907 replies to this topic

[rally1380]

Decided to refurb my bucket seats as the foam had collapsed and offered very little support.....major numb bum!!! While i was at it i customised them a bit as they are quite wide and even though i'm more rugby player build than ballerina i decided to add a bit of foam to the sides to offer more support.

My Bucket seats are Cobra Monaco S but this technique could be applied to most steel construction seats (even standard seats). A similar technique could be used with 'proper' composite seats too..


First up was to snip the hog rings (copper colour loops) around the base and 'peal' the seat.....



Inner of seat now revealed and the base foam was especially goosed. Also the back foam was deemed 'tired' so striped out....



New foam kit was made up....i have 'upgraded' seat base from 1 1/2" to 2" foam as it gives a little more comfort. Back foam was a like for like 1" replacement, and 1/2" everywhere else....



All glued in and looking good as new....(front lip area not installed in pic though for some reason?)



Now roll fabric down and refit to rails underneath using hog ring pliers and hog rings. This may differ from brand to brand or composite seats may be glued in or even elasticated around the base, but the foam ellement will be the same. And before anyone gets too excited, the foam is all fire retardent and meets regs....its just a different colour as different densities of foam are different colours...blue is firm.

Hog ring pliers and ring placement....





Finished pic's to come later when the interior is reinstalled and looking more presentable. Hope this has helped....get on fleabay and buy some bargain second hand seats and refurb some yourself

[rally515]

Great tip to us all about the seat loving the thread too.
Exellent attention to detail.

Regards
Clifford

[rally1380]

Quick update.

Scatter rally all done and dusted....finished 6th as some of the clues where very obscure!!!!!! and i cocked up a few of the 'decider' questions.....must read questions before answering!!!!!

Anyway...car ok apart from i left the radiator cap off before event.....steam everywhere....hopefully not damaged engine.....local pub landlady thought it was very funny asking for water for a car!!!

Entry to RoamerLite rally accepted so got until the 13th to iron out issues and remember to replace radiator cap!!!!!! IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More pic's of update to follow at a later date

[rally1380]

Not updated for a while as i've been too busy prepping for a road rally that we did last night (October 13th/14th) called the RoamerLite Novice Rally run by Telford MC.

If any of you out there are thinking that you fancy a go at the weird and wonderful world of road rallying....give this one a go. It's very well organised, and more importantly we found everyone we spoke to very friendly and helpful. Motorsport can be a bit intimidating to a newcomer....this was the opposite.

We were seeded car 42 out of 44



On the way down to Shrewsbury the wiper mech decided to pack up! I wasn't sure if we'd need them as the forcast was for a dry and clear night......but i'm glad i did fix them.....



The overall mud spatter is very Jackson Pollock.....eat yer heart out Paul Smith owners!!!

These pic's are taken at 06:30am - just arriving back after a night of mucky activity....not that sort!!!!



Even though we got passed by 2 much faster cars (that should have put us dead last but it didn't somehow???) the navigator (and wife) did a fantastic job of getting us round the route with only a couple of minor detours. But more importantly we didn't incur any 'fails' as we visited all controls correctly and so actually finished in the results higher than the boy racers who flew past us in a saxo!!!! very satisfying.

And so how did we get on......



We finished 2nd in class, and 15th overall. Not bad for an old car and a complete beginner crew eh?

All in all, a superb route. Twisty, Technical, Muddy, Rough (in a mini), Water, Deeper Water!!!!, Hump back bridges and the smell of hot brakes!!! what more could you want.

[rally1380]

Anyone fancy cleaning the car for me though....i'm knackered!!!!

[minispaniard]

well done on that fantastic result, and great to see the clubby getting properly used!!

[jaydee]

15th overall out of 44 cars is not that bad, what tyres were you using in the muddy whites?

[rally1380]

Standard road tyres that came on the second hand wheels i bought for £45! think they are called Classiro GT's or something like that.

Thanks for the congrats on the result....look on Rallyroots.com to see full results.

[minisi35]

One from me before the start

Glad you enjoyed our local event, we used lanes i certainley hadnt used before. There was only 1 white which was quite tame but good fun.

You and your wife did well navigation was tricky and caught me out a couple of times, and its never good for the course car to get lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry we didnt catch up with each other, my driver needed to get back

[brad-the-bear]

well done pal!!! and trophys on the first rally???

[sonikk4]

Good effort and it sounds like a good laugh.Not sure i could use my wife as a navigator though. When she wants you to turn somewhere its " that way or that turning you have just passed" not left or right

[rally1380]

Good effort and it sounds like a good laugh.Not sure i could use my wife as a navigator though. When she wants you to turn somewhere its " that way or that turning you have just passed" not left or right

You never know...give it a go?

Jen did a fantastic job!!! We did go wrong twice - once was an error and cost us about 3 min's and the second was because we were expecting a code board but it wasn't there by the time we got there so we thought we had gone wrong and turned around - cost us 5 min's. We were right though!!!

[minispaniard]

are you on BRF? I read something about the event there, good idea to plot on a comfy place...

Wife and I have only done a few 12 car rallies but want to have a go on a longer RR, is it the logical next step?

[rally1380]

are you on BRF? I read something about the event there, good idea to plot on a comfy place...

Wife and I have only done a few 12 car rallies but want to have a go on a longer RR, is it the logical next step?

I can't register on the Rally Forum for some reason, but i did read the review from the guy on there who mentioned us. They did help us a little, but only confirming that we were actually doing it right and that a couple of the map refs were wrong ....to be honest they chatted to us a fair bit whilst we were plotting so i did distract us a little bit! Really nice guys though and they were at the awards ceremony at the end venue and gave us a big cheer when we went to collect trophy. To be 100 % honest, we had no idea we had placed in the top 3 beginner and we were very surprised to have our names called out!!!! We didn't expect anything other than to try and finish and not get lost, so to win and award (even though it was second) made the long and noisey journey home alot easier...grinning from ear to ear.

Plotting inside with good light and a massive table to put map on....common sense really. Why stuff yerself into a small car and then wrestle with an OS map. I know strictly speaking it ain't 'proper', but it was social (we had a laugh with the other crew) and intelligent in my eyes....better than locking yourself away in your car, steaming up the windows, elbowing each other and the map takes over and then discovering you've ran the battery flat!

As for next step for you. I'm not the best person to ask as we did one scatter rally and then decided to do the RoamerLite!!! We are planning to do a 12 car next though. So i suppose in answer to your question, a novice rally such as the RoamerLite would be a superb next step. I know Clwyd Vale Motor Club run one earlier in the year (so early next year) if you wanted something to aim for. We plan on doing a few more 'Novice' rallies before progressing to grown up ones!!! Ha ha Will probably do the RoamerLite next year if things pan out.

[minisi35]

"Plotting inside with good light and a massive table to put map on....common sense really. Why stuff yerself into a small car and then wrestle with an OS map. I know strictly speaking it ain't 'proper', but it was social (we had a laugh with the other crew) and intelligent in my eyes....better than locking yourself away in your car, steaming up the windows, elbowing each other and the map takes over and then discovering you've ran the battery flat!"

You will not always have that luxury, we shoudlnt have spoilt you lol