Carpet / Seat questions

[gambit]

I am about to replace the seat covers and the carpet and wanted to ask your opinions. 1981 T Top

1. Seat covers, I plan to buy full leather installed on new foam, how do I attach those to the plastic seat backs and buckets? They neeed to be painted to touch up scratches and dings, any suggestions on doing that? Anything else I should watch out for? How do you remove the carpet from the back of the seat just pull and scrape it? Replace it with spray on glue? What is the diferience in the 2" and 4" seats? I know where you measure them to find out but why did they make two types? can I put the 4 in my seats if they had 2 before?

2. My door pannels are in perfect condition except the carpet map pocket on the passengers side, from water damage I think has dryrotted. Has anybody had an upholstery shop repair a door pannel before, whats the cost? HATE to replace originals in such good condition.

3. Carpet, whats the difference in 80/20 loop and the Cut Pile? I want a softer look and feel. What about those aluminum shiney heat sheild underlayment? what about the under carpet padding? Is it ok to use both of them? Has anybody used them?

any problems or issues or suggestions you can offer that you may have run into as well?

 

[6880 Mike]

...1. Seat covers, I plan to buy full leather installed on new foam, how do I attach those to the plastic seat backs and buckets?

Factory leather seats were leather seating surfaces with vinyl bolsters. Seat backs and bottoms clip into the shells. If memory serves, the AIM has an illustration.

...They neeed to be painted to touch up scratches and dings, any suggestions on doing that?

Take a piece of the new carpeting to your automotive paint supplier and have them match the color with SEM interior paint/dye. If you have a small compressor and touch up gun you can spray the hard plastic parts yourself.

...How do you remove the carpet from the back of the seat just pull and scrape it? Replace it with spray on glue?

Yep.

...can I put the 4 in my seats if they had 2 before?

Yes, but you will have to order your upholstered seats with the 4" spacing.

...3. Carpet, whats the difference in 80/20 loop and the Cut Pile?

Cut pile is 80/20 loop with the tops of the loops cut. It gives the appearance of plush carpeting. If memory serves, '81s had cut pile carpet.

..What about those aluminum shiney heat sheild underlayment?

Most of the undercarpet heat shields are worth the money. Lots of folks use dynamat and cut it themselves.

..what about the under carpet padding?

Quality replacement carpet will come with the factory backing.

...Is it ok to use both of them?

Yep.

..any suggestions you can offer...

Buy the '81 AIM and study the factory installation illustrations.

 

[srs244]

just a few suggestions you might want to consider (i just got done receiving all the parts to compeltely redo the interior of my 78. wall to wall, ceiling to floor. it's all being replaced even down to the t-tops.).

as previously noted you can use either 2 inch or 4 inch bolsters, you just need to order them the way you want, but consider this, it's a lot easier to get "around" 2" bolsters to get into the seat than the 4" ones. particularly if you a bit older and "wider" than you used to be when you were younger. i decided against the 4" bolster on my new interior and stayed with the 2" ones because i remember how tough it was to get in and out of my 93 convert when i couldn't open the door all the way, and no matter what i tried, i couldn't sit down without rubbing against the outside bolster (if you don't beleive me, take a look at any C4 and i will bet you that either the outside bolster will show that "rub" wear, or will have been recently replaced, lol.

i would suggest that you go to lowe's or home depot and get reflectix in their heating and cooling dept. it's a thermal barrier. buy some aluminum tape and some spray adhesive and go to town on the floors and doors of the interior. it behaves a lot like dynamat at a fraction of the cost. it is virtually as effective.

unless you are set up to mix and experiment with spraying paint, i would suggest that you got to someone like wilcox or eckler's or probably many other parts suppliers and get their interior vinyl paint. it comes in a spray can and it is designed to be used on plastic parts, but i have seen it used to refinish steering columns and other things (like seat frames) and it looks like original. it's what i a m going to use on my interior. it was suggested originally by the folks at wilcox (where i got all the interior parts) when i questioned what to do as far as getting a new glove box door since they didn't carry it (it is no longer being made or reproduced) and they suggested after the new dash is installed, use the interior vinyl paint to refinish the glove box door to match.

hope some of that helps you out some.

steve