Airtex Seats

asikora1

Question for the group. I have started my new interior. I have seen numerous people mention they attached the Airtex seat to the webbing with hog rings.

On the Airtex website they say they include hog rings and pliers with the order when necessary or you glue the seat cushion on.

From the Airtex website talking about the seats: The side panels are then pulled around the frame and cemented or hog-ringed behind it. Rings and pliers are included with the set when needed.

Can I assume that since they did not include rings and pliers that I am to glue the seat to the webbing. That is my take on it, just looking for another opinion before I call them! Trying my best not to mess this up!

Thanks. Andy

griff390

Andy;

All the seats I rebuilt were done in 3 major steps.

1. Cut and glue the webbing to the metal seat frame.
2. Fit and glue the cushions to the webbing.
3. Fit the seat upholstery (back and bottom) around the cushions and attach it to the seat frame.

My seat back covers were 1 piece, so they had to be slid down over the seat back foam and velcro'ed. Tip: roll them up like a sock, and unroll from the top down.

If the material is too tough to unroll, use gentle heat or a hair dryer to soften it up a bit. The seat bottom upholstery was hog ringed to the frame. Tip: double up the material for extra strength before you pierce it with the hog ring.

Don't hesitate to call Airtex. Their tech support is excellent. At least up to 5 yrs ago, a live person answered the phone instead of an automated computer. I presume it's still that way. Any time I called, they had me talking to a live tech support person in under 30 sec. Let them know your kit was missing hog rings and a pair of hog ring pliers.

Then finish your seats and send us pics of your handiwork!

planewrench

Hog ring pliers and rings dirt cheap at hardware stores

Scott Sherer

I did my seats with airtex last year and wrote a couple of articles on the process. The first seat took me 12 hours to do and the fourth seat took about 4 hours. Also, I used both the rings/pliers (both come with the seats) and contact cement.

asikora1

Thanks everyone I'll post pics when I am done. I will call Airtex tomorrow but I think I will run out and get hog rings and pliers locally. I am just about done with the webbing and ready for the cushioning and covers. It's just so darn exciting seeing the seats come together.

n36601

Andy:

I completed a complete Airtex interior this past winter. +1 on Airtex tech support. They are there to help and will jump on any shortages or misunderstandings.

The hog ring pliers provided by Airtex are their only shortcoming. Those things are an ergonomic disaster. When installing hog rings, you have press very firmly against the fabric while squeezing the pliers at difficult angles. After a few hog rings, your hands are cramping and sore. If you can find good pliers, let us know where you found them.

I am totally delighted with the results.

VFRs,

arrow76r

You guys are braver than I am! I have the seat material and side panels from Airtex to install in my Arrow BUT I elected (knowing my handiwork) to take the seats to an upholstery shop here that does custom car work, etc. I figure the small percentage of my installation expense that the shop will charge beats my butchering the job and having to order more material! BTW...I am about to start the job and will be looking for advice as I install the side panels! The panels have cutouts for things like air vents but I don't know what to do about the arm rests. In my Arrow they are recessed into the wall panel. I will probably (definitely) call on the group for some "dual instruction" pretty soon!!

asikora1

arrow76r,

I have just put in the door panel with the arm rest. This worked but I don't know if I was just lucky or good, lol. I lined up the old panel on top of the new panel. As exactly as possible considering they were not exactly the same size. Close but not exact. Then I took a small drill bit and drilled 2 small holes through the old panel and into the new panel. Now I had a starting place to find to mounted nut in the door. I had to enlarge the holes some, to find the nut in there. And it took a while to fish around to hit the nut, but eventually I found the front one. I put the screw through the arm rest and hoped I hit it again. It screwed in and the second one was easy at that point. Hope this helps. It took about 15 minutes to attach those 2 screws.

Andy

asikora1

Airtex hides the hog rings and pliers in one of the pockets in the top of the seat cover. Who would have thought.

arrow76r

Thanks, Andy! That is a help for sure.

rammstein1903

I did my whole interior in about a 3 month period last winter. Here are some photos. I think I have video of the actual processes. I can see what I can find if that would help.

-Dan

rammstein1903

some additional random comments from my experience.

I bought this hog ring pliers off of Amazon. No complaints.

obviously the above pictures are after removing the old upholstery, cleaning and painting the frames.

