BJ8 Upholstery

[robolab]

Hello friends,

I am currently restoring the interior of my BJ8. I remade the trim panel and the back panel and covered them with vinyl or leather. Next, I want to overhaul the front and rear seats. The seat backs and seat bases are already sandblasted and painted.

I have already restored the interior of my Triumph TR3 myself some years ago, but now I've read that upholstering and putting on the leather seat covers on the Austin-Healey seats shouldn't be easy. I've read that Moss has a DVD that shows the overhaul of the interior as a video. Who knows this DVD? Should I buy it? It isn't cheap.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Re: BJ8 MKIII Upholstery

FWIW, I installed a new (Moss) upholstery kit in my BN2/100M a few years ago, but there's no way I would have attempted the (leather) seats. I took them to a shop in San Jose, California owned by an 83-year-old man who had been in the auto upholstery biz since he was 13 (he told me he had to leave school and go to work in his father's shop when his father took ill). He told me these seats were very difficult to do--and he had a couple 'exotics' in the shop at the time--especially shaping the foam (again from Moss). He charged me $500, and I think he did a great job; in particular, it's difficult to get the wrinkles out of the backs near the hinges. I've seen quite a few very nicely restored cars with what I think are not well done seats (the BJ8 featured in an episode of 'Wheeler Dealers' got a gawdawful pink leather interior, and there were serious wrinkles in the leather around the hinge area).

Edit: To actually answer your question: https://mossmotors.com/upholstery-installation-dvd

They're a little dusty, as this car is pretty much a garage queen:

 

[John Turney]

I think the seats on a BN1, BN2, or BN4 are harder than the later seats because the later seats have a separate "ear" that goes around where the backs hinge. I did the ones on my BN4 because I didn't know about that 83-yo guy. They came out ok, but it was a pain.

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Hello friends,

I am currently restoring the interior of my BJ8. I remade the trim panel and the back panel and covered them with vinyl or leather. Next, I want to overhaul the front and rear seats. The seat backs and seat bases are already sandblasted and painted.

I have already restored the interior of my Triumph TR3 myself some years ago, but now I've read that upholstering and putting on the leather seat covers on the Austin-Healey seats shouldn't be easy. I've read that Moss has a DVD that shows the overhaul of the interior as a video. Who knows this DVD? Should I buy it? It isn't cheap.

I installed a Moss leather seat kit in my BJ8 in 1999, and I didn't find it particularly difficult. I did have the Moss VCR tape as a guide, and I still have it, but does anyone still have functioning VCR player?

 

[tahoe healey]

It is possible to have the VCR tape transferred to a disc but yes, my VCR still works.

 

[John Turney]

I had some VCR tapes transferred to DVDs recently. You may have to find a friend with a VCR player and some minor software to do it. I doubt the commercial services will copy copyrighted material.