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TR6 TR6 Upholstery

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OK guys, my first sort of technical related post. I redid the interior in my 73 TR6 three years ago, with the exception of recovering the seats as the covers were not really that bad. It was the first major thing I did to my car after buying it, since the old interior was basically rotted away. Well, the seat covers are still not bad, just one or two very small cuts, but the seat foam has basically disintegrated to nothing, and I'm sitting on the springs and diaphrams now, so it's time to tackle the seats. I've already purchased the foam kit, diaphrams, and straps, but here's my question concerning the upholstery. When I redid the other interior pieces (door panels, rear surround, etc.) I got everything from TRF. Now, should I get my seat covers from TRF also to make sure that everything matches as close as it can color wise, or can I get them from somewhere else, like Moss, and still hope to have them come close. My interior is new tan (peanut brittle I've hard it called). I guess I could take my car up to Moss, I only live about 45 minutes from the Dover warehouse, and physically hold their covers up to my car and see how they look. I was hoping maybe someone might have had some experience with this. I considered leather but the price is a little to rich for my taste at this point. I just want nice solid comfortable seats that match my interior, nothing fancy. Oh yeah, and whats the deal with the headrests? Most of the upholstery kits come with new headrest covers, but when I bought the foam kit there was no foam in it for headrests. I guess I'll have to get a few pieces cut at a local upholstery shop? I see that TRF, I believe, sells fully assembled new headrests. I wonder if it would be cheaper to just get those or have a shop cut some foam and put them together myself.
 
With a black interior you could get away with mixing sources but the color you describe could have significant variation. I think you see the alternatives -- visual check at Moss or go with TRF.

Leather is nice but (IMO) modern leather doesn't look nearly as good as the original hides and modern vinyl looks much more like modern leather than the original vinyl. I can no longer see a lot of difference between cow & plastic.
 
I can't see the difference between leather in other's cars and the vinyl in my 6 either. As for color, there are signifigant variations between companies, and I would definitly check with Moss before ordering anything from them to make sure it would match. I'd bet on it not matching, though.
 
I demo'd the new tan original interior out of a '74 this fall and while the door panels and the seats were close, they were not an exact match. I do not know if this was simply a difference in the way the materials faded over the years or they were different out of the factory.

When replacing the entire interior (basic black) in the '75 I dealt with an English company that has offices here in the states. They put together the best price package and I am quite happy with their product. Have not installed it yet so I canot address the fit. Colored samples are available from all the major suppliers.

As for the seat foam kits, the one I bought from TRF did include the headrest pieces. Check to see if you they shorted you on the shipment.
 
Try Heritage upholstery in North Vancouver B.C. Canada.
they use top quality materials, original dies and craftsmen from the U.K.
The price is good and they ship into the US from their Blaine WA office so no customs hassles.
If you request it they will send you samples of the material to check for color match.
www.heritagetrim.com
I did my TR6, it looks great.
 
I'll second Airfix's comments. I splurged and had Heritage rebuild my seats using their Connolly hides. They bent over backwards to get my business, the work was spectacular, and now three years later, the seats just keep looking better and better.
 
OK. thanks for the comments and suggestions guys. I have two other questions though. As I said, I've already gotten the foam kit, the diaphrams, and the straps from Moss, is there anything else inside the seats that might need replacing once I open them up? I've looked at the exploded view a few times and can't think of anything else that might have rotted away or deteriorated. I'm planning on media blasting and repainting the frames once they're stripped.

Also, does anyone know how difficult it is to recover these seats yourself? I've heard from at least two people that the TR6 upholstery is basically just a glorifed slipcover, and that recovering them yourself is a pretty easy job if you take your time. Any truth to this? I've gotten an over the phone estimate from a local shop of $110/seat to put everything together if I provide all the materials, but I'd like to save that money and take a swing at it myself if it's not to bad a job. I just would like an idea of what I'm getting into before I rip them apart. I got the little guide that VB gives away for seat recovering, and it doesn't look that bad, but I'd rather have a first hand account.
 
Do it yourself - not a bad job. I did an MGBGT several years back, using leather. First seat took a weekend. Leather kept binding on the foam. Then a fellow at work told me a hotrodder's trick, and the second one took about ten minutes. Once you get the foam, diaphragms and so forth in place, put a large plastic trash bag over the foam, from the bottom up. The seat cover will now just about jump into position over the slippery plastic, which is then simply pulled back out from the bottom. Good luck, have fun, and be sure to give us a final report.
 
Hey, I just wanted to say thanks to Airfix and Paul for turning me onto Heritage trim. I just got off the phone with Dunkin over there and what a super nice guy he was. He's sending me over a price list for all their TR6 related products and samples of their new tan colored vinyl for seat covers. They have two different grain styles available, so he's sending me samples of both. If the price is good and the color matches the panels I've got in the car already from TRF, I'll gladly go with them.

Thanks again guys,
Scott
 
Oh yeah, neat trick by the way Paul using the plastic bag to get the upholstery to slide easier, I'll be sure to try that. I've pretty much decided to tackle this myself, and I'm going to try and document the process with digital pics in case anyone else wants to see whats involved in doing it.
 
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