So, you want to Rebuild Your Herald Seats?...

How many of you get in to your Herald or Vitesse and straightaway get that sinking feeling? (and that's before you even try and start it!) I'm talking about seats, you know, when they've just about given up and have to rely on the floor to support your bum. So what can you do about it (the seat that is!)? Well you can swap the seats over, but you may find you have even less frequent passengers. You could also try and hide the problem under a pile of cushions, but they have a habit of sliding about as much as a Herald under severe cornering! The only real solution is to rebuild it. Surely the job of a professional trimmer I hear some of you cry. One look at those stitched and padded flutes, the piping, no creases etc. may initially scare you off. But if I told you I stripped and re-cushioned both my 13/60 front seats in a day for about £20 you might think again, especially if you had some instructions!

Now many of you already know that you can buy just about all the parts to re-trim our cars, but obviously at a price, I mean a new seat diaphragm costs about £15 alone. With a bit care you can rebuild your seat at a fraction of the cost. As can be seen from photo 5 it may not be to the original specification but it looks good enough and it works! So what will you need? Obviously this depends on just how bad your existing seat is. In my case both rubber diaphragms (black rubber 'mat') under the seat had perished and the sponge foam had broken up (see photo 1). Both of these can be seen with the seat tilted forward. Also the seat back had lost some of its support. This is a sign that the rubber cross straps inside have broken.

Photo 1

What I don't do here is describe how to repair any tears/splits in the vinyl covers, as I have no experience of this. Generally the covers are quite hardwearing and only start to suffer after the 'internals' have long since given way or they have been cut or even mauled by pets!

To really assess the damage the seat needs to be stripped down. The first obvious step is to take it out of the car. Just tilt the seat forward, sit on the back seat and undo the nut and bolts (1/2" AF spanners), that secure it to the runner frame. Now we can start stripping it down. I would recommend working on an old blanket, ground sheet, carpet, or large sheet of cardboard so you reduce the risk of scuffing the vinyl on a concrete type floor. Underneath you will see that the seat back and covers are visibly held in place by small, black 'D' shaped metal clips and two or more larger 'C' clips. These must all be carefully removed. I used an old blunt screwdriver and a hammer to gently tap them off, making sure they didn't fly off, never to be seen again! However, if you do lose or even break one or two it just means you'll have to space them out a bit more! It's worth checking for a cotton 'apron' that is sewn inside the back cover and clipped to the bottom rear edge of the frame. This appears to tension the back cover to give it the correct shape. You should now be able to remove the back cover. Try pushing down on the seat base, and holding the seat back cover by its sides (they're made of hardboard) gently pull it up, rocking it a bit. The internal back foam padding may or may not come away with the cover but either way it doesn't really matter. Just make a note of how it all fits together, it is quite straightforward. With this cover off you can now see all the rubber cross straps from the back of the seat. Check to see if any are broken or split, especially where the small plate is moulded in for the hooks. Note that they can differ in width. Luckily only one of mine was broken and this can be seen as the bottom one in photo 2.

Photo 2

We can now move onto the seat base. At this point you may have found all sorts of debris from years gone by stuck in the nooks and crannies. Some of it may even give up some history of your car. I've found an old metal comb, car park tickets in old money, and even an old two shilling coin! To remove the base you have to very carefully release a quite highly tensioned spring that runs through the back of the seat cover and is hooked across the main seat frame. Brace the seat well or get some help holding it, and with a strong pair of long nose pliers or mole grips held by both hands carefully unhook the spring. Try and ensure all the tension is out of it before you let go to make sure it doesn't rip the vinyl. Now you can carefully peel off the cover. It may be glued to the frame in places but it will come away cleanly with care. Upon removing my seat cover I was greeted by a pile of what can only be vaguely described as dark brown thick horsehair on top of the base foam cushion! I can only suggest carefully removing it and replacing it later; it must serve some purpose? The original foam (called 'Dunlopillo I believe) is probably badly ripped and falling apart in lumps, but before you rip it all off try and measure it and note its shape for the replacement. This foam is usually glued to the frame so take off what you can by hand and then scrape off the stubborn bits. All that is left to remove now is the diaphragm. At least one of its locating hooks will have broken away so it will be relatively easy to remove the rest probably with the help of some pliers. DO NOT throw away the hooks, as you will need them later.

