I'm thinking about recovering the bucket seats in my '70 Cuda as a nice winter project, and hoping to gather some information on what to expect before I dig in.

Interested in stories, tips, tricks or tales of woe that anyone can share from their own experiences. Photos always appreciated.

Thanks

Hey Russ! I did a set many years ago. Turned out great. My thoughts:
The rear bench is easy, do it first as a warm up, the buckets are much more work, though not "Hard"

Use new foam, I know its expensive, but re-using old foam is a compromise
Do it in the sun, (winter project????) or at least get the vinyl good and warm--it makes a difference.
Get a good set of hog ring pliers, and preferrably a set without a bunch of extra metal at the tip---you want to be able to reach the tip as far into the work as possible. I ground the tip down on mine on a grinder to accomplish that.
Get two sizes of hog rings, there will be times when you want a choice. The buckets are all about securing the listing wires evenly, tightly, and securely. My finger tips were sore for a few days afterwards.
Obviously be very careful not to puncture the vinyl with a hog ring.

I don't recall the order-of-operation, I think you start in the middle and work back and forth, side to side, to ensure it finishes evenly. Work wrinkles out as you go--do not expect them to work themselves out. One of the trickiest areas are the seat backs, sort of where your shoulders would be (right at the transition from head reast to seat back).

Good luck
Make sure the seat springs are in good shape.

Hey Greg, thanks for the tips.

I gotta believe that there are a few more guys out there that have replaced their own seat covers. If you're the only guy out there manning up to take on seat covers I'm in trouble. The work on your car is obvious proof of your superior resto skills.

It really helps to have a second person to compress the new foam while you pull the new vinyl into place, and hog ring it in. I.E. have a helper put their body weight on to compress; result is a nice wrinkle-free fit.

And bucket seats usually have an inset; measure carefully for the new cuts and DON'T secure those 'til your certain they are at least CLOSE.
another

buckets are hard but time consuming,only do one at a time as then you have the other to look at,believe me on this,also get new burlap from a fabric store and like said new foam(dante)the sun really does help,also i put trash bags over the foam to help slide the cover on then you can reach and ripe out the plastic later. pm me so i remember to send you a copy of instructions to do this when i get home. Darren

Check the tech archives in the main index (NOT the link at the top right of the page) There were a bunch of helpful hints on seat covers added there in the last year or two.
Its really pretty easy. Remember to take tons of digital pictures of the disassembly so you can review on reassembly

Do like i did, find a boyfriend of a co-worker who does upholstery for a living and give him $50 and a case of beer to install the front covers.

I am considering offering a seat restoration service. PM me if you think it's worthwhile.
Warming the covers is extremely helpful. I wouldn't do a seat cover without warming the cover first. The chances of rips are too great.
If you buy new foam, make sure you add the muslin to the bottom edges so that the foam is attached first (like the factory).
Position the cover and put the hogrings into the foam first.
Next wrap the cover around the front (seat bottom), or top (backrest) and then do the other end.
If you need more help, let me know.

Some silicone spray will help in pulling the covers over foam. Get a decent pair of hog ring pliers. Your hands will thank you.

I stitched up rear covers from scratch to match my aftermarket buckets. Easier than buckets, of course.

I have not done any seats yet, but I have read parts of Automotive Upholtery by Don Taylor, and he has some good ideas. One idea was using a thin plastic like the bags from the dry cleaners and wrap the foam so the cover slides on easier.

I did my front Challenger buckets a while back using a Legendary kit and it worked well, but took me around 8 hours per seat to do. There was an article in Mopar Muscle or Mopar Action in the late 90's on this very subject that was really helpful if you have a stash of old car mags you should look for it.
I do remember that for the bottom especially, you needed to be careful pulling the cover in to place to avoid ripping it.
My old foam was in good shape other than an area where a mouse had chewed up. I reused my foam but had bought some foam squares and made up a section to replace the damaged area, and glued it in place.
The hog rings can be a pain to remove and to get in place when installing the new cover, when doing a seat with a lot of contours like an ebody bucket. Buy a couple of good wire cutters from a company with a liberal warranty return policy like Craftsman or Klein, as you are almost guaranteed to break a pair or two during your cutting of all the old hog rings and the ones you don't get in the proper place with the new cover when installing (which will happen).
Don't worry too much if there are some small wrinkles or creases in the vinyl after you are done. Usually after the the seats sit in the sun for a while small imperfections will go away, at least thats what happened with my seats.
A friend helped me with my first seat, who had done a early 70's Monte Carlo seat before and said this job was easy. He changed his mind about the ease of this job with my Challenger seat! I later redid the seats for a Piper airplane using an Airtex kit and they were pretty easy. Unfortunately E body buckets seem to be some of the hardest seats to do.
I am really happy with the results, my seats look great!
However my other Challengers front seats could use new covers too, and I haven't gotten too ambitious about tackling them yet.

I make my own seat covers, that's where the work is...just putting them on is a piece of cake.

The last seats I had recovered were back in the 80s and were for a 66 Mustang. My Challenger needed the seats covered and thought it had been a while I did not hesitate doing it. To me, it is one of the easier jobs of the restoration process.

First, make sure you have a well made cover...I bought Legendary covers from Dante and the fit and quality was excellent. Just take your time and you will do fine. Make sure you have a good set of hog ring pliers and some hog rings. One tip on Hog Rings is that I went down to a local upholstery shop and the guy just gave me bunch so I did not have to buy any. You might do the same or get them for less than what they would cost if you ordered them. Warming the covers before putting them on is Key. I did mine in the fall and the days were still warm so I put them in the sun for a short while. That really helped with the install. The only problem I ran into was with one of my seat frames. The foam was OK on all my seats but the lower driver seat frame had areas that the wires had broken. I replaced them and repaired them with wire I got from the hardware store. I don't have a photo of the front ones but here is a photo of the rear. Front ones turned out just as nice. BTW, make sure you clean and paint your seat frames while you have everything apart.

Good Luck, Joe

What are some good quality brands, of hog ring pliers?

I used black plastic wire ties in place of the hog rings. They hold tighter and are much easire to use.