car seat cushion foam replacement

[bob hughes]

OK Guys.
Flushed with my success with the soft top, I thought that I would try my hand at one of the seat cushions as the foam is disintegrating at an extremely fast rate. I have chosen the navigators seat first, as a trial, to get some Brownie points with her indoors after denting our deep freezer top.

In the grand plan of things I intend to buy in the complete seat set- already upholstered onto new metal so it will be a straight bolt in, job finished, afair. In the mean time I intend to replace the cushion foam with new using the old seat covers which are not original and are not the correct pattern - 6 ribs instead of 5. The new foam is solid and I have been told to dill holes in it to soften the cushion some. Indeed the old one - what was left of it, was riddled with preformed holes. Has any one any experience of changing the foam and drilling out the holes in the blank.



Bob

 

[bighealeysource]

Hey Bob,
I have recovered about 5 sets of Healey seats and fortunately the seat bottoms are pretty easy. On all of those sets I never drilled holes in the new foam as believe most of the current vendors out there are using a foam that is not as hard as the original. In fact I think if you drilled holes in the new foam seats would be way too soft. Think the drilling holes was meant for the original harder foam maybe ? As to changing out the foam, simply remove the metal clips that attach it to the front and sides of the seat pan and depending upon how your exisiting is done, remove screws, from the back edge ( if you have a BN1,BN2 or early BN4 these use a wood seat pan so no metal clips but think you have a BJ8?). Simply pull up the back portion and carefully pull the sides and front off of the seat pan. If done properly your seat covers would have been glued to the center section only of the old foam so you will have to pull that off. Remove as much of the old foam bits off of your seat cover as you will need to glue it back onto the new foam. This will make the seat cover "lay properly" on the center section of the foam. This glue application is best done once you have the cover stretched back onto the foam and metal seat bottom. Raise up the center section, get the glue in there either by spraying it on the center of the foam and cover or perhaps brushing on and then stick 'em together. I usually let that dry properly so the glue will not detach and then stretch your covers back on, reattach the clips and using screws with finishing washers, attach the rear portion of the old cover to your metal seat pan. I have purchased foam sets from AH SPares and very happy with the quality of their foam. Considering purchasing a complete new seat set like you for my 100M as kinda tired of working on Healey seats !
Good luck,
Mike

 

[GregW]

I bought seat foam from BCS about eight years ago and it was too stiff. I bought a narrow can from the grocery store and after cleaning it, I used a hack saw to cut the top lip off. This makes a great foam cutter, no flying debris like a hole saw. Not sure how firm the current foam seats are these days. I'd suggest installing the foam and base without the cover and sit on it. When I did this my eyes were level with the top chrome trim of the wind shield. I think I made about 15 holes about 1.5" in diameter. If you make the holes too deep, just put some foam back in them.

 

[Keoke]

Has any one any experience of changing the foam and drilling out the holes in the blank.

Nope I used BCS foams as they are correct and have never drilled them out.--Fwiw--Keoke

 

[bob hughes]

Thanks Guys

Mike - my car is a BJ7 - metal pan - just about, I am repairing the few bad areas to save some shekels for the new seats later.

Good idea to set the seat up first without drilling holes, I've been warned that my head could be over the top of the windscreen - Flintstone style.

Like the idea of a can to bore holes if required, just thought of a good can to use at around 1.5 inches.

If my memory serves correctly, the centre ribs ashould be padded out a little, who ever made these covers just sew the folds in to make it look like ribs. I am considering options just for the heck of it as I have some foam and a hand awl style sewing kit.



Bob