Need upholstery help? I'm here

[biodiesel84]

Well, I just wanted to tell you guys that I have been doing auto upholstery since 1996 and have been running a shop for that last 4 years...


I have seen alot and done alot...custom and original...so if you have ANY questions, shoot me a pm and hopefully I can help or if you see a thread where someone has a question that I might help on pm me the link...glad I can help out...

Chuck.

[Captkaos]

Please keep in mind Advertising on the site and solicting sales is not allowed on the site, if you are giving out free advice that is fine, if you are soliciting sales, that is another thing.

[biodiesel84]

no no no totally FREE...I wouldn't charge for advice at my shop and definitely not on an information forum...I'm just here to help with upholstery knowledge...sorry if I stepped on any toes...just wanted to let everyone know that I could probably help with the knowledge and experience I have...definitely free no charge...

Chuck.

[comp]

 thanks 

[fishead]

I have a few questions.

My '77K20 interior is seriously thrashed.  I don't even know where to start!  The drivers side of the seat is split in several places and the foam is so collapsed you feel like you are going to fall out the door.  My dash is split prolly a dozen times.  My headliner rests gently on my head while driving.  The map holders are stretched and sag pretty bad.  Door handles cracked and missing parts.  She looks pretty rough.

If I were to invest a lot into the seat it would be one of those thousand dollar 40-20-40 with the centre console.  Is it very expensive to put a new pad on the seat?  My wife says throw a seat cover on it.  I say it is beyond that.

I see those glue on dash caps.  Are they for real?  Would that look like carp, or what?  I can't imagine it would sit flat on top of all those splits.

Door panels I found on the net for $200 for a set of 2.  Is that what I can expect to pay?

Thanks biodiesel84.  Where are you located anyhow?

[biodiesel84]

Capt Kaos...if I'm out of line on anything, please edit my post and send me a pm with guidelines so I know what I can talk about and what I can't...just don't want to overstep my bounds...

fishead...any competent upholstery shop should be able to rebuild the foam in your seat very easily...also, there is what's called a spring carriage under the foam attached to the frame by springs...it's little wires wrapped around a couple few rods...the upholstery shop should be able to get one of these and replace it if it's bad or broken...also, please make sure they glue a piece of thick cloth material across the bottom of the foam...that'll keep it from separating as easily...as far as price, if you are recovering the seat in vinyl, it shouldn't be around $300-500 and the cost of the seat foam repair...at my shop, the seat foam repair is included in the price of the seat cover...almost every seat that comes into my shop requires some sort of foam repair...if you get it covered in vinyl and cloth the price shouldn't go up much more than $100 more than vinyl...

I am in South Carolina...far from your neck of the woods...

the glue on dash caps, actually attach with silicone...we use and recommend them in my shop...actually sell quite a bit of them...I'm pretty sure that you can get one from Capt Kaos...I would defintely follow the instructions to the letter on installation...if he doesn't make one, I can tell you where to get one from...it is called a Coverlay...the door panels you can also get from here I think, if not I can also tell you where to get those from online...

the headliner and visors I would leave that to the upholstery shop also...and I'll tell you why...there is no glue available to the public that I know of that will hold like the commercial stuff the upholstery industry has...also, the sunvisors also have to be sewn to be done right...the headliner may cost less to be covered if you take it out and take it to the upholstery shop...if they won't cut you the price for your own labor, then I would definitely let them do it if they are going to charge you the same no matter what...

when choosing an upholstery shop, please choose somewhere reputable...if you cut corners, you probably won't be happy with the job and will have to pay to take it someone who knows what they're doing...I can tell you that I have seen work from every shop in town come through my shop to get redone...

any other questions, please feel free to ask...sorry about the book, just wanted to cover everything...

Chuck.

[biodiesel84]

one other thing...the Coverlays only come in black...well, let me rephrase that the only usable color they come in is black...you can pay for the color to be put in the coverlay, they have like 5 colors or something, but I can promise you it won't match your interior...to make the color match, you'll need to dye the coverlay before installing it...you'll need to take a scotchbrite pad and scuff up the surface of the Coverlay and then I recommend using SEM products...you should be able to buy them from any auto body paint store...I recommend getting the SEMs plastic prep and using that before the dye...

Chuck.

[lowriderbowtie]

Hey fishead..I was down at the autowreckers here in town and they had a couple door panels that were in great condition in one of the trucks still.  There's actually quite a few good parts trucks at the wreckers..Im positive you could find what your looking for there.
save yourself the cost of shipping across the line 

[Captkaos]

We sell Coverlay products, along with replacement cushions by American Cushion and seat upholstery kits by Acme Headlining, this includes covered headliners and visors

Check here for what we have listed, email me if you have parts or questions on what we don't have listed.
If you would like to see a listing of all of the interior part (including more than 73-87 trucks) look here for an image gallery:  http://acmeautoheadlining.com/gallery/main.php  (not prices are listed)

You can see the seat kits and cushions that we offer in this post were I installed them on my Crew Cab.  Generally cloth is about $50 more than vinyl.
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=6411.msg55762#msg55762

[angies86c10]

I recently bought a seat from a junkyard to put into my c-10 and it;s in perfect condition, but i bought  some foam-backed tweed fabric online because its the purple of the rest of my truck and I;d like to cover (parts of) the seat in that.  Any suggestions should I try to do it myself or u recommend bringing it to an upholstering place? (If so, can you recommend any places in Canada, Ontario specifically)
Thanks alot,
Angie

[biodiesel84]

If you think you're competent enough to sew up the seat then I say do it...if you have never sewn a seat cover before, I wouldn't waste the material, I would just take it to an upholstery shop...and I'm sorry but I don't know anyone in Canada that does interior, but someone else might...

Chuck.

[angies86c10]

how much would i be looking at to take it somewhere? and as far as doing it myself goes, I'm a decent sewer and a crafty girl, but I'd like to have some kind of pattern to follow and know what shapes to cut the material, any way I can get my hands on one of those?
thanx

[Captkaos]

Use the existing cover as a pattern.

[Skunksmash]

Is it hard to get new leather to stick to old dash pads and door panels? Seems like it would be.