Huw
Club Member
I have been meaning for a while to write up the seat refurbishment I did last summer on my 280ZX 2-seater ‘tombstone’ style seats. Thought it might be useful for anyone looking to do a similar job if a professional job is out of budget. My seats had become a bit ‘saggy’ and the covers had some nicks and small tears in the back. Plus, they no longer complemented the natural aesthetic and ambiance of the interior – gone to look shabby. I bought some covers from The Z Store to do a DIY interim fix until a professional job could be done. However, after doing the refurb on my seats I’m not sure I will bother with that now. The quality and fit of the covers I bought are very good. On removing the original covers, I found the seat cores and frames in poor condition so quite a bit of work was needed to restore them fully before the covers could be fitted.
Materials Required
The hog rings are included to fix the covers to the frame and there are more than enough to do the job. A set of hog ring pliers are also included, they don’t look like they are up to the job but actually they work really well. It is however, worth getting a set of long nose hog ring pliers for some of the more difficult to reach fastenings needed. Saves on the need for profanities later.
Strip down
With the seats out of the car and the rails removed, the rear cushion needs to be removed from the base cushion. The seats break down really easily. The side trim over the seat recliner mechanism needs to comes off first. This is held on with three screws, one at the front, one on the recliner mechanism and a small one at the rear of the trim piece. On the other side of the seat a chrome dome-top nut needs removing to allow the rear seat frame to be pulled over the stud that the nut came off. The seat will now just pull apart. It is worth taping a plastic bag over the exposed recliner mechanism at this point. It is covered in a really sticky grease which will get everywhere later when fitting the new covers.
Rear Cushion
With the seats apart, the rear cover can be peeled off the seat frame by turning it inside out as you pull it off. Hog rings need to be snipped at the of the bottom cushion first. These fasten to a set of wire rods running inside the cover and these rods need to be removed from the old cover to be reused later.
The cover is held in place to the seat frame by three more wire rods to form the contorts of the lumber section and head rest.
The hog rings need snipping off to allow the seat cover to be fully removed from the frame. Again, retain the rods for later. The rods that secure the cover at the head rest point are fastened to three raised tabs in the frame itself and are quite difficult to get at.
With the cover off, the padding material can be removed to inspect the frame for any damage. It is not unusual for some of the supporting rods to have snapped off and need welding back on. The padding material, which is not very padded, can be slipped off the frame once the sponge on the lower rear part of the frame is gently pulled off the metal. It should be glued on, but may have separated over the years.
Both my frames had broken lumber support rods, so they needed a spot of weld to repair them. Before I put the new covers on I added some extra padding to the seat by gluing sheets of ¼ inch foam to the side panels, and lumber areas. These had the edges slightly profiled by hand using a course grit sand paper. I also reapplied glue to the rear lower foam padding to secure it to the frame. If this step isn’t done, the padding material will not sit properly as the new cover is rolled onto the frame.
Before the new cover goes on, there are a couple of things that need doing to make life easier. First, get the cover nice and warm and roll the cover inside out. I left mine in the sun for an hour or two. Second make sure the rods for the headrest and lumber attachments are threaded into the correct material pockets on the cover (it’s virtually impossible to do this after the first rod is secured to the frame otherwise). Finally, it’s worth bending a handful of the hog rings slightly closed, makes it easier to close them when you are running out of hands and questioning the covers parentage.
The cover can now be rolled on to the seat frame like a big prophylactic until the first rod its level with the tabs on the frame. Make doubly sure you are fastening to the correct set of tabs as the set of tabs for the second rod are very close to them. I found it easier to use the long nose pliers to fasten the hog rings for the first rod. Make sure you squeeze them fully closed and the sharp ‘tangs’ are pointing toward the inside of the seat. Move on to the second rod. This one I found was quite tricky to get the rings in place and position the pliers to squeeze them shut (profanities are optional at this point). Smooth the cover over the frame as you roll it down, try not to pull it as you can pull the stitching if you are too heavy handed. The middle lumber rod is fairly easy to do. To fully close the new seat cover, the final rods need threading through the outer edge pockets and securing with hog rings. To get the cover to sit right and to fully fit the frame, you need to ‘slap’ the cover from the headrest toward the base with an open palm. This will get the cover to sit right rather than yanking on it and damaging the material. Sounds an odd thing to do but it works, plus it helps get rid of any pent-up aggression that has built up trying to get the headrest rods secured…….
