My newly acquired 1974 Eldorado convertible project car

[hornetball]

I think a dedicated top replacement post that can be stickied for posterity is a great idea.  Sooner or later, all of us Eldo convertible owners will have to deal with this, and your how-to posts are fantastic.

[MaR]

I think a dedicated top replacement post that can be stickied for posterity is a great idea.  Sooner or later, all of us Eldo convertible owners will have to deal with this, and your how-to posts are fantastic.

I can make a dedicated thread for the top with the info from this thread. It will be much easier to find from a search that way.

[MaR]

Picture test

[MaR]

Picture test 2

[hornetball]

Picture test 2 worked for me.  Where's my update?  I'm getting withdrawal. 

Happy holidays.

[MaR]

Picture test 2 worked for me.  Where's my update?  I'm getting withdrawal. 

Happy holidays.

I have tons of stuff to post but the recent forum update has broken the IMG tags. I can attach the pics at the bottom but I usually annotate the pictures individually in the post. I may have to switch to one post, one pic until the forum is fixed.

[MaR]

Now that the picture issue on the forum has been worked out, it's time to get back to our regularly scheduled program.

Now it's time to turn my attention back to the upholstery. The sewing machine I have is not going to be up to the job so I got a "prosumer" machine with a servo motor on it. I could sew the fenders on a car with this thing.







I made some test pieces and I was able to do all kinds of fancy stiches.









I made a tuck and roll panel just to see if I could.






I also made a sample of what the actual upholstery style will be on the finished seats. For reference, here is an actual back seat in the style that I'm going for:






And here is my 3rd attempt:

[MaR]

I have decided to go with a '74 Fleetwood Talisman style for the rear seats so that means that I need to make a rear center console. The factory console is quite rare and it would not fit the Eldorado floor pan even if I could find one. This is what the rear console looks like:





I lucked out and found an NOS release latch for the console doors a few months ago on ebay. That is really the most important thing to make the console look and function correctly.




The rest of the console I can make from scratch.

[MaR]

I started out by putting the factory rear seat bottom back in just to get some measurements of where it sits in relation to the rear trim.







Next I stripped off all the old upholstery, foam, and springs off of the metal frame.





I cut the frame down so the console will fit in the middle. To keep the frames from collapsing from having the center cut out, I reproduced the corner supports and made an extra side support for both frames.







I then welded the new supports to the frames







And then I test fit the modified frames with the console shell that I made. The console is nothing more than a wood box with some lids and the hard to find latch. In the end, I will 3D print the two lids to get the recesses correct that they need but I won't bother with that until the rear seats are upholstered.

[MaR]

Next up is modifying the foam to work with the frame modifications. First thing is to put the S springs back in. I shifted them both one notch over to the outside to center them up on the modified frames.





And here is how the frame fits on the old foam. You can see where the springs were at before I moved them. The black line on the left side of the foam is roughly where I will cut it.






I started out by cutting the foam in half just to make it easier to handle. The black line on the right is were I will cut it to size.





Next I cut it to size. There is a steel band that runs around inside the perimeter of the foam to help keep it from losing it's shape. I had cut it when I cut the foam in half.





I pushed the foam down the rod and held it back with a piece of wood and a vice grip. I covered everything with a wet towel and heated up the rod red hot with a torch so I could bend it.





The rear rod had some factory bends in it that I had to straighten out first so I could bend it over.







I bent them over so that when I connect the ends with a welded in rod, they will sink into a groove that I'll cut into the foam.





I did the same to the other side also.





And here is how the modified foam sits on the frame in the car. You can see the rod I cut that I will weld in soon.





I still need to weld in the piece of rod, shape the foam a bit in the inside corner and paint the frames. I have an order of upholstery supplies hopefully arriving this weekend so I hope to start actually sewing stuff very soon.

[MaR]

Now to make the actual upholstery. The first thing to make is the cushion top part of the upholstery. This piece is the part you sit on and is made with a layer of backing material (I'm using denim) the outer upholstery and foam in-between. I started out by taking the outer upholstery and sewing in pleats in it to give it the proper look. The pleats are sewn in randomly along the seam lines that will form the individual sections of the cushion.





Next I sewed the upholstery to the denim backer material. Everything is already laid out so it's just a matter of lining everything up and sewing it together.





I'm using what is called a "tuck and roll" style for the seams between the individual foam pieces. Rather than just lining up the marks on the backer and the upholstery and putting stiches on top, you fold the upholstery on the mark and slightly overlap the fold over the mark on the backer. Then you sew through the folded upholstery and the backer. This hides the stiches so if you look between the cushion pieces, you cannot see the stiches at all.





Once the middle is sewn, I ran a stich all the way around on three sides leaving the rear open.

[MaR]

Next I cut the foam. I'm using a medium density, 2" thick foam with a 1" thick Dacron layer on top. I cut the foam into strips just wide enough to be slightly compressed when I put it in the cushion.





I then cut the Dacron and glued to to the foam pieces after I shaped the foam slightly.







I then wrapped the foam pieces in "silk wrap". This makes it much easier to push the foam into the cushion and you can just leave it in the cushion when you are finished. It does not make any noise when you compress it and you cannot feel it though the upholstery.





Next up is to put the foam in the cushion. I started in the middle.





I then put the other three pieces in and sewed up the rear seam.







Next up was to sew the boxing around the sides. This is what closes up the sides of the cushion and on the bottom edge, there is a piece sewn on that lets you attach the cushion to the frame.

[MaR]

I added thick felt to the corners of the metal frame to give it some shape and to keep the metal frame from poking though the upholstery.







Next I put the cushion and the modified foam block on the frame. Everything is held together with hog rings.







And here is a test fit of it in the car with the center console.

[MaR]

Since the bottom cushion fit, next up was repair the seat back plate. Someone tried to remove the back seat without unbolting or knowing how it came out at all and really damaged the shell. It's made of chip board so repairing it was not terribly hard. Here is the damage:















I made metal reinforcing plates and fiberglassed and riveted the plates to the board. There are plates on both sides so the metal sandwiches the damaged areas.

[MaR]

Next I cut the seat back foam the same way I cut the seat bottom foam. It did not have any metal rods in it though so I did not have to deal with that.









I had already made the drivers side seat cushion also and I then test fitted the cut seat back foam.

[MaR]

Since the rear cushion frame was not designed for two individual cushions, I had to add something to attach the inside edge of the upholster to. I added a rod to the back of the frame and cut holes that would allow me to hog ring the edge of the upholstery to the frame.









I also notched out the top of the frame for the trim that I will make that goes between the two seat back cushions. Here is a teat fit of the rear frame.

[MaR]

I then built the first seat back cushion. It was built the same as the bottom so I did not take many pics. Here is the denim backer with it's layout marks.





And here is the finished cushion.




Next was to make the buttons for the cushions. I bought a button kit that worked surprisingly well.

















Buttons, the fresh maker!

[MaR]

The buttons are attached to the cushions using a giant needle pushed all the way though the cushion.





You tie them off on the rear so they can't pop off.





And then you have a button!






I put the buttons in the seat back, put the seat back on the frame and then put it all in the car.








I then attached the console to the floor and put the other seat bottom in.

[MaR]

I felt like the buttons were too small so I bumped up to the next size and replaced them.







I also did not like the way I was retaining them on the rear of the cushion so I made a 3D printed retainer that allowed me to have much more control over the button tension.









With the new buttons out of the way, I finished up the passenger side seat back and installed it in the car.

[MaR]

Next up was to upholster the rear console. The starting point are the two pads next to the latch. I padded them and then made a pattern for the upholstery.









I sewed the corners and then stapled them onto the console itself.