[LEEVON]

So I have about 1,000 miles on Popeye. One major project I have been wanting to tackle is the seat. I had an 88-92 chevrolet seat, which sits great but is just too wide. The seat back interferes with the seat belts and the sides touch the doors. It's ok, but not really the quality I'm wanting. So back to the drawing board. The original seat frame design is really simple and works great. But the springs are too bulky and don't sit well IMO. So I set out to re-create the original seat. Unfortunately I had to start from scratch, since I threw away the original bottom and back that I had. So after a long search and $200 I found a decent original seat to scavenge parts from.

My plan is to have this seat covered in a nice material, possibly with bolsters and some contrast, maybe black or brown distressed leather, or maybe a metal flake tuck-and roll...not sure on that yet. So I began replacing the seat springs by ordering large blocks of foam. 6" in the bottom and 4" in the back. I don't recall the specs, but I called the foam shop and told them what I was doing and they spec'd the correct stuff. It sits very nicely and should hold up over time.

I used the original spring frames as guides for new backs in 3/4" red oak plywood. Then I borrowed the hardware from the springs which mounts the cushions into the frames and attached it to the wood. I didn't have much trouble with this, but some of them were spot welded and had to be undercut with a thin cut-off wheel to remove. Then I used 3M spray adhesive to glue the foam blocks to the wood. At that point, I was able to use an electric carving knife to rough-shape the foam. That's where I stopped for now. The next step will be 80 grit sanding discs to shape the foam. It will need to be thinner across both the back and bottom. Then it will be ready for the upholstery shop. In the meantime I will be cleaning up the seat frame and getting it painted.