The problem with having lots of cheap labor is that you can do things (like cut seat cusions) by hand that others would do by machine. Which means no 2 are ever quite the same. Add in different amounts of wear over the years (driver vs passenger, door side vs center) and things get 'bespoke' real quick.
It's like working on an old house. Never assume two measurements are the same just because they "should" be. Drives me nuts. My Dad repaired cash registers, electronics and bank equipment for a living so he was used to dealing with tolerances in the thousandths of an inch. Watching him repair a house is always comical, and I have a feeling I'm the same way.
Just some things to think about, from a guy who spent 25 years in the automotive seating arena. Anything I can see in your photos shows molded foam, not cut foam. The surfaces seem to be closed cell, indicating it's molded. Seat upholstery is always made smaller than the foam it covers. Stretchy fabric is easier, but most OEM cloth isn't very stretchy. You should be able to use the same patterns if the seats appear symmetrical ,even if the individual foam parts don't appear to be. The foam can be formed by the cover. Whatever you do try not to skive the foam to fit. If you remove the closed cell surface it loses some ability to fill out the cover. The surface foam is normally denser than the core. That's just a result of the molding process.
Edit: I'll also add that none of this matters if the fiberglass seat shells happen to be hand laid and aren't the same.
That's good info to read, thanks DeadSkunk.
I just pulled the driver seat out to put the nondismantled bride in the car. The Bride and bracket weight 29lbs. The Vader maxed my scale at 60lbs so I'm sure it weighs more.
The first seat is complete. The cover took WAY less time that the cushions.
I started off by spoiling my car. It turns out that with deep buckets I can no longer easily kick the sand off my feet and I was getting the car super dirty. Weathertech mats are worth it in my book
We started by laying out all the pieces of the cover upsidedown and sewing them together in logical order; the front of the seat then the back then sewing the two sides together.
Once again the perils of non-stretch fabric were seen. This corner didn't make any sense because it's putting a square peg in a round hole. It works though.
The first test fit went well. Getting the perimeter cable back on was a bit odd. The cover fits the seat like a shower cap.
The only hangup was this one piece was about an inch too short to attach so we had to extend the piece of velcro. No big deal.
Seat one is complete! I still have to work the wrinkles out but that should be it.
Normally I don't evacuate for hurricanes but I need to get my car out of here and I don't have time to switch it with my Jeep which I keep somewhere else. Oh well. I helped my family put up the shutters and clean up the yard. And on top of all this, the Lemons race at CMP was rescheduled from this weekend. Whee! At least my drive out of here will be in comfort.
In reply to buzzboy :
Good luck & safe travels!
