The factory padding is made out of ruberised coconut fiber that after 40+ years turns to dust every time you sit down. If your vinyl is in good shape you can re-pad your seats using foam. The basic principle is to use hog rings to attach burlap to the frame/springs. Then use industrial strenght adhesevie such as 3M Hi-Strength 90 Spray Adhesive to attach foam to the burlap then more adhesive to attach soft dacron to the foam. For those who look to re-pad their seats on their own here are a few tips.
First, here is before and after pic. Optically I prefer the more squarish shape of the "before" seat but the comfort of the "after" seat is incomparable. To top it of, now I ride around 1 inch higher thus making me feel more in command of the car (notice that the passenger seat in the "after" pic hasn't been done yet):
As always I've ran into issues that took way longer than necessary to resolve.
1. After you pop out the plastic cover of the seat reclining knob you have to rotate the plastic knob against the retaining metal washer to release it (it took me forever trying to pray the metal washer out before I discovered it...).
2. The plastic cover is held into the hole via a black plastic retainer. The two interlock so there is no other way to remove it than to press gently yet firmly on the red dots (as close to where the plastic mounts so as not to break the plastic) lifting the cover.
3. The vinyl was often "stuck" to the insides of the metal frame so it look lots of lubrication and plastic praying tool work to let it loose so that I could remove it from its grove.
4. At the bottom of the springs there is a thick felt padding that due to age and collection of "horse hair" dust is absolutely filthy - so when you re-pad your seats don't forget to find some material to replace it as it usually doesn't come in re-pad kits..
When your vinyl cover is off it's good time to fix any rips with extra vinyl and some contact cement or E6000 glue. You can also use HH-66 Vinyl Cement to glue plastic vinys side to other vinyl. This adhesive melts the material slightly creating a very permanent bond.
And here is how you re-pad it. You need some burlap, some foam, some batting, some hog rings, some felt (for no. 4 from above).
1. Replace bottom springs padding.
2. Attach the burlap to the springs with hog rings (use pic 4 as reference - arrows point to some hog rings). When the burlap is secured against the shape of the springs, cover it with contact cement spray. Attach foam to the burlap starting in the center (so the foam takes on the contour of the seat).
3. Spray the adhesive on top of the foam to attach the batting.
If you compress the springs with your body weight you should have no problems pulling the vinyl over the foam. The foam/batting combo is very pliable so you should spend some time straightening seams and overall making sure your seat looks as awesome as possible before putting the seat together.
Hope it helps. Be warned, this job takes WAY loner that it seems at first!
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