Seat restoration

[Louis]

Good afternoon,

I have been cleaning my seats to assess what work they need and have a few questions.

1 - What is the preferred / best option for seat diaphragm? I am not going for originality, more comfort and reliability.

2 - What year did the seat brackets change from rivets?

3 - What is the cut out on the drivers seat for? I am new to early mini's so am still learning.

4 - I hope to unpick a section of fleck and the piping to replace, is there any reason I cannot that I have overlooked?




I love a bodge, I thought this seat looked quite puffy!



Thank you

[ricardo]

1. These early frames are usually fitted with pirelli strips. I'm not sure if you can use a later diaphragm with this type of frame, but if you do, they're more reliable.

2. Very early seats (1959 - mid 1961) had brackets welded on the shell. Then they changed to the riveted type which was replaced again with separate brackets (3 fitting positions) in late 1964 (if memory does not fail me).

3. I suppose that cut out is to clear the floor starter boss on the floor. Later cars had both seats with the cut outs.

[timmy201]

I replaced the rubber diaphragms with the metal spring type. They won’t tear like the rubber ones and they are pretty comfy too

Part # CZH3508MS

[Louis]

Thanks guys, you are correct with the pirelli strap comment. What possibly makes the fitment different between these and the diaphragm? Is it just hole position or physical size? Thank you for your other answers.



Timmy, have you experienced any cutting into the foam with this type? The foam on my original seats has been cut up by it but may be over 30 years of wear.

[timmy201]

I added some hessian sheet between the metal spring base and the foam, that stopped it cutting in

[Louis]

Good morning, can anyone advise of a way to age the fleck material to match the old stuff? I had a look at Nick's brocade aging but don't think that would work here. Overlaying the new section shows up as too new, I need to replace one edge strip on one of the seats.




Or should I just get more aggressive with the cleaning of the original section?