DIY Network

Honda S2000: Custom Interior — Leather Seats and Door Panels Andrew Totolos does a little interior design work on an already-Tricked Honda S2000. Included in the upgrade: custom leather seat covers, new door panels to complement the custom exterior — and a little carbon fiber never hurts. From "Tricked Out" episode DTRK-413

(Continued from page 3)

The new seat covers

Part 3: Reupholster Seats

The seats have been taken apart and now it's time to remove the old factory upholstery from the seats and bring them back to life with new custom leather seat covers. When the covers are in place, Andrew puts the seats back together.

Tools and materials for this phase of the project:

standard shop tools
hog ring pliers
hog rings
custom-fit leather seat covers

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	Figure H
	Figure I

Steps:

• Remove the factory upholstery from the seats. Use pliers to remove the hog rings (figure H), which are wrapped around wires inside the seat foam.

• Once all of the rings are off, peel the edges of the cover up and off of the foam (figure I).

• Flip the seat over and start removing the hog rings from the thick listing wires that contour the seat cover along the sides. Lift the seat cover to expose the listing wires that hold the center of the upholstery to the seat.

• Once the old cover is off, it's time to put on the new one.

• Load a hog ring from a new seat of rings into the hog ring pliers.
  

  Assembling the seat back
  Assembling the headrest
  Figure J

• Find the anchor wire inside the seat cushion, and connect the cover to it with the hog ring.

• The install is backwards from removal. Finish the seat insert first and then move to the edges.

• Once the new cover is on it's a good idea to massage the cover into place with a good beating. This will eliminate puckering.

• Turn the seat over and pull the tails of the cover into place and begin attaching hog rings (figure J).

• Each tab has a wire that the ring will wrap around to keep the hog ring from ripping through the cover.

• Force the hog ring through the tab, and then catch the seat and squeeze the ring on to hold it in place.

• Work around the edges of the seat, pulling the cover tight while affixing additional hog rings.

• To finish up, take the two hog rings off the headrest and peel back the hook-and-loop fastener.

• Pry apart the plastic channel that holds the seam together at the bottom of the seat back.

• Use a screwdriver to help open up a second flap.

• Flip the center bolster up and remove the hog rings under the flaps before removing the hog rings from the side-to-side poles fastening the cover to the center bolster.

• Take the foam cushion out of the way.

• Under the center bolster, lift up the flap to access and remove the hog rings.
  

  	Figure K
  	Figure L
  	Figure M

• Once the hog rings are removed, the seat cover can be easily removed.

• The new cover slips on with some work. Get the headrest worked in first, and then work your way towards the bottom and get the side panels pulled over the foam.

• Drop in the center bolster so you can get a good fit.

• Add hog rings in all the places you removed them when you took off the factory seat cover.

• Bring the bottom flaps together. Because it's a tight fit, use some additional hog rings to ensure the cover is properly closed.
  Affix the new upholstery on the headrest.

• Now that the new seat covers are on, it's time to put the seats back together.

• Reinstall the seat rails and flip the seat over to attach the seat back to the bottom (figure K).

• Replace all the plastic trim pieces (figure L) and the seat-belt guide (figure M).

• Repeat the process on the passenger seat.

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