What a mess - 67 bucket seat

[AR67GTX]

Pulled the covers off my bucket seats to replace and found this mess in the seat back of one of them. My first thought was someone dumped a container of graphite powder in it. But as I got it loose I realized it must be powdery black mold. It was literally pooled up like loose powder at the base under the cover. Put on a mask and pulled the whole mess into a garbage bag to separate it from the frame and then vacuumed the cover and up all around the floor and work table. Most of the black area on the foam had a layer of muslin placed over it so this must have started before the last guy replaced the cover. But the seat bottom was fine. I was considering putting the fronts up for sale as they were in good shape and older Legendary covers but may just chunk them now. It’s amazing what some people will do to save a buck.

 

[JackR]

That’s crazy. Had a black mold problem in my house from a refrigerator water line leak. Could have bought another car with what that cost.

My roadrunner seats were as much a surprise when I pulled the covers off

 

[AR67GTX]

That’s crazy. Had a black mold problem in my house from a refrigerator water line leak. Could have bought another car with what that cost.

My roadrunner seats were as much a surprise when I pulled the covers off

View attachment 1619644

View attachment 1619645

Actually your photos bring to light another mystery - the seat frames and springs on mine are not rusty at all. Even the wires in the bottom burlap are in great shape.

Sorry for that mess. Not much there for you to work with. But that black burlap padding does look a lot like my foam.

 

[Jerry Hall]

When the foam and burlap started breaking down on my Superbird front bench, my upholstery guy replaced the foam, but he no longer uses burlap. I can't say what it is, but I asked why no burlap. He said the new materials wouldn't ever let the springs cut through and start destroying the foam. He also said the new foam is much better than what was made 50 years ago. My seat is now reworked, but I'm afraid I won't be around for 50 more years to find out if that's the truth.

 

[1STMP]

This may sound like it's
kind of hillbilly but I place
10 of those silica gell packs
in a Tupperware container
(no lid) under both the driver
and passenger side of a
bench seat.
There are similar containers
under the rear bench.
Lived in the Houston
(Humidity, Texas) area where
black mold is a constant
battle. No mold in my seats.
You can buy the silica gel
packs on line, and are
reusable after a little low
temp baking time in the
oven.

 

[AR67GTX]

Whoever did my front seats last time used burlap but on top of that he used a piece of what looks like heavy upholstery fabric. I found out in removal that it’s really tough stuff, impossible to rip or anything. So I ran it through the washer and plan to reuse it on top of new burlap to better support and protect the new foam.

I’ve had to spend a bit of time tweaking the springs in one of my seat bottoms that were mis-shaped and not uniform in profile. Must have been a 300 pounder who spent some time in it or something. Nothing broken fortunately or collapsed - just twisted somewhat and un level at top. But good now.

 

[Bird 426]

I use tyraps to help the springs out. Seems to work or at least help.

 

[AR67GTX]

I got this far and had to stop for awhile to do some work on some parts for a friend. Hope to get back to it in a few weeks.

 

[AR67GTX]

Finally finished up the seats today. I had forgotten that installing seat covers borders on a contact sport (seems that way at 73 anyway). Legendary definitely makes a good seat cover. Biggest struggle was getting all the frames/springs back in good order and all square again. Still need to put the bucket seats outside in the Sun for a few hours to see if the corners on the backs can relax some.

 

[fesser]

Those came out nice.

 

[Bird 426]

I had the same molded foam for my '69 RR buckets. I could not get the cover over the seat backs, well, I got the cover on, but had issues closing the deal at the bottom. My seats had two listing wires, which if not placed properly, will not allow the cover to move much. I tried two times, trying to recenter the cover, to no avail. Went to an upholstery shop, and was asked what shape was the old foam in, and recommended reusing it. That's what I did, versus getting creative with a meat carving knife. Seat bottoms, were no problem, old foam for the backs in my case will be fine. Yours look good!

 

[AR67GTX]

Those look good.

I used new foam in the buckets because the old foam was beyond saving and had already been patched together in an earlier recovering. They went together well except one seat bac kept wanting to go on a little out of kilter at the bottom. I checked and rechecked the covers, my foam, my centering of the listing wires, the foam centering, etc. I was able to get it in within 1/16” at the bottom by fastening it down tight at the bottom and letting the sides run wherever they ended up. In the end I can’t see it except on the backside a little where the sides are clipped. About the only thing I didn’t double and triple check was to see if the frame was slightly tweaked out of square, which I suspect was the issue. As a matter of fact, a lot of my effort went into straightening the frame members, springs, bracing struts, etc. Nearly 60 years of wear can mess a bunch of stuff up.

The rear seat foam and seat back cotton batting were still in great shape and I reused them instead of the upholstery kit from Legendary. I put a layer of new burlap under the old burlap and wire reinforcement and sandwiched it with a layer of muslin on top to protect the foam (all glued together with 3M adhesive). And then I added a layer of muslin over the foam on the seat bottom and the cotton batting on the seat top to protect them and allow the covers to slide into place easier, especially over the foam.

I couldn’t make a living at this - probably starve to death I’m so slow.

 

[Bird 426]

Mine didn't get covered in one night either, got spread out well over a month, but we were successful! Now, for the rest of the car!