Morris Minor Owners Club

I have just taken both front seats out with the intention of internally refurbishing them, you tend to sink into the drivers seat after a few miles....don't intend to turn up at shows with a cushion behind me !!!!
On examination of the drivers seat, it's obvious that the foam needs replacing. the webbing seems very stretched and slack, while I was in the garage I took one piece of the webbing out, shortened it by 1" by re;allocating the pins and clips..... now a tight fit. my questions are;

1) Has anyone else done this & doe's it work/last.

2) Can you buy the webbing on a roll to d.i.y.

3) Is it worth the hassle, I don't mind buying new webbing but if 1&2 work the money saved could be spent on other things for the Moggy.

All contributions welcome...........
thanks Mal

You can buy new foam and webbing (cut to length with the ends on) from most moggy specialists.

Yes you can buy all the bits from the usual suppliers, Gareth should be able to answer on how it lasts as he did his last year I think on his daily driver.

thanks for quick replies; I just wondered if the webbing would last by re-using and shortening it ? I don't mind buying new, it was just a thought.

CAM, did you get my pm...

Mal

1) Has anyone else done this & doe's it work/last.

I've never shortened them, but I have seen what they look like as they get older and older - they just fall to pieces so I wouldn't spend a lot of effort getting more life out of them.
The new ones are a very tight fit (so tight that it is strenuous to fit them)

Thanks Ray,
I suppose it's just me really.... the webbing's quite firm apart from being stretched, I like to tinker on a bit and just wondered if anyone else had done this to the webbing.
Think I'll buy new really, then you know it's going to last, would be interesting to find out if anyone else had shortened it with sucess.
Mal

I've just done both seats and reusing the webbing seems more trouble than its worth as the new straps are only about £1-1.50 each.

It took me most of the morning to do as the new straps are not very springy and stretching them across the seats took a fair amount of strengh, especially as I was doing the second one.

Its also worth checking the new webbing a couple of weeks after you fit it as a couple of mine had worked there way out of the holes.

mal wrote:CAM, did you get my pm...

Yes mate, I have e-mailed you........

Have decided to replace all webbing & foam with new.. my local Moggy specialist is quite expesive so just wondered if any recs;
thamks Mal

Mal,

I recently did my two front seats. I replaced the seat bottom straps and back straps on both seats. I put new sponge seat bases on both seats. I put new padding in the drivers seat back and added the old drivers seat back padding to the existing back padding in passenger seat. The passenger seat back is comfortable. Were I to do it again I think rather than put in a new passenger sponge seat base, I would just try adding the old drivers seat sponge to the existing passenger seat sponge (providing it's not torn to shreds) This considerably reduces the cost. So two seats could be done by buying straps for two seats and seat base and back for one seat.

I know the passenger seat would be better if everything was new. but in my case there is only a marginal difference now between the driver and passenger seat comfort levels.

Hi WOO,

Thanks for the info, I've just stripped the drivers seat this-morning, no wonder I was sliding into the seat and driving like a hairpin, the bottom webbing is that slack when I removed the foam the webbing fell out, the bottom one on the back of the seat had snapped and the remainder stretched beyond recognition.....
Just a couple of questions if you don't mind....seeing you've just done yours..

1) Is the base foam one or two pieces, mine was two.. pos; home made ?

2) Is the back padding foam ? mine's sort of a felty course messy material which looks like horse-hair.

3) Any tips for re-building ???

I'll just do the drivers seat and do as you suggested with the passenger seat...
Bye the way, am going for my Duckhams oil on Sat; Boyes sale starts so I'll be stocking up !!!!!!

regards Mal

One tip for re-building - when you're trying to stretch the new straps it takes a lot of muscle power to locate both ends of the clip in the holes (on the opposite side of the frame). However if you only pull it on one side to locate one end of the clip you'll find it much easier to do the other side a few seconds later.

My new base foam was a single piece....

Thanks for that tip Chris, am going for the webbing early next week, unless I can find it cheaper by mail order.
Mal

if you only pull it on one side to locate one end of the clip you'll find it much easier to do the other side a few seconds later.

erm - then you run the risk of it the wire feeding back in to the webbing loop and making it harder to do the second end. I put one end in at a time but pushed the middle to avoid the wire pulling to one side.
I guess whichever way works best for you is the right one.

The only tip I can give is to wear thick gardening or welding gloves as it is a bit fierce on the fingers. The other tip I would give is not to do it in the middle of summer (I did, and I needed a shower after all the huffing and puffing )

then you run the risk of it the wire feeding back in to the webbing loop

Not if you pull one side of the wire & webbing with one hand while holding the (free) end of the wire with the finger & thumb of the other hand to prevent it feeding back. It's dead easy to show someone but very difficult to explain this in words.

Not if you pull one side of the wire & webbing with one hand while holding the (free) end of the wire with the finger & thumb of the other hand to prevent it feeding back

Sounds like you had a much better time of it than me Chris - I needed both arms just to pull the strap, so either my straps were a bit on the short side or you have a stronger arm...

or you have a stronger arm...

Well I dont fancy trying arm wrestling with Chris, you will just have to accept that you are weaker Ray

Mal

My seat base was in one piece, although for the drivers seat I went to myt local market and bought some firmer foam to make the seat out of. I used 2.5inch fire retardent stuff. It was blue with a very closed cell structure. The replacement seat I bought from a morris specialist for the passenger side was, in my opinion, not very cheap, and nasty. It was about 2 inches thick and very floppy. The back of the seat (squab) uses a horse hair type material that is sewn onto a woollen wrapping that goes around the frame sides and back for cushioning. There was no problem fitting it. To fit the seat straps I laid the seat on its side, inserted the bottom strap clip, clamped a mole wrench on the top end, put my feet on the seat rail on the floor and pulled. That way I found it very easy to fit them.

I was surprised how easy it was to do the job. If (being a parent or grandad) you can undress a squirming toddler, you can get the covers off!

I took digital pictures at various stages of undoing the seat base to remind me how the folds and clips went back.

The only point to watch is that I found some of the seat cover stitching a bit fragile, so too much enthusiasm taking them off might result in a sewing job.

Robin

I discovered my method by accident after I fitted 3 straps the way you did it Ray (yes, it takes a lot of strength to stretch the strap and locate both ends of the wire clip in the frame holes at the same time). On the fourth attempt I missed one of the holes so the wire clip hung diagonally with my other hand still holding the free end of the clip. I was surprised to find that very little effort was then required to locate the free end.

If anyone brings a spare seat to the website rally I'll demonstrate this trick!

I discovered my method by accident after I fitted 3 straps the way you did it Ray

Well I tried it your way first Chris and got fed up truying to wrestle the wire back out of the webbinbg loop far enough to get it into the frame - maybe our straps were a bit different...