tearing my back seat apart and each row of springs is wrapped in burlap, there was also the traditional covering of burlap over the entire seat. Any reason for this? Seems like maybe to limit the spring rebound? I plan on recovering it in burlap or the screen stuff listed in the tech section posts on upholstery but any reason to redo the springs like they did? seems like a major PITA!
That's a OLD upholstery method.Probably a good reason for it. Maybe for retaining pieces when springs broke ? The average person doesn't bother now. Cheep,Cheep,Cheep.
The springs were wrapped in burlap to help keep them quiet. You can spend all day re-wrapping them if you'd like. It's probably not going to make much difference. If you do wrap them you can use some felt from a fabric or craft store. It'll do the same thing. Personally, I'd remove all that nasty smelly dusty old burlap and inspect the springs for damage. After you've repaired any damage you can clean the rust and dust off and spray them with some paint ( I use black enamel rattle cans) Then you can recover the entire deck with some heavy vinyl or burlap. Some guys use hardware cloth but I feel that it unitizes the spring deck too much and doesn't allow the individual springs to do their jobs. See the link in my signature for how to cover the spring deck. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me. I;ll get back to you as soon as I can.
In the '50s, cars came with a heavy piece of burlap laid over the whole spring bed. Running the length of the spring bed, woven into the burlap, were thin spring steel wires. 12 or so, depending on how wide the seat is. These wires distributed the load of your *** across a bunch of springs, and it makes for a much, much nicer ride. If you want to duplicate those wires, fine a piano tuner and ask to buy a spool from him. I think .035 is what I've used. Spring steel--heavy side cutters to cut it, and always wear safety goggles. -Brad
I think I have all those wires, there was a layer of burlap layed across the top with wires woven in and out of it
Chances are they're still in there. The problem is that the ends should be folded over...usually around a piece of cord sewn into a hem on the top piece of burlap. That holds them in place. When you try to unfold those ends so you can take them out of the burlap, they're brittle and the ends snap off. On my '54 Buick, a few of the ends snapped off on their own, and a couple of the wires would work their way to the end of the seat and poke through the seat cover. Craftsman sells a real blunt-nosed heavy duty wire cutter, with a replaceable jaw. Great for going through e-brake cables and piano wire. -Brad
In place of the old burlap (which will stink) I use a piece of carpet, place the fuzzy side up, and hog ring it to the frame.This wears longer and adds a layer of support too.
I'm thinking they used the wrapping to 'pack' or preload the springs. I had the seats done in my '41 Ford back when I was 16, and the first guy that did them didn't mess with the springs at all, and just covered them with padding and material. That wasn't right, and he turned out to be a flake, so we took them to this goofy-*** old timer who did wonderful work. He repacked the springs, and when he was done, the seat felt like a new inner spring mattress. It was super comfortable, and wound up with a ton of mileage on them once my girlfriend went for a 'ride' back there and loved it!
Like some one else said, take the old stuff off because you clean the springs and w/e and it stinks, and go to a fabric store it get something kind of tuff to recover it with. You really need to put something back because if you dont the springs will eventually will puncture through it
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