TECH
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SEAT RE-SEAT
Fox Mustang Restoration
gives our tired, old
interior a retro spin
with a TMI Products
upholstery kit, Part 2
story and photography by Brad Bowling
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ast issue we began the restoration of Fox Mustang
seats, beginning with disassembly and cleaning. Now we’re
picking up where we left off,
rebuilding and reupholstering the
seats.
Leading the way is Matt Highley
of Fox Mustang Restoration in
Locust, North Carolina, an experienced Fox restorer. We’re using
TMI’s high-quality parts and going
step-by-step to show you the professional’s tips and tricks for top
results.
You don’t need a bunch of special tools (hog ring pliers are
required, while upholstery clip
removers, though not required,
will help the job go faster) or a big
budget to tackle this job. Just
some shop space, hand tools, and
your new foam, upholstery, and a
few miscellaneous parts which
we’ll show you. With a workbench
full of clean parts, we join the job,
already in progress.
2. Set the new lumbar airbag in place. Be careful pushing the metal tabs back in place —
don’t break them.
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1, 1A. With shiny, freshly painted black seat parts to work with, Matt addresses one of the Fox
Mustang interior’s biggest weaknesses — the tendency of the seat frame to twist out of shape.
This “gangster” or “fat man lean” is caused by the tearing of the small welds between two metal
panels at the base of the seat. For the average size driver, this damage can occur as early as
60,000-80,000 miles. Matt never rebuilds a Fox Mustang seat without fixing this design flaw. He
drills holes next to the original spot welds and reinforces the metal panels with a series of 10
quarter-inch pop rivets, as seen here before the rivet tool breaks off the excess threads. Matt
gently taps the “flower” part of the rivet (inset) flat to minimize the sharp edges.
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3. The new SVO seatback foam has metal rods
and hooks already buried in it as delivered
from TMI. We’ve placed the two horizontal and
two vertical rods on top to show where they’ll
fit when the seat is re-covered. These visible
rods will be connected to the buried rods later.
4. Reinstall the seat hinge mechanism to the
seatback frame, and connect the cleaned-up
black plastic cover.
5. The seatback foam fits easily to the frame. It
just slides over the top.
52 FOXMustangMagazine.com