FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Gents  .What is the best method and product to restore the upholstery in FC ...

Vern,

I could only suggest a time machine.

Rob

Colour wise the VHT vinyl paint is quite good. If it is dried and cracked you will have to replace. I recently swapped my old gnome blue seat material from FB ute with a guy named Mark Baldacinno in Western Sydney. He is going to use it to repair his original seat in FB van. I have used wifey’s sewing machine to replace the rear sedan seat top in the past as this bit really cops the sun. Then I painted all the matching material with VHT to perfect the match. Came up well bit mother’s machine was never the same....


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If it's hard and cracked, then Rob is correct... you will need to channel Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown.

If it is moderately flexible, then you may have some luck with Shift-It. Shift-It is mildly caustic, and has detergent and surfactant (ethyl glycol monobutyl ether) in it. Get yourself some Shift-It from Autobarn (https://www.autobarn.com.au/kenco-shift-it-5-litre) - they have smaller bottles than the one in the link. It moves grease and grime, and is not too harsh on either you or the trim.

Pull the trim out of the car and give it a quick wet down (just enough to make it damp, don't drown it). Splash a little bit of the Shift-It onto the damp trim and scrub it in with a nailbrush. Work in the shade, doing a section at a time so that it does not dry. Rinse the Shift-It off with a clean bucket of water/rag... you would be surprised at the manky colour of the water. Repeat the scrubbing process with more Shift-It until the rinse water is relatively clear.

For grease/paint stains that did not come off, a little bit of prepsol can work wonders. At a pinch, thinners will too, though it can also discolour the vinyl. Go easy, test on the back of the trim first.

Once the trim is clean, you have three choices:
a) live with the resultant colour. Put some Armourall (or leather trim preservative) onto it to protect it.
b) Recolour the trim. Errol is right - the VHT trim paints have a good reputation. The centre panels on my wagon trim were resprayed, and came up a treat.
c) Selectively replace some of the trim panels.

Cheers,
Harv

Vern if it's just really dirty a nai brush and sunlight soap works a treat.
Cheers
Graham

Like Harv says for the cleaning. I used pre wash stain remover and green scourer.


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Gentlemen ..Thank you ,I certainly have some procedures to go with ,I don't think I will get it as new ,especially when you look at unexposed areas like under the arm rests , but I want it as good as it can be , I may well re new the seats down the track ,I am having the arm rests recovered as they are just had it, and the safety straps in the rear re made..looking at replacing the bitumen board in the door panels also..in my travels I talk to people and learn stuff,the motor trimmer near me has fitted a leather trim kit in a MG A which came in from USA and it looks a treat ..white with red piping ..also a fabric kit for a Ford Falcon ,beautiful fabric ,really eye catching green velour with corduroy panels ,BUT !!! a lot of stitching had to be redone ..thanks again Vern

OOPS ! looks like I have two threads running on same subject ,seat restoration,more exposure I guess >sorry ..

Here is a thought , not sure if you guys have done this before but, many years ago when restoring a FE sedan and having the seats recovered ,I decided to recover the back parcel shelf with carpet to match the floor and on the front of the carpet I got a matching skirt of vinyl to hang over the rear seat and tuck in either side ,this protects the top of the rear seat from the sun and can be easily replaced . Just an idea .

yeah! protect the back seat top ,my wife wants to put a matching picnic rug there to do same thing ,i'll let her do that and i'll concentrate on the Esky..Vern