Svo Seat Upgrade On Fox Sports Seat.

OK. Maybe I'll not say what bad words I wont use, and maybe this thread will stay where I created it.
If you were looking in on the last attempt, you'll remember that I promised to be civil and considerate of all input and questions asked. I'll continue to honor that.

So, now that I've got all of the "warm and fuzzies" set aside, let's begin:

For those of you that know my personal business, your probably wondering why I went out and spent money on seats when I already have seats recovered just 2 years ago in my coveted mach 1 comfortweave upholstery fabric.

Well, let me put that to rest:

#1. Despite the fact that the upholstery is fairly new, the seat foam is straight outta 1987. Riding in these seats for any distance over 100 miles will absolutely destroy any hopes of you arriving at your destination not paralyzed.

#2. I didn't buy them.

#3. Enter Waylon Krumrie, ..Sales manager at TMI auto upholstery.
Upon discovering that I intended to attend Mustang week, (and other regional car "events"), he was gracious enough to offer to comp me a set of the SVO front seat foams and covers to allow me to upgrade my ass killing sport seat to the more supportive and desirable SVO seat style.

He also wanted me to use their mach 1 door panels (which I would've gladly accepted,) but I am committed to my 65 on a 89 door panel because of the relocation of the door latch mechanism.

#4. It does cost me something though, I mean......it's not totally free.

I do have to give up 18" x 6" of the top center of my windshield for a TMI graphic.
All things considered,....I do believe that that is a fair trade.
But before I go any further, I want to give a big Thank you to Waylon, and the folks at TMI for making such a fantastic offer. I'm proud to say that I have their products in my car.

There is a down side to all of the free stuff though,....I gotta install it. In one day. Very do-able actually, especially if you're me. Since the rest of you are not me, I did/will take a buttload of pictures describing the procedure coming from a DIY perspective.

Finally, now that all of the credit is assigned to the proper people,....Tommorrow is picture day.

I mean I could do it tonight,...but my wife wants to take me out to dinner,.....and who am I to refuse?

I need to preface this by talking a minute about just how hard a project like this is. While not difficult, it isn't "easy" either. I'd say that you'll need to have a 6-7 skill set in order to get the job done. only minimal hand tools are required, including the necessary hog ring pliers. You'll need decent hand strength and dexterity in order to "persuade" the vinyl on, and to get it to fit. I have had surgery on both hands for arthritis, and my hands are still hurting from yesterday,...so be prepared.



If I have to point out where the 4 bolts are that hold down the seat, then maybe this is a job best left to somebody else, but it has to be said,......... so get the seat out.



Start by stripping the obvious plastic pieces, including the bottom base side bolster adjusting knob,..which has a little allen head set screw....


Separate the back and base by removing the two 13mm bolts, and one torx head bolt holding the two pieces together.



Remove the leg bolster by removing the roll pins ( too tight to get a hammer in there, I use a pair of side cutters to "wedge" the pins out of the hole.



unbolt the seat tracks next;



remove-u-late the seat tracks and the leg bolster from the base since my leg bolster is already covered in the appropriate fabric, I'm just gonna set that dude aside :




You should notice that my seat bracket doesn't look exactly like yours,....that's because it aint. I cut out 3/4" and welded the front back together so the front of the seat would sit lower when I upholstered the seats two years ago. (I hate the "space shuttle" attitude that the seats have in their stock configuration). I also extended the seat track 2" so I could attempt to get my legs fairly straight when driving with the seat fully back,...it almost works.

Now you got a stripped base, ready to remove the upholstery. The base is easy,....you start by unclipping the plastic retainers on the four sides, and peel the upholstery over the sides. You're gonna get stopped by these bars, hog ringged to the old foam:


I just remove the hog rings by twisting them off w/ a pair of side cutters. Once the 3-5 rings are off,...remove the rod:



Do the same for the other side. Once both rods are removed, peel the old upholstery back to expose the middle retaining rod in the bottom of the seat cushion.

