Installation of Fulvia remanufactured polyurethane seat bases

[nthomas1]

I bought a pair of the remanufactured foam bases for my Fulvia Coupe seats.  Many thanks to Giuseppe Rampello for taking the initiative to get these designed and manufactured.  Having just completed installation of them I thought I’d summarise the process on here for others to see.

[nthomas1]

The first step is disassembly.  Lift out the seat bases - there are no fixings.  Peel off the U-shaped rubber from around the base.  Carefully fold back the glued edge of the seat cover from around the metal base. 

At the two rear corners the seat fabric is hooked over metal cut-out spikes - pull the fabric over these.  Be careful as the spikes can easily break off.

Roll the seat fabric up over the top of the seat at the sides and front and pull out the foam that wraps around the edge of the seat. You can see from the picture below that some blue foam had been wrapped over the top of the compacted and hardening original foam on mine when the seats were re-trimmed five  years ago.

At this stage the seat cover is still attached to the metal seat base via a square pocket that is stitched to the top of the seat cover, and has a metal rod in a pocket around its lower edge that is attached to the seat base.  Inside this pocket is the central foam cushion section.

The attachment method is a series of metal spikes welded to the seat base.  There are four across the front and three down each side…. 10 in total.  The spikes are folded over the metal rod to hold the pocket in place.

Each spike should be levered into a vertical position using a flat bladed screwdriver or similar.  When all spikes are straightened out the cover with pocket attached can be pulled off vertically.  The central square foam cushion may come away at the same time.  If not, it can now be pulled off the seat base. Strangely, the fitter who re-trimmed my seats about 5 years ago used a piece of what looks like curtain fabric to manufacture a new pocket!

Remove as much of the old glue as possible from around the metal seat base, and from the seat cover.

I sanded the rusted parts of my bases, Kurusted them and sprayed with black smooth Hammerite.  This step is optional of course.

[nthomas1]

Now for reassembly.  Position the square central foam section between the ten spikes.The curved section should be at the rear, conforming to the shape of the seat base.  Lower the seat cover into place, pulling the pocket over the sides of the square central foam section.

Working across the front of the pocket, starting at one side, push the lower edge of the pocket (with metal rod inside it) down over the first spike.  A bradawl will be helpful to make a hole if the existing holes don’t line up exactly.  When the spike projects through the fabric bend it outwards and down with a flat bladed screwdriver.  Work across the front repeating this for the other 3 spikes.  Pressure is needed from above to push down the foam while this operation is performed.

Then work backwards along one side in the same way, fastening all three spikes, and then the same on the other side. 

[nthomas1]

Push the U-shaped foam perimeter section under the seat cover and push it inwards each side to butt up against the central pocket.  If you’re like me you’ll panic at this stage, as the cover looks like it’s never going to fit neatly!  Put your hand under the cover and align the foam with the top seam all round the cover. A bit of pushing and shoving is needed at this stage.

Then pull the sides of the cover down and overlap the bottom edge of the metal base.  This requires quite a bit of force, and it tightens the fabric removing most of the creases.  Do the front first, and then work from front to back on each side.  Hold the folded over fabric in place with bulldog clips or an equivalent pending gluing.  Don’t worry about the rear edge at this stage, as that’s best left until the front and major portion of the sides are in place.

When the fabric is tucked over all round most creases will have disappeared.  You may have to tighten or slacken in different areas to get a neat appearance.   I ended up with a few small creases at the front top corners, but I think they look ok.

[nthomas1]

Next, release the bulldog clips and apply impact adhesive to both surfaces:  the fabric and the metal seat base. At this stage I suggest just glue across the front of the seat and as far as the ends of the angled sections about half way down each side.   After waiting for the adhesive to be touch dry (about 12 minutes) put the edge back into position.  I used the bulldog clips again, but I don’t think they’re strictly necessary at this stage.  Do the front section first, and then the two sides, working from the front towards the back.

I used Apha Thixofix contact adhesive.

[nthomas1]

When the glue from the above stage has dried, the rear of the seat can be completed. I waited 24 hours before.  I finished the seat in two stages:  the remaining portions of the sides and the fastening of the corners as step 1, then the rear edge of the seat as step 2.

This is  the most difficult part of the installation as the foam has to be compressed significantly to allow the seat fabric to overlap the base.   And the corners have to be hooked over the corner spikes - one each side.  On each of my seat bases one of the metal spikes had broken off, so I used a screw and nut in their place.   

As step 1, I hooked the corners into position and pulled the seat fabric over the rear portions of each side, thus completing the two sides.  I used the same process of pulling the fabric into positiuon and holding it with bulldog clips before finally gluing into position.

[nthomas1]

Finally I addressed step 2, the fitting of the rear edge.  The The fitter who re-trimmed my seats finished the fabric at the rear level with the end of the base, rather than overlapping it.   Gluing to a surface without an overlap is  more difficult than with an overlap! 

Here again I used the same technique of stretching the seat cover fabric into position along the rear part of each side, and across the back edge and holding it ion position with bulldog clips, then gluing in place as the next step.

[nthomas1]

When the adhesive has dried, the rubber U-shaped trim can be glued into position around the perimeter of the base, and the base can be lowered back into position in the seat frame.

Job done!

[DELTONA]

Great job Norm (as ever!)

Thanks for this, this post will prove extremely useful for the buyers of my seat bases should they want to fit them themselves.
Your seat bases look superb and are hopefully now a little more comfortable to sit on! 👌🏻

[Richard Fridd]

Excellent work. Any plans to produce seat bases for other Lancia models? Richard

[DELTONA]

Hi Richard, the thing is I would need at the very least a demand of 50+ bases to even consider having another mould producing. Berlina and Sport Zagato are on my radar though if I did...

[Richard Fridd]

Thanks for the reply, Flaminia PF in my case so maybe low demand. Richard

[nthomas1]

My seat bases are now back in the car.  They feel so much better with the remanufactured foam inserts.

[D5177_55A]

I’d just like to hijack this thread (I’m sure Norm won’t mind) on my experience of adding Giuseppe Rampello’s new polyurethane foams under leather seats.