Installing New Leather Seat Skins

[n2nsanity]

So I bought a set of skins from Mitoska and they've just been sitting in the box for a good 6 months or so. Finally decided to start working on them.

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[n2nsanity]

Passenger seat out of the car
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The back piece is held on with 2 philips screws at the bottom and 2 metal tabs that slide in at the top.
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The plastic side piece is held on with just a few philips screws.
*forgot to take pics of this

The seat bottom is held on by 4 12mm bolts to the rail assembly
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Bottom removed
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[n2nsanity]

Started removing the bottom skin. I used some big wire cutters and just cut and wiggled the hog rings out. Little by little, lot of rings holding this thing down.
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Bottom skin off
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Bottom foam off. Was pretty nasty and kinda stuck to the frame and wanted to tear when I was pulling it off. Also here's some of the tools I used getting the hog rings off.
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Look how nasty the frame was. Looks like something you'd find in a junkyard lol. The sunroof must have been left off in the rain a few times. Hit it with the wire wheels and a brush to get the bulk of the rust off. Sandblasting and powdercoating would have been the way to go.
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Sprayed on some gloss black caliper paint. That's what I had laying around and is pretty durable stuff. Not perfect, but so much better than it was and shouldn't have to worry about rust sticking or tearing into the foam any more.
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[n2nsanity]

Feeling a little overwhelmed at this point, lol.
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Starting on the seat back. Every 3 inches, there is another hog ring. Requires much patience.
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Don't forget the side lever. (what's this piece called again?)
A philips screw for the backing and a smaller one for the handle.
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Skin almost off the back.
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Here is where you release the plastic guides for the headrest. Just squeeze the ends you see here and slide them out. Good idea to make note of which guide goes where. They are slotted differently so only fit one way, but labeling them can't hurt. In my case and for most others, the button side is on the left side (as your sitting in them) of the driver and passenger seat.
And here's much more rust...
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You can pull the skin all the way up, or you could also get them earlier on with some long pliers.

[n2nsanity]

Here's the other method for removing the plastic headrest guides (blindly with some long nose pliers). Hard to see what you're doing and requires a bit more patience (which you obviously have if you made it this far, but it works)
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The seatbelt guide is a little tricky. There is a metal clip that secures it in place. You can't see it, just have to know where it is. A long flathead should be able to pop it off.
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Closeup of that clip. For reinstall you can probably slide the clip on to the seat frame, then pop the plastic piece back in. It has a beveled edge on the tip, I believe for this purpose. Will not be an easy task to reinstall the clip once the seat skins are installed. So, save yourself a headache and reinstall this clip as soon as you get the skin and foam off the frame.
I'm really starting to think these seats sat at the bottom of the ocean for a while...
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Back skin is off. Those clotheshanger looking wires in the old skin will need to be reused. But, if they're as nasty as mine, you will probably want to replace them. So, don't throw your old skins away just yet. Also, helpful to look at while installing the new ones. It was hard to get pics of all the hog rings, but you can kind of tell from this pic from the holes in the foam. 4 on each side of the foam vertically and 3 rows of 3 horizontally, plus random ones going into foam at the bottom edges.
For the most part, their is a wire in the skin that attaches to a wire in the foam, connected by hog rings.
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[n2nsanity]

reserved 3

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*this whole wait 20seconds between posts is annoying lol

[n2nsanity]

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[DrGonzo]

http://v017o.popscreen.com/eGdsNHV5MTI=_o_c-c-c-combo-breaker.jpg

[Street_Chally73]

Should be cool to see these get installed. I'm restoring my replacement seats, ATM (new dye & a couple rip repairs).

I'll make a thread on how that whole process goes for anyone interested in freshening up their relatively nice leather ones.

[n2nsanity]

http://v017o.popscreen.com/eGdsNHV5MTI=_o_c-c-c-combo-breaker.jpg

Ass :p

[DrGonzo]

And you can't count either Eddie

[n2nsanity]

And you can't count either Eddie

I decided to go with post # halfway through lol. It's all getting deleted anyway. Speaking of... wonder if Alan will catch my comment :p

[fastfalcon94]

I used welding wire to replace some of my seat rods. I made a review video on youtube if you search for "ebay leather seat review" it will be the first one in the list. I'll be curious to see the install pics to see how his covers compare to the 3 other brands I've tried.