Three more hog rings hold that little rod in a channel in the bottom cushoin,...twist them off and the seat fabric comes off. ( remove that rod from the old upholstery)


As you can see,...my foam was shot when I upholstered the seats two years ago. The tape did hold up well though,...dont you think?

I have "around the house" junk to do,...so I'll pick this up again later today. Don't touch that dial.

the seat back starts the same way, you'll find two rods holding the foam secured by hog rings. Twist them out and remove the rods;


peel the upholstery up till you get 2/3rds up and there is another one of those rods running across the back,it's in the seat upholstery held down by the long bars you already removed. the long bar fits in the notchy dudes on that rod and keeps the entire length of the upholstery held down basically by uhhh...the hog rings you initially removed to get the bar out, and a retaining loop at the top of the seat.

peel the upholstery up to the top and you'll find another rod almost at the top held again 3 hogrings. Kind of a pain in the ass to get to, but twist off the 3 rings, and the upholstery is only held in by the head rest. Again, save the rod.



JEEZE! this picture makes me look like so sort of hairy missing link. Ignore the hairy arm, and look at the last rod that the pic is intended to show.

Flip the seat over and tear up the foam to expose the area that the headrest is held in place by, wedge a couple of screw drivers against the retaining clip, and the head rest will slide out, the upholstery will come off now.




Viola! you now have a completely stripped seat frame:


Now would be the time to paint this stuff, at least the parts that are exposed,.. like the hinge brackets. My seat base was pretty sorry,..and two of the rods that make up the spring foundation were broken. I cobbled a couple replacements outta some .035 welding wire because I don't have the time to fix it right, so be warned that your base may have similar issues that you'll have to address.

Putting the thing back together is basically a reverse of the tear down. I showed you a waaaayyy more involved procedure for getting the old upholstery off, especially if you are removing old worn out stuff, in which case you would just cut that junk off w/ a razor blade. I intended to save my old seat upholstery because it's so new. The Bonus here for those of you paying attention, is that I intend to "pay it forward" and give this stuff to anyone of you that requests it. Obviously first come, first serve,...it comes w/ the knee bolster and headrest upholstery that came w/ my new set, as I did not need to recover those two things. So,.........anybody paying attention???

The base SVO foam just sits on the bottom frame. I had some spray glue, so I glued it in the same places that the old foam was glued. Make a cut for the ass width adjusting knob to stick through.


To be continued:

The base is the easier of the two to finish, reason being you can see the loop retainers that the long bars have to go into.


I start installing the bottom by hog ringing the one rod that runs perpendicular to the long bars, then insert one side long bar making sure I get it under the metal loop built in the foam:



it goes under this loop:



Once it's secure, I fastened it at the front w/ some rings:


I did the same for the other side, and worked the upholstery over the foam. Then I fastened the plastic clips over the metal slots.


Carefully cut the but adjuster shaft out.



I then installed the seat tracks, and leg bolster.


Again, guess I shoulda painted the stuff,...you can take your time and do that,..I gotta get it done.

The back,.....the hardest of the two parts, requires a certain "leap of faith" with that long bar. The foam slips on the back shell, just as it did w/ the base, I sprayed some glue to hold it in place, although The upholstery holds it there anyway. I started at the top by rolling the fabric onto the foam on top, and stopped at the first channel in the foam. I installed the retaining rod that I removed from the old upholstery, clipped it down w/ three hog rings. This is really one of the hardest parts, It is really difficult to try and get the rod down in the channel w/ one hand, and try to lock it down w/ the other. I recommend you enlist the help of another to keep screaming down to minimum :


Once that is done, roll the foam down the seat to get to the next anchor point. This rod slips in the sleeve, and is not locked down w/ hog rings. The long bar passes over this rod, through the little detents, and is held in place by the long bar at the top and bottom of the seat.



The long bars slide down the sleeves, pass over the perpendicular retaining rod and hook into loops at the top of the foam. This is the 3rd hardest part of the seat install, because you are basically having to angle those bars blind, trying to get them into the loops w/o being able to feel or see that they are in there. I just angled the damn things at a steep angle, and poked them into the foam until I think they are in the right place. There is no way to know that they are in the right place, so as I said before, it's a leap of faith.