Before replacing anything, check over the frame itself for any cracks, twists or bits missing. Especially check the 1" or so wide metal strips are still welded in place top and bottom. You don't need great panel beating skills to pull out any twists etc. just gradually apply gentle force where applicable. If necessary get any cracks welded up and maybe some extra support if desired.

This completes the strip down so lets move onto the replacement parts and rebuild. Firstly, I'll start with the base foam cushion. Apparently the original material is still available, but as it appears to be a moulded item this would become a prohibitively expensive option. I went for the next best and that was the usual upholstery foam. I bought this from a large family DIY, furniture, and hardware shop in Exeter. It is available in varying thicknesses and I chose 2" or 2.5" thick. You can get it cut to size and I think I was quoted just under £5 for one base cushion. If you can, see if they have any off cuts about the right size, I found one and it only cost £2.50, with only a little trimming required. You don't need to cut it to the nearest mm as it is pulled into shape to some extent when the cover is fitted. As I mentioned earlier try and measure the old base as a guide. The foam can be cut quite easily with sharp closely serrated kitchen knife or a sharp Stanley knife. It's probably worth practising your technique on a waste bit first. When offering it up to the frame to check, it may help if you nick out the back corners. This will help it sit better against the rear edge of the frame.

Some of you may recall an article in the May '98 Courier (pg. 79) by Arthur F. Hopkins about replacing the mat style diaphragm with Pirelli seat webbing. Well this is what I did, although I didn't really refer to the article, I just remembered it! I bought this type of webbing and the necessary clips at the same shop as the foam. The webbing is a beige colour, about 50mm wide x 2mm thick and feels like a large rubber band! It cost £1.40 per metre and the clips were 30p per pair. The clips have conveniently punched holes in them that are perfect for fitting the diaphragm hooks. To save you the trouble of working out how long the webbing straps need to be, I'll tell you. For the straps going across the seat I cut them at 305mm and from front to back 340mm. This was based on an educated 'guesstimation' by me (coming from a man with a degree in mechanical engineering!!!), but they do concur with the figures in the previous Courier article. I wrote the lengths on each strap in marker pen to identify them. Clamp the clips to the straps using a vice, making sure they are all the same way round if only for appearances sake. I personally didn't use any glue. You will also need to punch or drill the strapping sandwiched between the clip's central hole to allow the hook to go through.

The original diaphragm was located on the frame by two hooks per side, but with this new strap arrangement I opted for a third central strap. This required the addition of extra holes in the frame. These were marked, drilled (1/8" drill, or 3.2mm), and de-burred. The extra straps also require more hooks. In Mr Hopkins' article he suggested 16swg piano wire from a model shop, but I improvised and used a coat hanger! Not the thin wire types but the rail hook bit from a more substantial coat hanger! You'll probably need to cut it with a junior hacksaw. Use an original as a template, hold it in a vice and bend it to shape with the aid of a pair of long round nose pliers. File the ends to remove any sharp edges and bingo!

Now this is where the fun can begin as it's time to fit the new straps to the frame. I could say, to use the classic 'Haynes-ism', "replacement is a straight forward reversal of removal" but instead I'll say, "replacement is a struggle with the risk of personal injury!". The easy bit is hooking the first end of a strap to the frame, and the struggle is hooking in the other end, under tension, whilst stopping the frame from catapulting across the room! If possible get someone to brace the frame, then, preferably wearing some thick gloves, grip the hook with a pair of mole grips or strong pliers, carefully stretch the strap and hook it to the opposing hole in the frame. I advise wearing gloves because if the hook slips out of your grip under tension it could give you a nasty cut. When putting in the rest of the straps I wove them in and out of each other for more support, see photo 3. Some of you may think I've gone a bit overboard about putting in these straps, but you need to obtain sufficient tension to eliminate any sag re-occurring.

