Jim's 1969 Custom/20

[bollybib]

LEAKS (7 of 7)

Lookin' a whole lot better underneath now....

the damage .....

Radiator hose……………..……$..23.69
Engine paint………………....…….…6.46
Timing cover seal……………..….14.00
Oil pan gasket set…………………29.10
Damper repair sleeve……….……11.90
Lock washers……………………..….0.97
Hose clamps………………………..…3.76
Hardware………………………....……0.65
Fuel pump………………….…...……24.77
AT filter kit……………………….....15.08
Trans fluid………………………....…26.90
Total………………………....…….$.157.28

Peace and have a nice day...Go Drive Your Truck !

[litew8]

Jim has been busy! Nice details applied and everything looks A+

[treveiger]

Looks great man!
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[oldman3]

Well, I see the new year hasn't changed you any. Just as precise as always. Everything looks great......Jim

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by litew8

Jim has been busy! Nice details applied and everything looks A+

Thanks. I'll be able to see my timing marks easily now and I'm glad to be rid of all that oily mess.

Originally Posted by treveiger

Looks great man!
Posted via Mobile Device

Howdy Trev. Lots cleaner now, that's for sure !

Originally Posted by oldman3

Well, I see the new year hasn't changed you any. Just as precise as always. Everything looks great......Jim

Hi Jim, Not much change here, I guess 2012 will be more of the same ! Hope you are well and thanks for your comment. Happy New Year !

[Stricklinator]

Great job and write-up Jim; informative and detailed as always. Let me know if you run out of projects and I'll drop off my truck at your place

Paul
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[bollybib]

Originally Posted by Stricklinator

Great job and write-up Jim; informative and detailed as always. Let me know if you run out of projects and I'll drop off my truck at your place

Paul
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Hi Paul, Damn,.,.I thought I had 'em all plugged (those pesky leaks, that is). Looks like I've still got a few drips over in the power steering department. Seems like all I do these days is work on my truck (not that I'm complaining). You can drop yours off here but I won't guarantee a return date .

[oldblue1968chevy]

Jim, doing the exact same thing (reasealing motor) did you do the rear main etc too?

GREAT writeup thanks

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by oldblue1968chevy

Jim, doing the exact same thing (reasealing motor) did you do the rear main etc too?

GREAT writeup thanks

Rear main area looked clean and dry, so I left it alone.

I'm glad you found something useful in the writeup. & BTW,your truck looks good with its new altitude.

[Stricklinator]

Originally Posted by bollybib

Hi Paul, Damn,.,.I thought I had 'em all plugged (those pesky leaks, that is). Looks like I've still got a few drips over in the power steering department. Seems like all I do these days is work on my truck (not that I'm complaining). You can drop yours off here but I won't guarantee a return date .

You are doing great. My back surgery/pain is really slowing me down. I've had the rear brakes apart since late August and they are still not back together

Paul
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[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (1 OF 8)

* * *

The following narrative describes the work I did on my bench seat from November 5, 2011 to January 22, 2012 ( a mere 78 days but who’s counting . . . ? )

* * *

My seat was in dire need of an overhaul. The original vinyl and cloth cover was gone on the driver side and in tatters on the passenger side. The foam where the driver sits had been worn away so I was sitting in a big pit when I drove.

I didn’t want covers with cloth inserts like my original Custom trim level. Although the cloth may breathe better than vinyl, the stitching tends to break loose at the joint with the vinyl after a while. I really like the CST all vinyl style with the embossed scrollwork, so I went with that in the 1969 design. I obtained a few swatches for color comparision, all of which were not an accurate match with my original saddle covers. However, the color fit in adequately with my interior so I decided that was OK since I didn’t really want to spend forever searching for an exact match. I ordered the new covers from the Truck Shop. They were having a promotion at the time and I got a 10% discount. The covers are manufactured by PUI Interiors. Other than the color issue, I found them to be of good quality.

............


