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seat upholestery - am I kidding myself?

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longbridgehealey

longbridgehealey

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Hi everybody, I'm getting ready to purchase new seat covers and foam from Heritage. Here's my question - Am I kidding myself to think that I can do a good job doing it myself? It is not an inexpensive investment, and if I mess it up then I'm right back where I started from, minus the investment. Anybody have any advice? Oh, it's a Longbridge built 100-6, and I'm just doing the seats right now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I'm in the same boat with an interior kit thats unpacked, but just staring at me! I'm going to get a fellow club member that used to be in the upholstery business to help me with my front seats.
 
The Heritage kits are very nice. I have one installed in my BJ8. My plan was to install it myself, as I had already tackled (a much easier) MGA project a number of years ago and it came out pretty well. But once I had the lovely (and $$$) leather bits together and laid out on the floor I decided to change plans and pay the money to a pro to get it done right. There is a world of difference between a pro installation and a novice DIY one. You certainly can do this yourself. But your results will probably reflect your inexperience I'm afraid. Any pro auto upholstry trimmer can do a good job. You need not go to a "Healey specialist" for this.
Randy '68 BJ8
 
My advice LBH, is to have a pro install the kits.Preferably one who has some hands on experience with the Healey cars.Lots of them close to you.---Fwiw---Keoke
 
I have done a lot of Healey seats, as its my business, and they are not the easiest to fit, looking as good as they should. I have seen many fitted by so called professionals, with not the best results. I have e-mailed you (longbridgehealey) some pics of some BN4 seats, just completed. The attachment was too large to post on this site.
Let me know what you think.

Dave.
 

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I did mine on my BJ8 using the Moss VCR tape as a guide. With a little fudging and trial and error, it came out pretty nice (in my opinion). It takes time and patients but it can be done. Start with GOOD seat metal and all new foam. Get GOOD spray adhesive form a fabric store. It can be done and I'm not that talented. No one will be as meticulous as you and no one is willing to put in the time you would. (although they have the knowledge and tools)
There is some struggle with the foam. Kind of like getting a size 11 foot in a size 8 shoe.
 
OK, a lot of great advice. David K, I'll wind up in the same shape, unpacked and staring at it. Keoke and Randy, I think you've got me on the right track, and I do think that I'll spend some time looking at the different upholestery shops' products before I job it out to one of them. And Dave from Phoenix Upholestery, the pics are great, and I can only hope mine come out as good. They are a great reference point, since my existing seats are very similar to a pile of rust and rags. Tahoe Healey, you've still got me thinking about it. We'll see where my head is when the material comes in. Thanks to everybody - it's like I have a room full of friends who all share the same interest and usually have far more expertise than I do.
 
Hey Tahoe Healey,
I just got in my Moss kit to redo my 59 100-6 BN4 and like
you, have sat and stared at it trying to figure out what to do. I've done a TD and TC using a Moss kit and had great success but those seats were a snap compared to the Healey.
I called Moss and asked how they could sell a kit with no
instructions at all and was told there simply are not any.
The tech guy I spoke to offered to send me a VCR tape
to copy and then return at no charge but they are out of
stock on them now. Any chance you might be willing to
lend me your tape to copy ? I'll pay the postage back
and forth if you might consider that. Regardless, do you
have any hints on how to go about it. I have new seat
bottoms and foam and you're right, looks like forcing a
size 11 into a size 8 shoe ! Thanks for your consideration
of my request. By the way, this Forum is the best thing I
have found other than the Healey Club to discuss Healey's !
Mike, big healey source
 
no question, go with a professional. I had a pair of TR4 seats (using Moss kits) retrimmed by a very good pro, and in the end, he made quite a few modifications and replacements to the Moss kits that were necessary to achieve good results. It wasn't cheap but they came out great! This guy had the tools, materials, and know-how to get the job done right.
 
Hey Big Healey Source - do you live near highway 17 south of Myrtle Beach? I think my wife and I may have stopped and talked to you about three years ago at a golf shop on highway 17 - It was a light blue 59 100-6, and we told the driver that we had one up in Maryland very similar to it. Was that you? or not /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
I would think anyone with reasonable skills and extreme patience can install upholstery kits. After all, the hard work has already been done for you. You can visit Jim Werner's site for upholstery procedures (highly reccommended) as here they give you the proper sequences and offer tips. Don't worry, you can do it.
Here's the website web page
 
Yes, you are kidding yourself.

The early seats as found in the Hundreds and your Longbridge Six are not for the inexperienced. The correct trimming of the seat backs requires skills that only come from fitting lots of them. They have a wood tacking strip that wraps around the lower outer back. The seat back cover is worked on and the ears are part of the back cover assembly. Tacking the rear lower vinyl material, keeping the continuous piping smooth and even, hand stitching the last closing bit onto the bottoms of the ears. Then there's adding the hidem strip around the base of the back side to hide the row of trimmers tacks.

I'm barely scratching the surface here. There's much more. It's an extremely labour intensive job, and getting the inner foam, the cotton wadding, etc. to all sit smoothly and correctly etc., etc.

I highly recommend you send your seats and the cover kit back to Heritage and let them trim your seats completely. You won't regret it.
 
I totally agree with Rich and would like to further that by recommending Dave from Phoenix Upholstery who worked many years for Heritage doing just that job. I think you'll find him more cost effective /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif and his work is top notch!

DT
 
bighealeysource, I can send you the tape to copy. That is how I got it. It seems to be specific for the BJ8 type seats but they are probably simular. It covers panals, back seat and other interior parts. Its not a bad thing to have. If you are interested contact me off the forum via private message.
 
Well at least I know that I don't think that I'm going to try this myself. Thanks to everybody for the feedback. I'll post pictures when it's finally done. I checked Jim Werner's site and found instructions for everything you could imagine except the seats - maybe I just missed it. Again, thanks to all!
 
Hey Tahoe Healey,
That's great that you'll let me borrow the tape to copy.
How do I send you a private message - know that is kind of
a stupid question since we're on a public forum but I guess
there is some way to do it. Many thanks,
Mike - big healey source
 
Hey Longbridgehealey,
I live at Harbor Island which is down by Hilton Head and
next to Fripp Island. Wasn't me in the 100-6. Mine is
white with soon to be white over black !
Regards,
Mike
 
bighealeysource - this gets crazier every minute. This is the first September in five years that we haven't spent two weeks in one of the beach houses out on Hunting Island, right next to you and inside of Fripp. Cross over Harbor Island to get there.
 
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