Redoing Sport seats. Help please.

I am in the process of redoing the webbing on my sport seats. Whatever the material, it seems to have disintegrated after all these years. The foam and leather are still in good shape, so I will probably just leave that alone.

Does anyone know of any special tricks to installing the webbing? I have hog rings and pliers and have found a source for the webbing. Unfortunately, the original white webbing is NLA.

It seems pretty straightforward, but I know enough now to know that when something seems too easy, it probably is. Has anyone else tackled this project?

Also, when I was removing the seats I noticed that I am missing one of the rubber bumpers that the upper frame rests on. These are NLA from the dealer. Does anyone know of a source for these? I have attached a photo of the missing piece. Please excuse my crude photoshop work.

Thanks for the help.

Perhaps autos international for the rubber bumpers? Looking at mine, I'm thinking that cruising a u pull domestic wrecked-em yard may yield something that works with a bit of modification. Think the bumpers used for quieting pickup tailgates. ;)

Paul, I imagine there are a lot of substitute pieces that would suffice for a bumper.

On the webbing: I used to watch my grandmother web a chair. She'd stretch hell out of the webbing and nail it down with tacks spitting them out of her mouth like a pro. I still have her magnetic tackhammer.

No wood in a sport seat? ;) I think I'd pull the webbing tight after fastening the first end and use vicegrips on one side while hogringing the other. If you had about a foot extra for the pull and then cut off the excess, you could get some leverage. HTH.

BTW, mine is sagging on the drivers side and I kinda like it. I'm tall with a skinny butt, so I sink down. I need to leave it that way. :p

Like Grandma Zeke, This is an artisan sort of thing. I would either find somebody that still does that or try to train yourself. If checking with upholstery places fails, then you might ask around at a local crafts fair, old copies of the Whole Earth Catalog, those local newsletters on old-time crafts in the Appalachian Mtns. areas or something similar. I don't think new seating has this sort of thing or a machine does it. Or maybe you can buy pre webbed "netting" someplace. This is likely one of those arts that died out and only a few people cared enough to resurect it. You might post what you find out. Good luck.

The missing seat stop looks to be similar to those on the 1965-66 seats a flat block of rubber with a round mushroom shaped locating stud. Check with International Mercentile (the 911 rubber place) in California. Still available.

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Originally Posted by RandyWebb

Like Grandma Zeke, This is an artisan sort of thing. I would either find somebody that still does that or try to train yourself. If checking with upholstery places fails, then you might ask around at a local crafts fair, old copies of the Whole Earth Catalog, those local newsletters on old-time crafts in the Appalachian Mtns. areas or something similar. I don't think new seating has this sort of thing or a machine does it. Or maybe you can buy pre webbed "netting" someplace. This is likely one of those arts that died out and only a few people cared enough to resurect it. You might post what you find out. Good luck.

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Wow! You made me think of an idea. If the original webbing is not available and the stuff that is available is not condusive to hogrings, Why not have a window net company make up a custom net the right size for the seat bottom. I bet Crow Ent, would do it.

Can you get the rods out to run thru sewn loops?

Zeke, That would work. I think the question would be if their setup charge would be too high to just do a single one. If it is high, then this is where places like Pelican can come in. They could order a run after using their forum to gauge interest.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I did some research and ended up buying Elasbelt webbing. Although it is not the original material, it worked very well with the hog rings and has most of the properties of the original.

The rewebbing took about four hours per seat probably because I was learning as I was going along and also because I was so anal about reusing the same holes in the leather. There's definitely some artistry involved. Getting just the right amount of tension in both the webbing and leather took some practice but was possible with careful attention.

This morning I have some sore fingers but the seats have been transformed. Before I started the project I thought that the seats might have to be totally redone since the cushions had collapsed. Looking at them, you would have assumed they needed a total rebuild.

With just the rewebbing I feel like the seats have been given a new life. I also feel like I saved a lot of money since I initially budgeted $1,500 for their restoration. I now have some very comfortable seats with nice patina.

Thanks to everyone who offered their assistance. :)

Everthing that Crow does is pretty much by hand, so there shouldn't be any "setup charges." Just the cost of a window net.