Toyota Celica Supra Forum banner

Keep it stock or......

4K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  BILLY_GTS 
#1 ·
Looking into recovering all seats, door pans and some trim and struggling with trying to keep it stock ( knowing stock is unavailable ) or lets call it ( aftermarket ) material or leather . A few upholstery guys quoted $1950-2500 ish including the head liner, I've seen in the Web custom covers but do they really come out looking nice and tight, any thoughts?
 
#2 ·
You may get lucky and find someone parting out.
 
#3 ·
A lot of it has to do with the installation. Note that the seat foam is deteriorated and beaten down by this age and thus new seat covers made with the old, stretched ones as a pattern will naturally fit a little loose. A good installer will add additional foam or batting material in strategic places to fill it out and make it look nice. Its a time-consuming and painstaking process.
 
#5 ·
Since you have cloth seats take the covers off and run them thru the washing machine to clean them up. Pieces that are worn on the drivers seat salvage from passenger seats off a parts car.
 
#6 ·
I'd recommend soaking and rinsing vs a washing machine, mainly due to accelerated wear and tear from the agitation.
 
#7 ·
I already removed the complete interior and shampooed with 3 kinds of cleaners, they came out very nice, bit there are minor tears, a few cigarette holes and the vinyl is tearing at the top rear panels close to the 1/4 glass, so that's why Im debating to re upholster the interior, but then it won't be stock.
 
#8 ·
I'd just find a spare set of door panels and stash all your original parts. You can always reinstall the old parts again someday. From what I remember the rear seat foams are a little different from cloth to leather and require some creativity in regards to attachment points.
 
#12 ·
I have a 1982L type with leather interior. I had an upholsterer redo the front seats shifting boot and center console. We found a leather that was a pretty close match and he put it back to stock. The bill was $1250. Of all the things I’ve done to this car, this made the most dramatic improvement. I also am going through a dilemma as to whether to keep it stock or mod it. Because my car has all the pieces, and due to everybody else’s opinion, I have decided to keep it Stock. Converting the air conditioner to R134 has cost me 1500 bucks, so I think I have spent enough.
 

Attachments

#14 ·
On my car one door had a tear in the bolster just below the window and the other had a tear in the armrest. I removed the cards and took them apart, gave the bolsters and armrests to an auto upholsterer who does classic and collector cars. He recovered all the parts in a naugahyde with a grain the closely resembled the original. Only difference was that it has a thin foam backing. Came out very nice, but someone looking closely would be able to spot the difference. I'm not looking to win any shows, so it does not bother me. A good shop could probably come up with a material that would be so close as to satisfy you, and look brand new. Good luck.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top