[Skippy597]

Looking at doing the rear seat in my 66 lemans. Right now it's just a bare frame and was looking at the legendary vinyl for it as I've heard it fits better than the pui. However, I am cheap and cannot bring myself to spend nearly $300 for the foam separately. Has anyone else used just generic foam and burlap to to upholster the rear seat? What thickness of foam should I try?
Thanks

[HoovDaddy]

Stock foam is 1.5" thick and pretty firm. If the foam is too soft, the trims won't fit good. Amazon has pretty good price on burlap. Both brands of seat trims are "good enough", neither would compare to the quality of of a custom shop as far as vinyl and thread. Legendary is marginally better than PUI for vinyl weight and thread quality. Legendary vinyl is usually shinier than PUI. IMO, not worth the extra cost for most applications. I know their faults because I have destitched both brands to use as patterns.

[OG68]

I did the seat bottom in my 68 with 2" foam medium density. Cut and trimmed with an old bread knife. Used cotton batting (as original) to fill in the gaps. It felt and looked overstuffed on the edges.
Cut the edges back and used more cotton batting on the ends instead. Used cotton batting for the seat back, no foam. Came out pretty good. But getting the upper and lower pleats aligned was a major task. Must have removed / align / replace the fabric a half dozen times. Overall I'm happy with it.
Ben Rambow was a tremendous help.

[tjs72lemans]

On my 72 Lemans I actually bought a roll of foam from Walmart that worked well. I believe it was either 1 1/2" or 2" for rear seat.

[rambow]

I use 2" foam 55lb high density foam for both the lower and upper cushion.
I don't carve it to shape at all, just leave 3-4" along the front and sides and the cover will compress it to shape.

The upper cushion is much harder to do with foam than the lower cushion because there is not a lot of room for the foam to fold over the sides.
For upper cushions i will actually slice the overhang in half and remove the inner 1" of foam back to the edge. That leave the outer 1" that can fold over easier, and still fill out the cover properly.

There is a link in this post on TC to where I buy my foam and other supplies.

https://www.chevelles.com/threads/source-it-yourself-seat-install-kit-contents.1175004/?post_id=11812870#post-11812870

[Skippy597]

Originally Posted by HoovDaddy

Stock foam is 1.5" thick and pretty firm. If the foam is too soft, the trims won't fit good. Amazon has pretty good price on burlap. Both brands of seat trims are "good enough", neither would compare to the quality of of a custom shop as far as vinyl and thread. Legendary is marginally better than PUI for vinyl weight and thread quality. Legendary vinyl is usually shinier than PUI. IMO, not worth the extra cost for most applications. I know their faults because I have destitched both brands to use as patterns.

Well then maybe I'll just go for PUI they are more available and nearly $100 cheaper.

[Skippy597]

So what all do I need? Burlap, cotton batting and some 1.5" medium density foam? Along with the covers and hog rings. I've never recovered anything but I love learning stuff. No looking for perfection but good enough

[OG68]

It was the first time for me too. Key is to have lots of patience and buy LOTS of hog rings with a dedicated hog ring cutter.