Recovering Race Seats

[Noddy]

As some of you might know, this is my trade. Even though I have changed professions i still do some work on weekends.

I have been trimming some historic racecars lately and thought u guys might like to see what goes into a basic race seat. These are new seats that are built to a weight so no extras that might weigh anything goes in. The seat rtimmed in the pic is a drivers seat and is heavier than a passenger seat. In the Historic class they have to have a passenger seat that looks the same, and they do, but havn't been made with the intention for any1 to sit in. Did I mention wieght? I remember 1 day when Matt was beaming ear to ear proclaming to have found 65grams hiding in an integral part of the engine.

Anyway, to start with you will will need an open space to work in with something on the work surface so the gelcoat/paint doesn't get scratched up.

then a shell that needs trimming

Some padding cut to the shape of the seat

Spray some contact glue on it

And in the shell

Just flop the foam in the shell...

...and trim it up.

I do a few of these so I have made some patterns for the fabric.

mark out and cut out the material

Sew the quilting in all the parts together.

Now you just need to glue both parts, flop it in the shell, secure all the edges and trim it all up neatly.

trim up the seat belt holes so the raw edges are neatly hidden.

and last of all you will need to make up a cusion that matches, and fit it of course so it wont slip out unterbrakes.

last of all it needs to be dropped off so the guys can put it in the #7 car. Yes the all have my interiors in them, and this is the last seat.... YAY! Job done.

[Beer Baron]

cool post!

now how about getting around to a seat for me.... thanks..

[N1GTR]

Does the astra have a seat by you aswel?

Cool write up, i suspect this would be very popular for the GTR guys with worn right hand side bolsters

[Beer Baron]

GTR seats are a bit different though to fibreglass race seats as they are just a wire frame wrapped in foam then trimmed. would be much more $$$ and the hard bit is getting fabric to match the passenger seat and door trims etc. the only easy way to cure them is buy a generally less worn passenger seat and use the fabric off that. still not easy though.

[Noddy]

I didnt intend for this to go this way but I have found a very good match for GTR seats. And as you say, new material does stand-out somewhat. The biggest headache with skyline seats in general is that the cover is glued on. Normaly there is a short sock on the inside with a spring/hardened wire insert that is clipped to another wire set into the foam. Gluing the cover on makes them a real pain in the botbot. And yes the price is much higher if not for the extra time spent but the AGRO tax that goes with it.

As a side note if you are serious about getting a seat covered, pm me. Might take a while though, it is realy only a hobby these days to help fund my own racing.

No the Astra does not have 1 of my race interiors in it. It was just in the way this morning. It's not often most of the RX2's are all together like that. Just made a good snapshot.

[Rhys9]

Stuart i've been meaning to come round get you to look at the Recaro's in my GTR, and generally say hi.

Sorry to hear about how the new manifold and throttles went, what you reckon manifold leak, or flow problem??

Rhys

[Noddy]

yeh, the addaptor plate was bent and twisted. Is all good now....Fingers crossed.

[battery]

i got a velo bucket that need to be done whats it cost for a job like the above?

[warps]

last of all it needs to be dropped off so the guys can put it in the #7 car. Yes the all have my interiors in them, and this is the last seat.... YAY! Job done.

My god, look at all those RX2's

Good to see them put to good use, not just sik maccas cruisers or 9 second 13BT street sleepers

[Neil]

Ah,,,don't you all love a garage full of rotors. Come on,,,after a Skyline,,,what other tin-top would you own.

I'd like my Radicals seat done mate,,,pm me if you are interested. Yes it's full fibreglass.

Toyota's by the way are for poofs.

Neil.

[Noddy]

depending on the materials you chose and embroidery, I shouldn't think it would be much if any more than the $300ish mark for a normal Vello seat. the wrap around seats will be abit more in materials and to be honest there a bit of a pain in the butt.

Niel, PM sent.

[Neil]

Here's a pic of my type of seat Noddy,,,

Neil.

[Noddy]

Hmmmm, kind of like a vee or ff seat. I can do some thing with that. Send it up