Photo 3

Next we can glue the new foam base to the frame. I've used 'Evo-stik' glue in the red tube or tin for this, and did two seats with one big tube. Before gluing the foam down check and re-check it for fit until you are happy it sits uniformly around the frame. Run a continuous bead of glue around the frame's seat base and a corresponding zigzag bead around the foam base. Spread the glue a little and allow it a couple of minutes to go tacky. Carefully press the foam base onto the frame, ensuring it sits square and back up against frame's back edge. If it doesn't go on right it can be carefully removed and re-positioned. Re-trim kits sometimes state that there is a 'skirt' that fits around the front face of the seat base. This was originally, to the best of my knowledge, a hessian type material, but the new repro items are a thin foam approx. 2 or 3mm thick. Again I bought this from the DIY store as an off-cut for about £1. Quite what purpose it serves I am not quite sure, but I fitted one all the same. I just cut it with scissors to fit across the front edge of the seat and partly around the sides and glued it on.

The base should now be looking a lot healthier, so we can now re-fit the seat cover. Trial fit the cover over the base foam to avoid any creases developing. When you're confident about the fit you can then fit it properly which involves gluing it where it is in contact with the edges of the foam seat. Before you do this don't forget to re-fit the 'horsehair' I previously mentioned! I have tended to start with the seat cover inside out and work from the back. As you come forward unfold the cover, using the cover piping as a guide to keep things straight and even. With the cover in place maybe just run your hands around the cover edges to ensure good contact with the glue and smooth out any slight creases. The rear edge tensioning spring in the cover can now be re-fitted. This is awkward to fit and requires the use of strong long nose pliers or maybe making up a special hook tool. The final part of the base re-build is to fit the metal 'D' clips. If you look around the edges of the cover you should see the old witness marks of the clips which you can use as a guide for replacing them. Starting at the front centre pull the cover down around the frame and push the clips into place. They may require a light tap with a hammer to ensure they are fully home. Work your way out and round the frame minimising any creases as you go and again checking the cover remains square on the frame. You now should be looking at a firm, flat and fully supportive seat base!

If you need to replace any of the seat back straps its pretty much the same procedure as for the base straps. However these straps are held to the frame by a twin hook arrangement. This will mean marking and drilling two holes in the strapping clips. You will also notice that the straps get thinner the further up the back you go and the new straps may be too wide see photo 4. As I did not have to replace any straps up here I can only suggest cutting the straps down or finding thinner material.

Photo 4

When you replace the back cover you have to ensure the aforementioned cotton apron is fitted correctly. It fits from the front to the back of the seat through the horizontal slot at the top of the seat back. By carefully pulling it you'll see the cover pull in and out across the horizontal stitching. This is how you obtain a good tensioned fit. The apron is then clipped to the frame base back edge with the 'D' clips. The rest of the back cover is then 'D' clipped to the frame and the 'side flaps' are held by the larger 'C' spring clips. You should now have a rejuvenated seat sitting before you! (Photo 5)

Photo 5

The finishing touch is to give it a thorough clean. The cleaner I like to use is called 'Decosol' which is an orangey-pink gel with minimal odour and quite effective on vinyl covers. I initially wipe the seat over with a sponge and clean warm water, then apply the cleaner with a brush such as a nailbrush, working it into grain. Rinse it all off with a sponge and warm clean water again, chamois it down and allow it to dry off outside for a couple of hours or so. On the lighter trim colours such as tan or light blue it really transforms the car's interior.

So just how much does all this cost? Well for one seat it breaks down as follows:

1 foam base	£2.50 - £5.00
Webbing strap	@ £1.40 per metre
3 x 305mm
3 x 340mm	£2.80 (2 metres)
6 pairs strap clips (@ 30p pair)	£1.80
Foam "skirt"	£1.00 (approx)
Glue (Evo-Stik)	£2.00 (approx)
TOTAL	£10.00 (approx)

I've tried to explain this through step by step based on my own experience of 4 seat rebuilds on 13/60 seats. I hope I haven't missed any bits out and it maybe of use to some of you. If you decide to give it a go and have any problems or feel things could be improved on please feel free to give me a call.

Gordon

Some additional suggestions have been sent to us by Jason Chinn:
"In order to make the clips that join the webbing to the seat frame Gordon used coathanger wire, I found another solution that was staring me in the face! See photo below, the rubber diaphram has metal reinforcing rods in it, if you cut those out they are the right gauge wire and very strong - you have to cut about 5mm off to get them perfect but they work great. I also found that the rubber seat blocks (height adjusters) are available from Six Spares for £9 a pair".

Thanks Jason. Jason also says that the foam cost him nearly £10 a piece, rather than the £5 suggested by Gordon.