Repro pseudo-saddle on left, original saddle on right

My original thought was to buy new seat foam. I looked at a lot of vendor price lists and found that most all of them were in the $400 range, with a few less than that. I also looked at a lot of threads on bench seat rehab. The feeling I got was that most people who have installed reproduction foam were reasonably satisfied but several complained about the increase in ride height. I looked at a lot of pics of seats with repro foam and began to notice that they looked puffy. The original seat foam has a much flatter look to it when compared with repro foam. After thinking about this for a while, I decided that I would disassemble the seats and inspect the foam before committing four hundred bucks or so for completely new foam.

I took the seat out of the truck and removed the old covers and foam. Then I put the bare seat frame back in the truck and with a bit of ingenuity and padding, I was able to drive it like that for the duration of my seat project.

I didn’t know much about foam when I started this project. I found a local upholstery supplier and picked up a piece of 24 x 24 x 2 that felt like it would work if I decided to patch the old foam. I set it on the bare springs in the truck in different positions to see how it felt when I sat on it. When compared with the original foam, it felt much firmer.

Then I spent some time reading about foam. I found that there are two basic characteristics to look for: density (D, lb/cu ft), and firmness (F, lb/50 cu in @ 25% deflection). I did some testing on the original foam to determine its characteristics using info I found here - - - - - > http://www.pfa.org/jifsg/jifsgs4.html and here - - - - - >http://www.diyupholsterysupply.com/c...am-square.html

I decided to order several sample pieces so I could do a hands-on comparison. I ordered six 12 x 12 x 3 pieces from diyupholsterysupply.com in different densities and firmnesses.

D=1.9, F=25, 33, 40
D=2.4, F=25, 33, 40

I found that the D=2.4, F=33 came closest to the original foam. By this time I felt that I could make the necessary repairs to the foam so I began to figure out what I needed material-wise.

[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (2 OF 8)

The next thing I did was to figure out how much foam I needed and how much and where I needed to cut out damaged areas of the original foam. I inspected the foam closely, took a lot of measurements, and made a graph of the results. I did this for both the back and the bottom.

.....

.....

I calculated that I would need only three pieces to make the repairs to the back and bottom so I ordered the material as follows.

Back…….……….24 x 24 x 3, D=2.4, F=33
Bottom…………..24 x 24 x 1, D=2.4, F=33
Botttom…………16 x 10 x 6, D=2.4, F=33
Bottom…………..Burlap, 40 x 36, 10 oz

[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (3 OF 8)

While waiting for the material to arrive, I experimented with ways to cut and shape the foam. I made a saw with some wood and an old fine-toothed band saw blade so I could make long cuts through the foam. My girlfriend bought me an electric knife that she found in a thrift store (she’s awesome !). I found that a 50 grit disc on my angle grinder worked reasonably well for shaping the foam (it makes a mess, be sure to wear eye protection and a face mask when doing this). It was a bit grabby but I learned to use a light touch to avoid that.

.....

[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (4 OF 8)

When the new foam blocks arrived I went to work on the back. I first removed the large damaged area at the driver side with the saw and the electric knife. Then I glued in the new 24 x 24 x 3 foam block. I took the electric knife to rough out the shape, and worked it to final contour with the grinder. After I got it to shape, I installed the back cover.

.....

.....

Adhesive that I used - - - - - > http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...er-77/Super77/

Then I did the same for the bottom. However, I ran into a few problems here.

1. My arrangement of new blocks that I glued in wasn’t good. It was hard to glue up and left gaps.
2. I didn’t cut deeply enough into the damaged area on the surface.
3. I didn’t have decent templates to follow for shaping. I mickeymoused one out of cardboard but it was too crude.
4. The firmness of the new foam felt softer than the original. I set the new cover over the foam and sat on it and I could feel the difference in firmness (but, the back felt OK so I left it alone).

I decided to order foam at the next highest firmness level (F=40) and redo the bottom. The first foam piece that I got from the local supplier looked to be the right choice now, so I decided to use it. I ordered one new piece of foam

17 x 12 x 6, D=2.4, F=40

[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (5 OF 8)

While waiting for my order to arrive, I made a few repairs to the bottom seat frame.

