What have you done to your DeLorean today?

[Bitsyncmaster]

I pulled my drivers seat and started pulling the skin off the seat. Also pulled the skin off my finger pulling the hognose rings off. It will be interesting how to get those rings back on where the headrest skin is clamped way deep into the foam.

It's quite a workout pulling the old rings off. There are so many and you kind of do a snap pull. Not sure if you could cut the rings.

[louielouie2000]

I pulled my drivers seat and started pulling the skin off the seat. Also pulled the skin off my finger pulling the hognose rings off. It will be interesting how to get those rings back on where the headrest skin is clamped way deep into the foam.

It's quite a workout pulling the old rings off. There are so many and you kind of do a snap pull. Not sure if you could cut the rings.

There are "hog ring cutters" that make this job so much easier. Google them and see where all they can be bought. It is well worth spending $15 on them. If you don't have "hog ring pliers" buy a pair of those, too. Using regular pliers will frustrate the hell out of you doing this job.

I can't remember how we tackled affixing the head rest hog rings... but I do remember using a lot of zip ties on the seatback to pull the material forward so a hog ring can be fastened to the material. So it was probably the same trick. Also, we used plastic grocery bags to get the new seat cover over the headrest foam. I know some people use spray lubricants (I believe silicone?) instead, though.

And yes... I bled a LOT while doing this job. Bill Robertson's passenger seat foam will always carry plenty of my DNA! haha

[dn010]

Way back when I did my seats, I used a heavy duty pair of "diagonal cutting pliers" to cut the old rings off. When it came time to reassemble, I used 12/2 copper wire with the insulation gone (or use the ground), cut into strips. You can either wrap the copper wire around or in a lot of spots you can use a pair of pliers and twist the section closed. The copper is really easy to work with compared to steel hog rings and they work just as well - I don't have any sections on any of my vehicles that came undone.

Initially, I found this worked when I had an old '67 Mustang. I bought new seat covers but didn't know about hog rings. Thinking dejectedly how the project would take another week to receive the rings and tool, I look over and there was a roll of 12/2.

[Michael]

Better than when it left the factory in 1981. Two months of meticulous refinishing work on my DeLorean door hinge/torsion bar area.

The last photo shows how it looked when it left the factory, just as I started chipping the messy silicone off. Needless to say that if someone spent as much time as me at the factory, they would have been building one car a month.

Amazing! I did mine several years ago as I wasn't a fan of all the gooped on silicone but it didn't look that clean!

[Victor]

Amazing! I did mine several years ago as I wasn't a fan of all the gooped on silicone but it didn't look that clean!

Amazing! So beautiful work! Is there a special solvant or solution that works best for removing that black silicone?
Most of my cleaning is done using that purple liquid bottle called Super Clean, which work amazingly on a lot of surfaces.
I know that Mother wheel cleaner is used also on some area as well.

[Col Bennett]

Amazing! I did mine several years ago as I wasn't a fan of all the gooped on silicone but it didn't look that clean!

Cheers Michael. That means a lot. Yeah, it's one heck of a mind-numbing job. I instantly regretted starting it - but now that it's done, I'm glad I did - although I did consider selling the car at least twice during a few heated "f*** you DeLorean" moments. I'm sure we've all been there! Glad I made it through the trauma.

Amazing! So beautiful work! Is there a special solvant or solution that works best for removing that black silicone?
Most of my cleaning is done using that purple liquid bottle called Super Clean, which work amazingly on a lot of surfaces.
I know that Mother wheel cleaner is used also on some area as well.

Thanks Victor. Sadly, there's not. I tried a bunch of solvents before realizing that none of them worked - at all! Don't waste your time. The only thing that worked was a bunch of small craft/sculpting tools to literally scrape the sealant off flake by flake. Weeks and weeks of scraping to get rid of every last bit! I then sanded the metal and finished with a 3M blending pad to get it as nice as possible for refinishing.

Cheers guys!

[white out]

Just in case anyone isn't following the build thread

[white out]

video from the shop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGyfZSoeT6E&t=39s

[Lwanmtr]

video from the shop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGyfZSoeT6E&t=39s

Nice

[Bitsyncmaster]

There are "hog ring cutters" that make this job so much easier. Google them and see where all they can be bought. It is well worth spending $15 on them. If you don't have "hog ring pliers" buy a pair of those, too. Using regular pliers will frustrate the hell out of you doing this job.

I can't remember how we tackled affixing the head rest hog rings... but I do remember using a lot of zip ties on the seatback to pull the material forward so a hog ring can be fastened to the material. So it was probably the same trick. Also, we used plastic grocery bags to get the new seat cover over the headrest foam. I know some people use spray lubricants (I believe silicone?) instead, though.

And yes... I bled a LOT while doing this job. Bill Robertson's passenger seat foam will always carry plenty of my DNA! haha

I tried some heavy diagonal cutters and they could not cut the rings but they do work better pulling the ring with more bite. I see there are some small steel rods where that head rest get clamped. The new skins did not put in the rods so I guess we use the old ones. I got the skin over the head rest just working it. After it was on I had to shove my hand up there to flatten the seams on the top stitch. I will use a plastic glove next time. When you get old your skin is so thin I got some blood just from the friction moving my had under the skin. Also there is no cut for the back release lever so either skin goes on either seat.