Well, I took the seats out of my Midget Friday in order to remove the
remains of a mouse nest under the passenger seat. As usual, I found two
other projects that needed to be done. First I noticed that the floor
pans were rusting, so I spent about eight hours grinding away the rust
and repainting them. (I will probably replace the floor pans in a year
or two.)
Both seats were really saggy. Once I had them out I could see that the
diaghphrams were shot. The seat covers are in good shape though. I
didn't really want to spend 40 dollars on rubber diaghphrams and new
webbing, so I tried to think of cheaper solution that would also make the
seats firmer.
I found a really good solution that only cost me four dollars and is much
more comfortable than the original setup. What you want to do is get two
garbage sacks, 4 20' lengths of rope and two thick pieces of cardboard
cut to fit within the seat frame.
I used some fairly thin three strand jute for rope becuse it will strech
easily if you soak it in water and shrinks when it dries. Start at the
left front side of the frame by tying off the wet rope there. Now bring
the rope to the back of the frame, wrap it around and pull it tight.
Clamp the rope there with a pair of vise grips and wrap the rope around
the back of the frame a second time. Now bring it back to the front
about two inches from the point where you knotted the rop and repeat the
previos step. Then bring it to the back two inches away from wher you
looped it in the back. Remember to pull the rope *TIGHT* and clamp it
to keep it tight while you are moving on to do another loop. Keep this
going until you have diagonals of rope going clear acros the frame and
tie off the rope.
Now take another 20' length of rope and tie it at the front of the side
of the frame. Do what you did previously only now you want to weave it
in with the diagonals you did from front to back. Make sure the diagonal
is straight and pull it *TIGHT*. When you are done you should have a
nice mesh which will be even tighter when it dries.
The next thing to do is to gently separate the seat foam from the cushion
cover. Cut your cardboard so that it is a little smaller than the seat
foam and lightly clue the cardboard to the bottom of the foam. Now
surround the foam with the garbage bag to waterproof the foam and cardboard.
(slit the garbage bag somewhere along the top to let air out when you sit
down.)
I weigh 210 pounds and this feels a lot firmer than the way the seats
were originally designed.
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