So where do we start?
Well the start is actually the fun part. Head over to leatherseats.com. There are flashier websites on the web, but there are not better companies or prices. I know this because I dealt with them all. LeatherSeats answered their phone and stayed on the line for about 40 minutes while I asked every question in the book, worried about whether or not I could do it… and that was leatherseats.com. That's the sort of support I want, and I stuck with them. It didn't hurt the pricing was great, and that's why I stayed with them and eventually worked out a deal.
It also didn't hurt at all that they had already written an installation overview for the DIY Network using… you guessed it: the 3000GT. It just so happened when I called the guy I spoke with was working on a… yeah, 3000GT. Seems it was in the stars.
Take your time deciding what look you want for your new interior…. This leather is going to last a long time, so make sure what you pick isn't the fad of the moment. Get familiar with all the color options, stitching color, etc. You can get perforated or not… it's your call. Just think it out. Maybe right now blue and yellow seats seem really cool, but imagine that in 4 years when you're not a UCLA student or not showing your car as much as you thought you would. Think long term and stylish.
Luckily my decision was easier because the Spyder is classic styling and my design cues have never been “wild” but rather going for a more “tasteful exotic”. I went with two tone seats… charcoal on the outside, and “slate” on the inside. When my kit arrives I was pleasantly surprised; these matched my stock beige color and the gray on my interior so close it was amazing.
Now that I've picked my color and got my leather kit in the mail it's time to get started.
Lets get to the tools now.
The tools I needed were pretty simple. To start off you need “Hog Ring Pliers”. Here's what they look like:
Actual Hog Ring pliers
They are used with… you guessed it, hog rings. Here's what hog rings look like:
Actual Hog Rings
You put the hog ring into the pliers like this:
Actual Hog Ring Pliers in actual use
And the pliers easily bend the hog ring into a nice triangular ring shape that will hold whatever is attached to it in place pretty easily. If this looks familiar, it's because this is the exact same thing they use on fences to keep the chain link attached to the poles. As a matter of fact, while there's all sorts of fancy Hog Rings out there for you to buy, the ones I bought said “Chain Link Fence tension Wire Clips: Hog Rings” on the front. I bought a bag of 200 at the local OSH Hardware for about 4 bucks. The pliers right in the same area were about $9.50.
I also bought a pair of snub nose wire cutters to take off the old hog rings. The snub nose is so that mechanical advantage is on your size and the stock rings get snipped easier. If you don't have these, buy them… they were about 12-16 bucks, and well worth the time I saved trying to use wire cutters or some other totally inappropriate tool. Having the right tool for the job is essential, and I guess that means my dad was right about at least one thing.
Now you have what you need to start, so get going!
Where to start, where to start…
Start in the back. As you well know the back seat of a 3000GT is best suited for newborns and those shorter than 4 foot nothing. Chances are while you the new leather for the back seats you wont miss them too much. Why did it take me three hours? Mostly because I was enjoying the learning curve, seeing how the stock leather it attached to the car, etc. Once you get a good idea for how the stock leather is attached with the stock hog rings, you'll have a good idea for how the rest of the project is going to go… just different places for the rings to be. This comes fairly quickly because it's pretty obvious.
I should probably mention that I brought my back seats in from the garage and did the entirety of this project sitting on my couch watching movies. There's no reason why this can't be a relaxing project, and frankly, rushing it won't help at all. Take your time, and it'll be better served all the way around. I did the 'seat back' of the back seat first.
The leather for the back seats comes off like unwrapping a package. As you cut all the rings it will unwrap slowly, and then you can pull it off. Be careful that you pay attention to where the rings were, what they were holding onto, etc. This will help things to be more intuitive when you put the new leather on as you'll have an idea of what they are talking about.
Chances are the old hog rings were attached to a metal wire. These hard metal wires go throughout all of the different areas of your interior and form a skeleton for which the leather attaches too. Some of the other things the leather will hog-ring too is parts of the metal lacing that runs through the backs of the interior. This part looks most like what a bed spring pattern looks like.
That's going to be pretty easy..
...so now we'll show you the front seats. If you're worried about the backs, just go over this tutorial, because we will cover all the same stuff.
Removing the seat from the car
How do you get the seat somewhere to work on? First, get the seat out of the car by removing the 4 bolts holding it to the car. Look underneath as power seats have some wires that need to be disconnected. The connectors are easily visible. They are easier to get at if you unbolt the seat first and tilt it back to get underneath.
This is a good opportunity to clean your carpet too. If you don;t have a steam cleaner, get "tough Stuff" foam carpet cleaner. Scrub your stains out with it, following the directions. It's awesome stuff, and you won;t get a better opportunity to get at your carpet easily.
Stock OEM 3000GT seat.. passenger side. Old, broken down, stained & destroyed
The seat is basically 2 pieces, the back and the base. We will start with the back as it's easiest to start taking apart. You'll want to take off the seat backing first. Accessing the screws under the plastic covers is easy.
The backside of a front seat.. amazing
There's the plastic covered screws at the bottom. Take those off, and the piece slides out with a few metal tabs from the top of the seat towards the bottom.
Hiding under the plastic covers is an ordinary screw.. amazing
OK, so i forgot you'd need a screwdriver, but it's still easy.
Already we can see the leather edges and the stock hog rings
The back is off, and we can now see what you will be getting very aquatinted with now.. the wire framework underneath the leather. This is about it every one.... once you have an idea of how the OEM hog rings are holding the stock leather on to this metal framework, you've seen everything to co me... because it all attaches this way.
Snub Nose Pliers cutting the first hog ring. It has begun!