I see some suppliers (PUI, OPGI, and Legendary) carry seat foam for the 1972 GS standard bench seat but not for the split bench seat. Does anyone know where I can get this split bench foam? If I order the standard bench foam, is it possible to cut the standard bench backs to fit? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks, Terry 1972 Stage 1 Convertible
Terry, I recently reupholstered a 1970 GS/Skylark bench seat with arm rest. I bought the foam from American Cushion Insustries - ACI. The quality of the foam was fantastic! I highly recommend them. On their website they have the foam for a split bench. americancushionind.net You didnt mention having an arm rest or not. ACI does not have foam for the split bench with armrest which was what I needed so I bought the split bench set and carefully cut the foam with a long sharp razor knife. (You know, the kind that you snap off the end of the blade as it dulls.) To narrow the foam about the width of the armrest I cut foam out of the center and carefully glued the two pieces of foam back together with 3M #77 general purpose adhesive. It worked like a champ! Just apply the adhesive generously to both pieces and let it get tacky. It is a form of contact adhesive. You only have to wait a couple of minutes and then press/force the two pieces very firmly together. I laid it face down on a clean work table to align the front face and started pushing the two pieces together starting from the top. You can buy the 3M #77 adhesive at Lowes or Home depot to name a couple. 3M also has a #80 "rubber and vinyl adhesive" but I did a test piece using it and the 77 to see which held better on the foam and the #77 won hands down. BTW this was my first time to install upholstery and it went well. I bought the seat covers from Legendary Auto Interiors. It took a lot of work and a lot of hours but it turned out very nice. Considering the amount of time it took I would have come out cheaper to have a competent shop install the seat covers but it was a good learning experience and I probably took a lot more time and care repairing the springs etc. than most shops would have. My seat was in really bad shape and I had to rebuild the springs on the drivers side back and some springs in the seat bottom. I bought new zig zag spring and little metal crimp rings for attaching them from a local upholstery shop. You can cut the zig zag spring with bolt cutters or an abrasive cut off wheel in a grinder or Dremel tool. The zig zag spring comes in a long roll and they sell it by the foot. It comes in different thicknesses/strengths. All of the padding was ruined so the ACI foam was a blessing! (no, I dont work for ACI) smiles Seriously, I was very impressed with their quality. Also it fit perfectly. fyi-You will need to put a plastic trash bag over your seat back foam when you start to install the seat back covers. They fit very tightly and the plastic will help it to slide on. You will not know the plastic is there after you install the cover. Just cut off the excess plastic. I watched some you tube videos that recommended putting a piece of carpet on top of the springs before you put on the padding. This was a good idea. The carpet helps to smooth out the old springs and keeps them from damaging the foam much better than burlap or even synthetic burlap. I bought some cheap thin carpet a Lowes sorta like what you see on woofer/speaker boxes and cut it to cover the top of the springs and let it wrap over the edges three or four inches to protect the edges of the foam and then hog ringed it to the seat springs. It doesnt have to be exact or pretty but it does need to be smooth. Just stretch it tightly as you ring it to the springs. fyi-Dont buy hog ring pliers from Lowes or Home Depot! They are made in china, are of terrible quality and difficult to use. Ditto for their hog rings. Tractor Supply has a good pair of hog ring pliers and they sell quality made in the USA hog rings. Actually they have three sizes. Small are "pig rings" Medium are "shoat rings" and large are "hog rings". The smaller "pig" rings will work best. Good luck with your project!!! Scott
Scott, Thank you so much for your detailed description. This is exactly what I needed and I will follow your instructions. Yes, mine is a split bench WITH ARM REST, which I failed to mention. I see ACI has a split bench for 1971/1972 and it has two upright seat backs. Did you remove 7 inches from each of the two upright seat backs? My 72 has 9 inches between the seat backs where the arm rest is. I'm trying to understand if I should remove 4.5 inches from the center of each of the two seat back foams to narrow them for the 9 inch arm rest space? Do I have this wrong? Thank you for all the time you spent on this post and the tips on the 3M #77, springs, carpet, and trash bags. I'm sure this post will be valuable for many members. Many thanks, Terry
Terry, so glad I could be of help!!! You are right it was nine inches total, the width of the armrest. So glad you caught that! You split the seat foam backs top to bottom of course and then take 4.5 inches off of one side, then glue back together. The foam is made to wrap around the spring assembly so you need both side edges intact. This will be evident when you see the foam. I just hog ringed the foam to the springs to hold it in place. You put the hog rings in the edge of the foam and connect it to the springs. It's just to keep it on while you install the cover. After the seat cover is on it can't move. If you get the ACI foam it has a fabric reinforcement strip along the top edge. You can carefully pull the fabric off of one side before you cut it and then glue it back on after you splice the foam together. It will add strength to the joint though I dont think it needs it. The 77 adhesive is very impressive. You will need to pinch the joint together very tightly right after you put the two pieces together. Pressure is an essential component of contact adhesive success. I measured the foam and marked with a sharpie using a metal straight edge. Then I pressed down really hard on the straight edge to compress the foam and made the cuts. I cut it on top of a piece of plywood. You could use thick cardboard if you dont have plywood. The seat covers will be really really tight but that makes for a good finished product. If you have someone who can help you with the seat cover installation it will be a huge help especially with the first few hog/pig rings. If you can lay the seat covers out in the sun and let them get really hot it will help with the install. If you use a heat gun be very careful. I melted the sythetic listing fabric in a couple of places and it only took a second. "Listing" wire is just an odd name for the wires that run through the pocket sewn in the edge of the seat cover. Your hog/pig rings go through the listing fabric and grab the listing wire and the seat springs or the little tabs on the bottom of the front seat bottom frame . It helps spread the stress in the fabric along a much greater area to prevent tearing in the long run. You can pull the listing wires out of your old seat covers if you still have them. Mine were very rusty and broken so I used some TIG welding rods that I had on hand. You could use a heavy, staightened coat hanger if need be. If I can help further I will be glad to do so. Good luck and go fast with class!!! Scott
