers right now,...!
It took me quite awhile yesterday to decide how I was going to fold and close the upholstery at the bottom of the seatbacks,...I placed, and removed a few hog rings before I was convinced.
I also found that I was missing a welded-nut on my driver's bottom frame, so I had to solve that with a nut and some JB Weld.
Here is how the front seat backs needed to be finished:

Once the vinyl is 'closed', the ends of the seat hinge bolts, seatbelt-guide screws, and headrest tubes can be hunted out under the vinyl, and cuts made to retrieve them.
And here's my front seat results:

I'll reassemble downstairs (I'm working where it's warm, at this time of the year) and then install in the car after I deal with my seatbelts.
As I've stated, I sure hope this helps others! And I'll be happy to answer any questions via Private Messages on this forum. I'd really like to see other's successful upholstery installations,...maybe even the not-so-successful!

[dinghyguy]

Really nice job
Way better than I could do!

Got any spare fabric? You could add a headliner too. Norma has a headliner fabric added inside the top and it adds a touch of class ( which I need but maybe you don’t......)

Will you make a toneau cover as well?

Cheers
Dinghyguy

[DRUMMOND]

Great job and well described Wetminkey!!!

Just to encourage others. this is all self made. Patience and a good sewing machine!! Just copy the original patterns.

[wetminkey]

Thanks, dinghyguy! It was a lot of work, but not as much as what DRUMMOND had to do! MAN!
The 1979 tonneau cover for my conv. top is still pretty, and in great shape! If I ever need to replace it, I know where to get the proper color of vinyl!
And DRUMMOND,...how cool. We have a nice machine, and I can sew, but I would not have thought upholstery to be possible with anything other than a commercial machine! Very nice job. I just buy sewn stuff and install it.
Saved my intact headrest vinyls so that they could be used for upholstery patterns,...for SOME crazy reason! Know anyone that could use them?
Again, beautiful job.
And thanks, guys. I really appreciate it,...

[RRoller123]

Really nice work! Exceptional.