The long driver side bolster spring was broken and the short one was missing. I couldn’t find anyone that sold the long one, and I had no luck in the Parts Board, either. I ended up splicing the broken pieces together with some steel tubing and brazing them together. Hopefully that will hold it. I found that LMC sold the short piece so I ordered it from them.

.....

One of the hog ring attaching brackets had broken loose from its weld. Since I don’t have welding capability, I used a small u-bolt to clamp it in its original position.

.....

I also cleaned and lubricated the seat tracks and adjusted the wire linkage so that the seat moves forward and back and locks in place easily like it should.

[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (6 OF 8)

The new foam took a while to arrive (Christmas holiday shutdown at the foam factory). After I fixed the seat frame I made accurate templates to help me shape the bottom. I made one horizontal and one vertical template using illustration board. I took many measurements to get accurate shapes.

.....

.....

[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (7 OF 8)

Finally the foam arrived and I went to work on the bottom once again. I cut out the first repair and glued in the two new blocks.

After the rough shaping was done, I set the foam on the frame and I found that helped a lot. Once I had the bolster channels cut in, the shaping moved along nicely. The templates made a big difference, guiding me in the right direction while shaping.

After the shaping was done, I glued in a section of burlap on the seat bottom where it meets the springs similar to the original construction.

Finally the bottom was ready and I installed the cover over it after letting it sit out in the sun to soften up.

Here is the pile of scrap left over from this project ( no, not the Vette under the cover, the stuff on the hood ! ).

[bollybib]

BENCH SEAT (8 OF 8)

And here is the finished product.

...

The inaccurate color reproduction is apparent in these pics. Maybe someday someone will get it right. The cover isn’t all that hard to change out, it’s the foam that took all the work. Still, it’s a damnsight better than before !

I think I got an excellent return on the dollar for this project, even when I include the cost of the foam samples and discarded first bottom repair.

Seat foam from local supplier….…....19.05
Seat foam samples from diy.com.…..41.10
Seat foam……………….…………............54.68
Seat foam (firmer)………………........….28.55
Subtotal: seat foam……………………..........………$.143.38
( way cheaper than all new foam @ $400 ! )

Seat covers………………….……………................……239.08
Spray adhesive, silicone……………………............……18.69
Brazing wire and flux…………………….….…...............16.16
Bolster spring………………..……….................……………4.59
Hardware for seat frame repair………………..........…..1.89
Hog ring pliers…………………………………...................12.93

Total………………………………..……..................……$.436.72

Peace.

[oldman3]

Damn Jim, that was an excellent write up, and you seat turned out beautiful. I've always wondered which foam made the best support and this sure helped. I may have missed it in the write up, but what brand spray adhesive did you use, and were you happy with how it work? Again great job....Jim

[jaydelriotx]

Great topic!
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[bollybib]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Damn Jim, that was an excellent write up, and you seat turned out beautiful. I've always wondered which foam made the best support and this sure helped. I may have missed it in the write up, but what brand spray adhesive did you use, and were you happy with how it work? Again great job....Jim

Hi Jim & Happy New Year ! I used 3M Super 77 http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...er-77/Super77/ . It's readily available at home improvement and hardware stores. Besides, foam, it works great for fabric. Can't say from personal experience how long it will hold up but I can tell you that it is stronger than the foam or fabric itself. It's some sticky sh*t.

Nice to see Jimbo's truck go ttt recently. Good job !

[oldman3]

Thanks for the info Jim. I've heard good things about the Super 77 stuff, will have to try it on some small jobs. Thanks again about Jimbo's truck....Jim

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by jaydelriotx

Great topic!
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Glad you enjoyed it.

[bollybib]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Thanks for the info Jim. I've heard good things about the Super 77 stuff, will have to try it on some small jobs. Thanks again about Jimbo's truck....Jim

I made a few test glue-ups before I committed to the Super 77. I found that the joint remains flexible and is not easily detected by feel. If you try to tear the joint apart, the foam will tear somewhere other than the glue joint.

[treveiger]

Like always great write up!
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