making bucket seat foam from scratch

[edp]

Hi all, Its been a while since I've been on here, I restore cars and bought a Highlead walking foot machine a few years back for upholstery portions of my miscellaneous car / boat adventures. I'm purely an amateur upholster-er but I find it fun and challenging - especially since I bought a servo motor and chucked that monster of a hypersensitive clutch  motor, what a difference that made in my skills - it actually made me look good .

Anyways I have a 71 Plymouth GTX with bucket seats and I cant do the cheater method of pre made seat foam cuz there isn't any and according to a Co. I bought a Legendary Interior cover kit from I shouldn't bother buying the 72 - 74 seat foam as I'll have to rework it anyways to make it work well.

So, my question is what is the best method to recreate seat pads that'll duplicate the originals? I realize its a cut & glue method but what density of foam works best, is it a layering method, are the side bolsters usually denser material - I've tried searching
you tube for "how to" video's w/o too much success so any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks & here's a pic of the car.
Evan  

[forsailbyowner]

Its really time consuming but i rough it with an electric knife then smooth it out with a rasp. strangely the best rasp Ive found is on the  side of a handheld food grater. I saw a video of someone doing custom motorcycle seats that way and have been playing with it on my boat.

[MinUph]

This topic comes up once in awhile. I find it best to use a very firm foam. glued up to the rough shape and trim to shape as much as possible with a foam saw. Then a power disk sander to get it down to the shape needed gently. It is time consuming but very effective. Once you have the shape you glue on a thin topper of 1/4 -1/2 foam that give you the smooth finish. It hides any imperfections from the sanding. I do this when modifying or redoing bike seats. You can shape the foam to any shape you need. Very messy but a great way to get it where you want.

[Darren Henry]

best rasp Ive found is on the  side of a handheld food grater

:o Humph--- who'd a thunk it? I would have guessed that it would just tear the foam. How firm  foam are you using and what "grit" of food grater?

[fragged8]

the seats on your Plymouth look pretty easy. google Sid Chavers and call him up. he does a great set of videos on custom seats which includes making the bases ..

[Rich]

the seats on your Plymouth look pretty easy. google Sid Chavers and call him up. he does a great set of videos on custom seats which includes making the bases ..

I looked over his website and I didn't see one tweed interior, what a relief!
He does very nice work and from the pricing on his "Bop Top", he's not afraid to charge for it. It can be done!
Rich

[Danny D.]

Year One has the foam for a 1970 Satellite, and it looks pretty similar to what you need.  Check out http://www.yearone.com and take a look.