The above pic shows the angle I'm stabbing the rod at. It obviously isn't threaded down the sleeve,..but you wouldn't be able to see anything if it was,..it'd be covered by the upholstery. Roll the upholstery all the way down, and slide the bars into their respective sleeves, angling the bar so that it will go under the loop at the top of the foam.
Do one bar, and let it hang w/o anchoring it at the base, do the other , then attempt to anchor it at the bottom. It takes a pretty strong hand, to get it to the anchor point, I used vise grips to hold it while I anchored it w/ three hog rings.

Once the bars are anchored,..the last thing that remains is what was the hardest part for me. The front and back of the upholstery is held in place w/ a male/female snap clip that runs the width of the seat back base. It's best to put the back of the seat out in the sun and let it heat up, because you have to stretch the fabric like mad to get the male, and female clips close enough to snap together.



Reinstall the head rest, put the plastic covers back and finito! You can go have a cookie. It took me about 4-5 hours to do both seats, but the one took longer, because I paused all the time to take pictures.

The old and new in a side by side:



It's obvious that the SVO seat has a much better lateral support design, and the bottom cushion side bolsters are significantly thicker. I still have to manipulate the piping a little more, but that'll get better after I sit in them, and the heat of the summer works it's magic on them.

Installed,...back it the car:

TMIproducts said:

Looking really good Mike - as you said this terrible heat will easily take out those few wrinkles at the bend - only concern is the leg bolster in the last image looks gray compared to the new upholstery - just the lighting? It's a great step by step walk through - one I'll be saving and sending to my sales desk to reference! Glad the seats made it to you in time and look forward to seeing the car and yourself at Mustang Week.

Oh, btw did I mention the mandatory TMI Tattoo that is required for sponsored products???

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No problem. I was thinking across my forehead, somewhat like the vinyl will be across my windshield.

RacEoHolic330 said:

That looks great. I love the larger bolsters. They should hug your ass pretty well in the turns.

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That's what I'm sayin! And to think,...all w/o having to change out a to a style, or year that didn't come STOCK in a Fox Mustang. (85-86 SVO) AND,....... w/o drilling an extra hole, cobble some bracket, have to tolerate some goofy assed reclining knob, buy yet another off shore product, or start a thread having to ask if it'll fit my car.

Update:

The seats are night and day better than the old worn out foams that I replaced..... (Duuuurrrr).

I managed to make 200 miles before similar ass fatigue started to set it,...but nothing like before. (Which required that my ass be "put down" to put it out of it's misery after only 100 miles before)

Update on the update: Met w/ Waylon at TMI this morning. Really nice guy, genuinely interested in building a serious quality offering. I'd recommend TMI's products to anyone considering upgrading their existing units.

RacEoHolic330 said:

So Mike, does this mean that you have some seat upholstery up for grabs that you might not have any need for anymore?? Hint hint to those that needs some new front seat skins!

I'd be all over those vinyls you took off, but I have me a set of Recaros waiting to go in.

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You had to go back and re-read it for yourself,...didn't you Scotty ADD?

Yep,...a whole buncha kids, riding around with their raggedy assed, worn out cloth that they would rather sit on, instead of basking in the knowledge that the previously owned mach 1 set they now OWN was once sat on by royalty.

RacEoHolic330 said:

I figured you must be doing something with the ones you took off. Didn't know you were giving the damn things away though! Somebody better get on this like white on rice. Not everyday you can get nice quality stuff for free, and with a royal Alabama-style cristening!

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Whatdya bet that even w/ all of this banter,...that I'll still have them sitting in the box down stairs?

RacEoHolic330 said:

I figured you must be doing something with the ones you took off. Didn't know you were giving the damn things away though! Somebody better get on this like white on rice. Not everyday you can get nice quality stuff for free, and with a royal Alabama-style cristening!

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