headrest removal
10-27-04, 07:40 PM
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headrest removal
I have an '87 gxl. How in the heck does the headrest come off? In the process of making seat covers (stock look and fit), and cannot figure this out. I see that it is welded to the seat, so it must come off on the headrest side. I see 1 bolt on each side, but those look like they are for the tilt feature. Any ideas? I searched but only found one thread from 2001 that nobody responed to. All kinds of info about speakers in the headrests for convertibles though. thank you.
10-28-04, 09:31 AM
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Call around to a few automotive upholstery shops. Ask if they have experiance with your seats. Drive in with a case of beer. Barter for procedure information. Post your results. Or, go in for an estimate. Play dumbass " How will you remove the headrests without messing them up ?"
Beer has opened many doors ( and ladies thighs ) for me
My humble $0.02
Beer has opened many doors ( and ladies thighs ) for me
My humble $0.02
10-28-04, 09:33 AM
#3
Banned. I got OWNED!!!
Originally Posted by Convertible Cowboy
Call around to a few automotive upholstery shops. Ask if they have experiance with your seats. Drive in with a case of beer. Barter for procedure information. Post your results. Or, go in for an estimate. Play dumbass " How will you remove the headrests without messing them up ?"
Beer has opened many doors ( and ladies thighs ) for me
My humble $0.02
Beer has opened many doors ( and ladies thighs ) for me
My humble $0.02
07-19-06, 09:42 PM
#5
Taste great, more filling
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-Stretch the headrest out all the way, tilt it forward and in the bottom are 3 screws. Take them out, and let the plastic piece fall down.
-Under that is a small piece of particle board with staples in it. Gently pry out the staples, because hopefully you'll be reusing that board. Set that piece aside, and put the staples somewhere that they won't end up in a tire.
-It's easier to pull the upholstery off now if you're going to, because the seat will hold the headrest in place and it will make the next step easier as well. It's tight though, I gently slid a philips screwdriver under one side of it and gently pried against the foam, it's going to get covered up again anyway, but don't tear it up too badly.
-If you pry up on the sides of the foam you'll see two 10mm bolts. Ignore those.
-If you pry up real hard on the front and back of the foam you'll see a handful of screws, ignore those too.
-If you look in the bottom with a flashlight, you'll see white disks around the top of the chrome legs, look around it and you should see a shiny silver clip and a nice channel that it will follow should you choose to push on that leg with a screwdriver. Do that now. If you pull up a little on the headrest, you should get just enough pull out of it let it set outside the little channel while you do the other side, then the headrest should come right off.
Yeah, I know this is an old thread, but I found it when I was looking for the answer to how to take the headrest off, and since noone else has ever posted the answer, I figured I'd help out the next guy.
And to all you out there fighting the fight of doing your own reupholstery, some words of wisdom.
1. Take your time
2. Buy LOTS of fabric
3. Those little metal rings and poles and stuff in the seat are important. That's the difference between $1200 quality upholstery and $20 stretchy seatcovers with dragons and flowers on them.
4. No, really. You can use high quality $12 a yard marine grade vinyl with a simulated leather look to it, spend weeks hand stitching it all to the same pattern that the factory used, and it won't look as good as $1/yard clearance cloth that took you a week but used those rings and poles and stuff. Trust me.
5. Be prepared to do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again until you get it right. I've rebuilt engines, rewired entire cars, worked with fiberglass and bondo, painted entire vehicles, assembled computers, repaired hospital x-ray machines, created training videos from scratch, built furniture from just wood, repaired plumbing, and installed home heating and air conditioning, and been pretty much self-taught at all of it. Sewing $30 worth of fabric into something even vaguely resembling a bucket seat is harder than all of those things. Harder even than trying to figure out what your wife/girlfriend is mad about when you come home from work and she won't talk to you but she WILL hit you and you really, really haven't done anything you know to be wrong. It's worse than most of those things because a good cold beer doesn't help it, it just makes it worse.
6. Good luck, like everything else, it gets easier as you go on!
-Under that is a small piece of particle board with staples in it. Gently pry out the staples, because hopefully you'll be reusing that board. Set that piece aside, and put the staples somewhere that they won't end up in a tire.
-It's easier to pull the upholstery off now if you're going to, because the seat will hold the headrest in place and it will make the next step easier as well. It's tight though, I gently slid a philips screwdriver under one side of it and gently pried against the foam, it's going to get covered up again anyway, but don't tear it up too badly.
-If you pry up on the sides of the foam you'll see two 10mm bolts. Ignore those.
-If you pry up real hard on the front and back of the foam you'll see a handful of screws, ignore those too.
-If you look in the bottom with a flashlight, you'll see white disks around the top of the chrome legs, look around it and you should see a shiny silver clip and a nice channel that it will follow should you choose to push on that leg with a screwdriver. Do that now. If you pull up a little on the headrest, you should get just enough pull out of it let it set outside the little channel while you do the other side, then the headrest should come right off.
Yeah, I know this is an old thread, but I found it when I was looking for the answer to how to take the headrest off, and since noone else has ever posted the answer, I figured I'd help out the next guy.
And to all you out there fighting the fight of doing your own reupholstery, some words of wisdom.
1. Take your time
2. Buy LOTS of fabric
3. Those little metal rings and poles and stuff in the seat are important. That's the difference between $1200 quality upholstery and $20 stretchy seatcovers with dragons and flowers on them.
4. No, really. You can use high quality $12 a yard marine grade vinyl with a simulated leather look to it, spend weeks hand stitching it all to the same pattern that the factory used, and it won't look as good as $1/yard clearance cloth that took you a week but used those rings and poles and stuff. Trust me.
5. Be prepared to do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again until you get it right. I've rebuilt engines, rewired entire cars, worked with fiberglass and bondo, painted entire vehicles, assembled computers, repaired hospital x-ray machines, created training videos from scratch, built furniture from just wood, repaired plumbing, and installed home heating and air conditioning, and been pretty much self-taught at all of it. Sewing $30 worth of fabric into something even vaguely resembling a bucket seat is harder than all of those things. Harder even than trying to figure out what your wife/girlfriend is mad about when you come home from work and she won't talk to you but she WILL hit you and you really, really haven't done anything you know to be wrong. It's worse than most of those things because a good cold beer doesn't help it, it just makes it worse.
6. Good luck, like everything else, it gets easier as you go on!
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Erosangel
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