Seats
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I am in the process of recovering my seats… The first one I did was the drivers seat, it took several days and I had to re-wire it and repair springs all over the place (and oil them as they were rusty). This seat wasn’t original to the vehicle as that had (at the time) been lost, so had subtle colour differences to those in the Dormi. Most notably was that the original ones frames are more grey than the later, I painted the drivers seat frame white and will have to do the same with the others now. The replacement seat was a total rusty wreck and in hindsight I shouldn’t have bothered with the springs, the original (also in need of upholstering, has now been found and I will swap at some time in the future). I am using an Exmoor trim kit by the way and it is pretty good to work with, only criticism is it is tight when you first put it on but soon stretches out and I may need to re-position it at some point to take up the slack.
Today I removed the passenger seat and stripped off the old elephant hide, the biggest shock of my life was the fact that there was literally no foam left, it had all turned to yellow dust, copious amounts of yellow dust!! Much as I like the original look, this has to work as a camper and there was no way I could sleep with springs sticking up my backside!!Watch this space!
Hi Dan,
cool. Yes my frames were rusty, too. I also painted mine “off-white” and regretted it. The original greyish tone was colder, but more rough & tough and original to the era. The white is glaring. I kept my frames the original color underneath the upholstery, for future reference.I found this label inside my driver’s seat. Keep your eyes open!
[attachment=1:qmr0hpq1]martinwalterfactory.jpg[/attachment:qmr0hpq1]
Here’s my orignial foam, too. Burlap over the springs, then foam. The driver’s seat base had an additional cotton batting over the foam, but I don’t know if that was original, since mine had been re-covered.
[attachment=0:qmr0hpq1]TheTwoOriginalFoamPadsWithBurlapLiner.jpg[/attachment:qmr0hpq1]
-Jeremy
Yup, it was in three layers the same as yours, only my foam had literally all turned to yellow dust…. Seriously there was no foam left at all not a bit… Luckily I had that spare seat as a reference, it was also constructed in the same way and had foam. That seat was off white, hence why I re-sprayed it, then back comes my Dormi and I realise that the others are grey, sadly very rusty grey. I have painted the passenger seat white but am not happy with the results, will have to live with it for a couple of years and then do it properly one of these days (priority is getting it ready).
Anyway, the passenger seat is covered with my material of choice (blackout blind material, cotton and rubberised) then foamed over the top, I have developed a new technique that utilises gaffa tape 😉 I will fit the covers tomorrow!
Front seats done!! Now for the rears…… Excuse the bungy chord, I have a replacement door top but it is in London and I am in Carlisle…. I think I will have to dig the welder out for a temp repair to the original.
Great! Will I see them in person soon? (PM your route if interested in a rendezvous)?
PS- I was tightening the screws on my front passenger seat today — again — and finally decided to Loctite them. The 4 that hold the hinges on (2x each side) work themselves loose. On the rear seats, too.
-JeremyEdited, as I worked out what screws you were talking about! Yes, I have lost one…
Removed the rear seats today ready for wire brushing, painting and recovering… Left plenty of blood in place of the bolts! Not sure how far we will get JH, as you know it depends on Mrs C’s health, things improving but might not be good enough to do the full tour.
Dan
25mm upholstery foam purchased from a home furnishing type shop. 25mm is on the cusp of practical and you need to strong arm the covers on, gives a nice padded finish though.
I ditched all the original padding entirely Loic (burlap and cotton), I re-covered the springs first with a thin fabric (black out blind fabric as it has a waterproof element) and then fitted the foam in the same manner as the original. I have found that using a bit of gaffer tape (duct tape) to keep everything in shape helps on the corners (and strengthens them a bit) and you don’t notice it through the vinyl. Give you springs a liberal oiling before re-covering it makes all the difference.
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