There were a few wrinkles at the curve of the headrest but these have disappeared since the seat has been used several times
Base Cushion to follow....
Materials Required
- Cover set for 2-Seater ‘tombstone’ style seats. https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic08f01/40-2656
- Hessian https://www.martrim.co.uk/car-trimming-supplies/hessian.php
- ¼ inch seating grade foam sheet https://www.efoam.co.uk/foam-sheets.php
- ½ inch reconstituted 6lb foam sheet (https://www.efoam.co.uk/foam-sheets.php
- Upholstery spray contact adessive www.martrim.co.uk
- 4 wire coat hangers
- Lots and lots of profanity (optional)
The hog rings are included to fix the covers to the frame and there are more than enough to do the job. A set of hog ring pliers are also included, they don’t look like they are up to the job but actually they work really well. It is however, worth getting a set of long nose hog ring pliers for some of the more difficult to reach fastenings needed. Saves on the need for profanities later.
Strip down
With the seats out of the car and the rails removed, the rear cushion needs to be removed from the base cushion. The seats break down really easily. The side trim over the seat recliner mechanism needs to comes off first. This is held on with three screws, one at the front, one on the recliner mechanism and a small one at the rear of the trim piece. On the other side of the seat a chrome dome-top nut needs removing to allow the rear seat frame to be pulled over the stud that the nut came off. The seat will now just pull apart. It is worth taping a plastic bag over the exposed recliner mechanism at this point. It is covered in a really sticky grease which will get everywhere later when fitting the new covers.
Rear Cushion
With the seats apart, the rear cover can be peeled off the seat frame by turning it inside out as you pull it off. Hog rings need to be snipped at the of the bottom cushion first. These fasten to a set of wire rods running inside the cover and these rods need to be removed from the old cover to be reused later.
The cover is held in place to the seat frame by three more wire rods to form the contorts of the lumber section and head rest.
The hog rings need snipping off to allow the seat cover to be fully removed from the frame. Again, retain the rods for later. The rods that secure the cover at the head rest point are fastened to three raised tabs in the frame itself and are quite difficult to get at.
With the cover off, the padding material can be removed to inspect the frame for any damage. It is not unusual for some of the supporting rods to have snapped off and need welding back on. The padding material, which is not very padded, can be slipped off the frame once the sponge on the lower rear part of the frame is gently pulled off the metal. It should be glued on, but may have separated over the years.
Both my frames had broken lumber support rods, so they needed a spot of weld to repair them. Before I put the new covers on I added some extra padding to the seat by gluing sheets of ¼ inch foam to the side panels, and lumber areas. These had the edges slightly profiled by hand using a course grit sand paper. I also reapplied glue to the rear lower foam padding to secure it to the frame. If this step isn’t done, the padding material will not sit properly as the new cover is rolled onto the frame.
Before the new cover goes on, there are a couple of things that need doing to make life easier. First, get the cover nice and warm and roll the cover inside out. I left mine in the sun for an hour or two. Second make sure the rods for the headrest and lumber attachments are threaded into the correct material pockets on the cover (it’s virtually impossible to do this after the first rod is secured to the frame otherwise). Finally, it’s worth bending a handful of the hog rings slightly closed, makes it easier to close them when you are running out of hands and questioning the covers parentage.
The cover can now be rolled on to the seat frame like a big prophylactic until the first rod its level with the tabs on the frame. Make doubly sure you are fastening to the correct set of tabs as the set of tabs for the second rod are very close to them. I found it easier to use the long nose pliers to fasten the hog rings for the first rod. Make sure you squeeze them fully closed and the sharp ‘tangs’ are pointing toward the inside of the seat. Move on to the second rod. This one I found was quite tricky to get the rings in place and position the pliers to squeeze them shut (profanities are optional at this point). Smooth the cover over the frame as you roll it down, try not to pull it as you can pull the stitching if you are too heavy handed. The middle lumber rod is fairly easy to do. To fully close the new seat cover, the final rods need threading through the outer edge pockets and securing with hog rings. To get the cover to sit right and to fully fit the frame, you need to ‘slap’ the cover from the headrest toward the base with an open palm. This will get the cover to sit right rather than yanking on it and damaging the material. Sounds an odd thing to do but it works, plus it helps get rid of any pent-up aggression that has built up trying to get the headrest rods secured…….
There were a few wrinkles at the curve of the headrest but these have disappeared since the seat has been used several times
Base Cushion to follow....
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