Seat Frame
 

The seat in my 64 feels like a low rider seat. Even adjusted all the way up I felt like I was leaning back while sitting in a bucket. I assume the seat frame is bad but can they be repaired fairly easy? Is this something that an upholstery shop commonly does? I called a guy that has a great reputation and he was very quick to tell me it was no problem without ever seeing the seat. He was just like yeah yeah yeah I can fix it before I even finished my sentence. Is it that easy?

Any GM car seat that is over 50 years old is going to have the same issues. All of the molded foam needs replaced, and your going to have to repair and/or replace all of the broken springs underneath the foam. The seats were not designed to last forever. If you seats are as bad as you say they are I would say broken, springs as well as cracked welds. Sometimes welds crack in the corners of the supporting framework. That has to be re-welded once all of the soft stuff & the springs are removed. There are layers of burlap and cotton fluff inside of those seats which goes bad over time, once unwrapped all that soft stuff needs replaced. None of that can be re-used. Any good seat shop should be able to fix those, before you go in you may want to order new seat covers and new molded foam.

The guy who did the seats in my ‘64 Tempest repaired the front seat upper on the drivers side by brazing it back together. The upper frames are spot welded sheet metal and crack next to the spot welds, mine had the same severe leaning back issue as yours does.

I already have the seat covers. Ironically or at least to me the regular tempest with its all vinyl seat with embossed arrowhead looks better than the cloth insert Tempest Custom but I didn’t know that when I ordered seat covers

Usually, seat rebuilders use marine foam, it's denser, and lasts longer. Replacement foam is roughly the same. But, what usually happens is they 'over-stuff' the seats in anticipation of settling, and, they never settle.

I suggest whoever you have do them, to comment you don't want them over stuffed.


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Both my front seats are now at the upholstery shop being rebuilt. The original foam was converting itself into yellow powder that had to be vacuumed up on a regular basis and my view out the windshield was getting lower. I was going to buy new covers but the shop owner said mine were in good shape and I just needed new foam. Over the years I learned my lesson allowing the shops to rebuild using their foam, and a park bench feel happened every time. First time was years ago and the shop owner said the seats would get softer, and twenty years later maybe they are starting to break in. Don't want the seats in this car to be correct about the time my kids are retiring, so I supplied the pre-molded foam inserts. Hopefully the finished product will be similar to the seats when they were new.

I purchased the PUI 'new' strato buckets, which uses all new parts, including the molded padding. It's like sitting on a barrel, lost a good 3" of head space. And it's like 3" closer to the steering wheel too, my knees hit the wheel getting in & out. There's no bolstering to it, the seat bottom and back are like not just flat across, they actually are arched.

There's a custom guy near me who does a lot of show cars and boats. After I get the initial shake-out stuff done, it's going over there to have him fix them.

It's frustrating to spend $2600+ and then have to have them 'fixed'. I bought the car with @69k miles, interior was mint, 110lbs girl owned it, so I know what they were like from the factory. They were very contoured, had high sides, and a very profound 'V' for the comfort weave 'gutter'. They really held you in place, even in spirited driving, and were comfy.

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