Looking very good.
Do you have any tips on installing the covers on the front seats? Also what seatbelts did you get. I've been watching the venders the last 9 months but can't pick a seatbelt since they all seem pricey for what I think they should cost.
I enjoy your 40 posts. Hope yours is treating you well. I think once I get my seat covers in and replace my drivers seat belt my girl will like it more so I'm using yours for motivation.
Thanks! Sure thing, hopefully I can help you out. The installation on the front seats is a little tricky but I watched a couple of videos on
www.theseatshop.com. They didn't have the Cruiser seats but I learned the process. Key thing is to watch closely when you disassemble the original seats. Do one at a time. The trickiest part is getting the back tabs of the seat cover fed through the slot in the pads and then using the hog rings to secure them. You will need to re-use the metal bar that was used for the original cover. If you don't have that you can use a clothes hanger I'm pretty certain cut to the length of the slot. Curl the ends very tightly so they won't poke through anything. Shouldn't be an issue since it is very far back in the slot.
1) Keep covers inside to warm up - apparently that helps some as they'll be a little more stretchy. And you will be doing some stretching that's for sure. My hands were pretty toasty after doing the three seats I did in one day.
2) Start with the bottom first - it is easier because it doesn't have a "bottom". Feed the metal bar through the loops on the back of the cover. Then feed that through the slot in the pad. Flip over the entire assembly and then use the hog rings to secure the metal bar to the seat frame. I believe I used 4-5 to get this done. Once that is secure flip it back over.
3) Make sure the cover is properly aligned. Then use one hand to hold the cover at the very edge (at the edging) and roll down the sides. Continue this until all the sides are down. It is tough to slide the pad once the sides are down so it is important you have it lined up as close as possible.
4) Flip over entire assembly. Now you need to secure the vinyl to the underside of the seat. There are loops on the frame that you connect the hog rings to - key here is to make sure that your hog ring goes through the doubled up part of the seat cover - I tried to center it between the edge and the stitching. I found that I could push the hog ring through this doubled up section with my fingers and made connecting to the frame loop easier. I also pre-bent the hog rings some so I didn't have to crimp them as much. I actually had better luck using needle nose pliers to do the final crimping as the hog ring pliers would scratch the vinyl. I started I believe on the front ones, then did the rear, and then the sides. That wraps up the bottom cover.
5) Again, turn the seat back cover inside out. Install the metal retention bar through the loops as above. Now, this is where you place the top of the cover against the top of the seat back. Then slowly roll it down from the inside so that it goes over the seat back. Roll it down until you are at the point where the bar/loops go through the slot in the pad. Feed the bar/loops through the slot and again secure the metal bar to the frame of the chair. Grab onto whatever you can to hold it in place. I think there were loops to connect to. If you go through the loop material with the hog rings that's fine too, just make sure the metal bar is also inside the hog ring. I can't remember if it was the seat back or bottom one, but in one case it would help if you were a contortionist to secure the hog rings. Maybe needle nose pliers would've been better.
6) Once you have the bar secured, continue with the rolling down of the seat back cover until you've reached the bottom. Hopefully you did a good job aligning it because this one is pretty much impossible to move once slid down. I got it first try, it's not that difficult with all the contours of the pad. Then use hog rings to secured the two ends together. I put I believe 4-5 on that as well.
7) You are done with the covers! Now the reassembly - you need to cut out the bolt holes that hold the seatbelt and the mount in place. You can feel them through the vinyl. Double and triple check you have the right holes. I don't think there are any others nearby, but when you're cutting a 1/2" hole in these you want to make sure you are correct. I used a small razor blade and used the hole as my cutting guide. It was quite easy, just again make sure you have the correct holes.
8) Then the rest is simple - you just put the mounts back on. Bolt them back in and you're done!
I haven't installed the metal backs as you can see in my photos - mine are too beat. I am going to attempt to flatten them out and refinish before i do that. So I don't have instructions for that.
Maybe with my driver's seat I'll try to videotape the process. It is impossible to take photos since you are using both hands. If nothing else, I can do screen grabs of the video at key moments.
Hope this helps. I'm going to tackle the driver's seat this weekend. Can't wait!
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