Spector seat foam and cover.

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cruiser_guy

cruiser_guy

Out of Africa / North Africa
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On the recommendations of others I too got the Spector seat foam and cover for the drivers seat of my '82 BJ60. I had been getting a sore butt from long drives lately and the cover was torn so I took the plunge. It's expensive but the first "test sit" sure felt good!

I'm taking a, 2 hour one way, trip to El Salvador tomorrow to renew my temporary import permit and that should give a good idea of just how much difference there is in the long haul drives.
 
I just did the Spector seat foam bottom for both front seats and their full vinyl upholstry set (which is really a nice look, fit and feel). My wife and I drove from Seattle to Whistler (~4 hours each way) 2 days after I did the install and the difference was night and day. I also put seat heaters in both front seats and put the controls in the center console :) While I had the backrests apart I also added some additional foam to between the lumbar springs and the foam in the backrest (this help the lumbar support some but they could still use some foam work).

All and all this wasn't cheap but I now have comfortable, heated seats with all new upholstry that feels good, doesn't smell, cleans up easy and still has a reasonably stock look and feel. I know I could have done either aftermarket or from another vehicle cheaper but this seemed like the best answer for everything I was looking for.
 
seat heaters..

OK...school me on seat heaters.

I re-did the seats in my Karmann Ghia, so I'm confident I can do that part. Can you let me know what you did for the seat heaters? brand, wiring, etc?

thanks!
 
I just called one of the local (Seattle) upholstry shops and got them to sell me what they install. These are what I got http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/afcarseathea.html They are a little narrow (9" wide) for the seat bottom. Not a big deal. It actually ended up being a little bit easier during the install because I didn't have to cut holes in the heater to attach the channel to the springs. There are 11" models out there that might work and give a little more coverage but I'm happy with the 9" versions I have.

The have a very nice wiring harness with a removable extension in the switch sections so you could mount the switches in the dash. I mounted mine in the center console by drilling 2 holes on either side right above the coin slots (which have ARB compressor and locker switches in them).

The only problem that I had is that while the harness has a fuse (one per seat) the instructions say to tap an existing fuse. Well at 6 amps per seat I didn't feel good about adding that kind of load to an existing stock circuit so I just ran 10 gauge from that battery (with a fusible link) to a relay that I mounted under the console. The relay is ignition hot (I have 2 aux cig power outlets in the front of my console that are ignition hot so I tapped one of those for the relay). Then I just wired the seat heater harness (with their inline fuses) to the relay. Works great.
 
Well I just got back from my jaunt to El Salvador. The new foam make it like a new seat!! I think it was worth it. It keeps the stock look of my truck but with a more comfortable seat.
 
I am considering doing the same thing to my '85. My seats are in great condition, but the foam in the driver's side has lost much of its "newness" (if that is a word). Sounds like SOR is the way to go. Can you get this foam without losing the factory seat covers?
 
I am looking into redoing my seats as well. Where is the best place to get the foam and covers from? I looked on CCOT and they have a cover set for all of the seats, but did not see the foam.
 
Rebuilt the drivers seat (dd)... best thing I ever did...

I like the idea of those seat heater!!! SWEET!
 
90FJ62 said:
I am looking into redoing my seats as well. Where is the best place to get the foam and covers from? I looked on CCOT and they have a cover set for all of the seats, but did not see the foam.
Click to expand...


http://www.sor.com/sor/cat308.tam?xax=27185&page.ctx=cat308.tam

Foam is listed at the bottom of the page. I plan on redoing my seats soon too. I really like the idea of being able to add heat but keeping the stock look.
 
So, how easy is it to replace the foam and keep the existing (OEM) seat covers? It looks like there are just a bunch a little hooks and you can "peel" back the seat cover. Is it really that easy? Seems like more people would have done this if that was it.

My thought is that I will replace the foam and maybe have the vinyl redone on the sides of my seats, but my factory seat covers are in great condition and I'd like to keep them.
 
cbmontgo said:
So, how easy is it to replace the foam and keep the existing (OEM) seat covers? It looks like there are just a bunch a little hooks and you can "peel" back the seat cover. Is it really that easy? Seems like more people would have done this if that was it.
Click to expand...

I haven't done it myself, but a friend of mine has done it many times and says it's not too hard. Hog ring pliers apparently make removing the little hooks go a lot faster.

http://www.upholster.com/toolkits/tools.html

cbmontgo said:
My thought is that I will replace the foam and maybe have the vinyl redone on the sides of my seats, but my factory seat covers are in great condition and I'd like to keep them.
Click to expand...

The vinyl on my passenger seat just started cracking but otherwise is in good condition. The drivers seat is trashed though. I'm still trying to decide if it's worth the cost of repairing/replacing the original covers, as much as I'd like to.
 
Not hard at all but somewhat time consuming. You must have hog ring pliers. I ordered mine from eastwood and got a bag of 100 extra hog rings.
 
existing upholstery

the existing stock seat covers on my rig have several cigarette burns but were other wise sound. I got a SOR pad for the driver's side (where the burns were) and put the stock seat covers back over it. Easy, all you need is some hog rings and hog ring pliers. Then, I put Wet Okole's on over this. I really like this set-up except that the Wet Okoles smell pretty strong (skunky) when they are new. Hopefully, this to will pass.
 
yes, pretty straightforward

When I did my Karmann Ghia seats the first one took twice as long.;-)

un-do the old hog-rings, remove cover, replace pad, replace cover. I found it was easiest with two people (four hands). Made it go more quickly. with new covers I had to stretch them a little and keep them aligned nicely especially in front. so' they'd look good, too.

hth
 
As quaint as hog rings are, I think you'll find the job hugely easier if you use plastic wire ties at least initially to draw the seat cover tight because you can do it gradually all around. The wire ties are probably strong enough to hold it permanently, but you can always add the hog rings for good measure once it's cinched in place.

Bill
 
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