Moving along with the 49 Chevy build, removed the seats and started tearing them down to bare bones. My question is, what's the purpose of all this burlap wrapped around each spring and another flat covering with small thin metal rods? Obviously the burlap and all the accompanying foam and padding smell like 65 year old car so it's gotta go. Would the upholstery shop need to use these little metal rods that are woven through the flat burlap?
I think it mostly kept the cotton stuffing from falling thru the springs. I've seen upholsterers replace all that with a piece of vinyl, and then put foam on top of the vinyl. There are probably lots of ways to do it
The trim shop will replace the burlap with a different material,you don't wont to smell mouse infestation when done. Remove it all and clean the the springs and repaint them,then take it to your upholstery guy. HRP
Burlap keeps the springs from cutting into the layer of cotton or foam which covers them,,much better than a sheet of vinyl.. Burlap is available at upholstery supply .in yardage or in rolls approx 4" in width known as webbing
OK thanks guys. I will save the thin metal rods in case. I just didn't want to tear it apart til I had a better understanding of how a current shop would rebuild the seat. Definitely want to get rid of the "old car smell"! Now I just gotta get a respirator and tear out the headliner - that stuff is rough when it gets airborne!
The individual springs are wrapped with burlap so they don`t squeak when they are rubbing against each other. I`d try and leave that part. Spray with Lysol and frebreaze. Then after drying, paint everything. This should take care of the smell. Removing the burlap and replacing it will take hours. Each spring will have to be removed and wrapped with burlap. Make sure every spring dosen`t have cotton or mouse turds in them. Replace the top layer of burlap.The thin woven rods on top are used so that you don`t feel each individual spring when running your hand over them. There is a new product called perma-eze that replaces it. I usually use a layer of rebond carpet padding instead with a good layer of foam over that on every job I do.
Personally, I would ask your upholsterer you are going to use as there are many ways to skin a cat and he/she will tell you how they like that feline prepped.
stanlow, I got into the rear seat bottom tonight and see what you mean. I removed about 100 hog rings and discovered that each of the springs is only held in to the frame via the burlap pouches and hog rings. I don't think I had alot of mouse crap in this one, didn't see evidence of it. However, it definitely has that old car musty stench. I removed the front-most row of springs from the frame, after I discovered that the springs were only held in by the burlap. Really don't wanna keep this stinky old burlap, but.... If I remove all the springs from the burlap, what would a shop use to tie them back in together? I haven't seen these pouches of burlap in any catalog stuff I've looked at. And, if I take all the springs out of the burlap so I can clean and paint everything - do I need to catalog them as to where they went in the frame, or just throw em all in a box? Just not sure how simple the re-assembly process would be for the shop if I did that. And, I don't have a shop yet, but I want to clean these things up and store in the attic while I work on other aspects of the build - it will be a little while til I get to the interior and I don't wanna have this smell in the attic and filtering into the house. Surely an upholstery shop could sew these springs into burlap pouches pretty easily with their sewing machines.
The springs may be different heights and different sizes across(diamiters). Draw a pattern on a piece of paper with corresponding sizes of springs that go in the correct order. Plus, take a picture. The springs will be held in place with hog rings. When installing them, use a little cotton in the hog ring so that the spring and hog ring won`t move. Your wife`s home machine will be able to sew the burlap pockets. Buy a set of hog ring pliers that have a 45 degree bend in them where the hog ring goes in. Trust me, they are the best.
Years ago, I had a guy buy a bunch of cotton from me. He insisted that every spring was supposed to be filled with cotton. I couldn`t convince him otherwise. Mice like cotton, so I use as little as possible.
yeah I was thinking the wife's machine should be able to sew burlap and we could replicate these pouches ourselves. I have already painstakingly cataloged every nut and bolt and piece I have removed from the car, so some more won't hurt. I can easily (although not quickly) label as I remove and then we can sew up new burlap after cleaning all the pieces and frames and repainting. If it's all torn apart anyway, ya might as well take the time to make everything nice and new again before putting it back together. is it weird that I kinda enjoy the taking everything apart and then putting it back together "new"?!
Since you aren't ready for upholstery, how about just ripping off the burlap and leave the springs. Sometimes it will come off easy sometimes pressure washer works. And I have had to weld a few frames and didn't quite get the burlap protected, it burns Fast. Sand blast also works. Jack
I bought my own machine last year and three books on how to upholster. It is fun and frustrating learning the tricks. I live in Houston and there are supply stores locally that sell all of the materials and the people that work there are very helpful. The one thing I have learned is "it isn't as easy as it looks", take your time and measure more than once before cutting.
I've done a few seats and I generally replace the layer of burlap over the springs with fine steel mesh, like screen door screens, so the mice can't chew into it.
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