Seat Restoration Part 1

We start the process of removing the original fabric from our worn down oem seats.

Experience is paramount when it comes to custom upholstery. We chose Valencia's Upholstery in San Jose for the job. A family run business for over 2 decades, Tony is a second-generation owner that decided to forego the 9-5 corporate world to take over his father's business. 

Tony was kind enough to bring the workbench outside so we could photograph and document the project. 

Hog pins are the name of the game when it comes to taking apart a seat. Having done this for so many years, Tony knew exactly where each pin was located. He made the entire process look easy. Had we of done this ourselves, it probably wouldn't taken an entire afternoon. 

Our first peek of the original foam. Still in pretty good shape after all these years. 

More hidden hog pins within the foam. Tony made sure that are center cloth with the original red stitching was preserved.

All this from just one seat.

Here's the bare seat cushion. Being that this was the less used passenger side, the structure and condition of the bolsters were still in decent shape. In any case, the entire seat will be rebuilt. 

Next up, the seatback with all the metal frame.

Again, Tony was able to slide off the fabric without damaging the center section that we wanted to reuse.

Even the pros need a little help sometimes =)

Our seat back bolsters were, for a 26 year old car, in excellent condition. 

Here's the entire foam piece of our passenger seat. A nice big "R" to remind us that this is the passenger side.

The term "bitch pin" is used a lot when it comes to car repair. I guess the same holds true for upholstery work as well.

This little pin is what holds the headrest to the seat. We also realized that the oem headrests are actually non-adjustable.

"Hard at work" deciding what color fabric to use. Notice Denny taking a liking to the pinks. More to come soon!