I really like sitting in luxury leather seats. I usually get to sit in them in cars. The car manufacturers have expended
significant research in making a set that is really comfortable and many have
even used high quality leather. Car
seats cost money unless of course you look at 15 year old cars then they are
nearly free or maybe they are free. The
problem is that they are 15 years old and probably worn out but wait, what do I see in the rear view mirror, the back seat and it has almost never been
used. I have access to a 1997 Saab
with black leather, a 1998 Cadillac with
tan leather, a 1999 BMW with gray leather and a 1996 Oldsmobile with green
leather all for free. It is so hard to choose.
Quick measurements show that the Saab seat back will fit
across the Glasair II without modification.
Well not really. It does fit
across without modification but is 6 inches to tall, needs a notch removed from
the center to go around the console and then the seat bottom will need a lot of
modification. All of the other cars are
wider so the seat back will take more work.
The seat bottoms will require significant modification no matter which
is selected.
I am not sure that I
want the black leather but I don’t have to keep it if I don’t like it so I get
to work. I pulled the back seats from the Saab,
not quite as easy as I expected.
The bottom seat came out easy,
just 2 bolts. The seat back was a
little more complicated. This is a convertible model, one side of the seat back
was already loose or it came loose, I am
not sure but the other side was latched and I could not get to the mechanism to
release it so I cut through the plastic, pulled the scrap away and noticed that
the latch for the passenger side is controlled from the driver’s side and there
is a little slot that almost looks like a keyhole. I picked up the key, slid it in and the seat
popped loose. 2 more bolts on the
bottom hinges and the seat back is free.
The seats weighed a ton that is not good; the back had a full metal
frame and ½ inch plywood. It took a few
minutes to separate the frame and plywood and most of the weight was gone. The upholstery was held onto the foam with
metal rings around a full wire frame that seem to zigzag back and forth
through the foam. Using an air powered
cutoff wheel I carefully cut the rings and wires , pulled the leather from the
padding and then removed all of the 1/8 metal wire frame from the foam. As the seat back was 6 inches to tall it
needed to be cut. Foam rubber is
sometimes a fun thing to cut. I found
that with a very careful use of a crosscut saw that I could cut a straight line
in the foam. Then I notched the bottom center of the seat
back with the saw and a razor knife. It
now fits around the center console.
Without the metal, plywood, frame and wire, the back fit perfectly into
the Glasair II and now weighs almost nothing.
The lower seat bottoms required a little more work. The Glasair II has separate bucket seat
bottoms that fit right into the wing and the foam had to be carved to fit into
the seat pans and between the console and airplane sides. So after removing upholstery and wire
structure from the lower seat; I measured the Glasair seat pans and cut center
sections from the foam to match the seat pan width with the crosscut saw. Then using an air grinder with a cutoff
wheel, I carefully sculpted the foam to fit the seat pans and cut it down so it
was much thinner. The Saab rear seat resembled a bench seat so I
just cut the leather upholstery right in half and wrapped the newly sculpted
foam and wished that I had a little more material to work with it as it does
not wrap all the way around. For test
fitting, I pulled out a roll of duct tape and with careful application the
seats are tucked in and I get to sit on my new upholstery. Proper completion will require some Velcro to
replace the duct tape and a little sewing.
I sat in the Glasair II for 20 minutes just enjoying the
comfort. The seats are still black and I
am still not sure that I want black seats but they feel so good and the current
investment is $0.
Time to get back to work on the electrical systems….
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