I used 4gal bathroom garbage bags, some painters tape and my house vacuum to put the headrest covers over the new foam.

I bought this cheap spray gun from harbor freight to spray diluted (MEK) contact adhesive (from Airtex) on. Worked great.

because you have to spray adhesive on the backrest foam before putting the covering on, I protected it with half a drying cleaning bag I pulled it out after the seat back material was on all the way and sitting just right. I then presses the seams into the now exposed adhesive.

-Dan

arrow76r

Thanks, Dan! Those seats sure do look great!

rammstein1903

No problem and thank you

-Dan

Scott Sherer

Great job, Dan! Welcome to the "I survived installing an Airtex interior club". Looks great!

rammstein1903

My knees and lower back will never be the same. :)

thanks

-Dan

griff390

Dan;

I'm looking at the pics you posted and I could almost smell the glue from 12 yrs ago when I rebuilt my seats. 🤣

Beautiful work, and I love the headrests. Wish I had them in my plane!

Is that vinyl or leather?

griff390

To anyone contemplating a seat rebuild/refurbish, I only have one suggestion. Do it.

Doesn't matter if you have it done by a shop or do it yourself. Your bottom and your back will both thank you, and so will your passengers. You'll be more comfortable and therefore less fatigued. Less fatigue means you'll be more focused on the task of flying the plane.

You won't regret it.

rammstein1903

https://piperowner.org/talk/discussion/comment/1440285#Comment_1440285

Haha yeah some smells just stick with ya.

Scott Sherer

The contact cement is one, and MEK is another, lol. :)

djspathis

https://piperowner.org/talk/discussion/comment/1440284#Comment_1440284

Can't help the back, but for knees I use knee pads from Lowes, home depot, etc. whenever I'm expecting to kneel down working on the plane.

DJ

Scott Sherer

The only thing I know of that helps the back is Jack Daniels, lol. :)

arrow76r

Query...when installing the side panels do you try to match the original screw holes or simply drill new ones (avoiding wires, of course). Seems to me that trying to find those small screw holes will be a challenge even using the old panels as a template. Suggestions?

rammstein1903

https://piperowner.org/talk/discussion/comment/1440291#Comment_1440291

Yeah good luck with that! :)

asikora1

Arrow76R,

I am no expert here but am in the middle of doing my interior. I will post pics when I am done. But I had the same question of screws in new holes or the old holes. I went with the old holes.

This is what I have been doing to make it work. For the arm rests I lined up the old panel with the new one and drilled holes in the panel and prayed it worked. I had to make them a little bigger but it worked.

For the small screws around the outside of each panel, I fit the panel in place, then pry back the panel just enough to see the hole. put my finger there and guesstimate where the screw should go. I put a very small mark on the outside of the panel then do that measurement 2 or 3 more times. Then screw the screw in through the panel. sometimes you have to move the screw around to hit the hole. So far I have only had one really miss the hole. Most are close enough to bend it in the old screw hole and tighten it down.

I am sure others have done it other ways, but this is working for me. Good luck and post pics when you are done.

arrow76r

Thanks, Andy. I will try that technique for sure!

djspathis

I've been thinking about how to locate the existing holes for when I redo my interior. Has anyone tried a laser level on a tripod aimed at the hole straight on? This might be a bit unwieldy and may suffer from parallax effects but seems like it could help mark the holes on the new plastic.

DJ

rammstein1903

I would assume most all people just make new holes when replacing interior side panels.

Scott Sherer

I've done five interiors and I've always created new holes.

arrow76r

Hmmm. Lots of good advice! I found the "best" way to remove the rear bench seat in my Arrow is to detach the seat back from the seat bottom by removing the 4 3/8 inch bolts that join the two parts. The seat back has 2 screws that hold it to the walls. Once those bolts and screws are removed the seat back comes right out and the seat bottom lifts out of the recessed channels at the walls. So the seats go off to the upholstery shop Friday and I begin the "fun" of removing the old wall panels and installing the new ones!

asikora1

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I am just finishing up the interior. Somethings went perfect and some things were a little more difficult. But I am posting a few before pics (you can see the cushions we were sitting on as the webbing gave way and we were sitting on the frame). And the new interior with just a few shots I took today. Still a few more minor things to finish up. But it looks a bit better that the 50 year old interior that was there. See pics in the next post, I messed up the upload!