New Aluminum Seatbacks

[ccurzio]

Gotcha, bitches.



Thanks for the excellent work, GS450.

[DMC5180]

In reality, they should have been made from .090 aluminum. This would give them better flexibility for installation without compromising the integrity of the panel. I'm sure the only reason .125 was used is because the OEM board was that thick. I actually have 1/4" masonite boards. They are extremely stiff too but was still able to get them into place without bending tabs. Unfortunately, I made them solid panels without the center cutout. This was a mistake. I'll get around to correcting it one of these day's. Perhaps with a set of these panels.

[GS450-Junkie]

Yea...they are snug. But once you get them in, they look and hold up extremely well. I had considered .090" aluminum when we first played around with some different mock designs and opted for the .125" since it still seemed doable on the seat we were using. Although a little stiff, the .125" panel slipped right in with some finesse, but I'm not surprised if they vary from car to car or seat to seat. I may just switch to .090" from this point on for a little easier fit. Glad you got them in Chris! They look good. We'll fine tune it a bit here and get it right so hopefully it doesn't scare other people away because they are nice once installed.... Sure beats a piece of fiberboard that's snapped in twelve different places. Did you sit in them yet?

[ccurzio]

Sure beats a piece of fiberboard that's snapped in twelve different places. Did you sit in them yet?

Definitely! That shit fiberboard was broken since first buying this car, and previous DeLoreans I'd looked at all had the same issue. It's nice to know that I've got some hard core fit and finish to these seat backs now.

I've deliberately flopped into the driver's seat a few times just to make sure they'll hold up to standard use, and after some finagling they seem solid for sure.

I highly recommend buying these from this thread! He does great work and it's worth it to have your seat backs stop looking like ratty shit, even if they are a bitch and three fourths to get installed.

[thirdmanj]

I just skimmed through this thread. Did you ever settle on a price for this set up?

[GS450-Junkie]

I threw some on Ebay in the past few weeks and I got a little more for them on there, but I think I'll settle on $150 for DMCTalk members. That's for the 2 aluminum panels, de-burred and drilled, but I will also rivet your brackets on for no additional charge if you mail them to me. I can also replace your foam, and glue your vinyl covers back onto the new aluminum pieces for another $50. Turn-around time is a day, a couple of days if I glue.

[1batt4u]

I just got my seatbacks recently. Sorry I'm posting so late.

Here they are:
DSC03396.jpg

Picture doesn't do it justice! Looks really good and strong! :-) I'm happy with them.

[GS450-Junkie]

Hey thanks! Just remember that when you put these back into the seats you may need to work them into place a bit. They are more rigid than the old ones, but that is a good thing!! The old fiber-board panels were flexible enough to slip right into place, but that's part of the reason why you had to buy the new ones, and also why they failed. You'll love the new ones even more once they're in and you take that first sit in the seat!!

[Morpheus]

Will you be offering this part/service only for a short time? I would love to have this done, but I'm not at the "interior" stage of my restoration yet.

[GS450-Junkie]

No, this will be ongoing. I have some orders here and there, and I plan on keeping some readily available. I'm pretty flexible. Especially since I'm in the middle of an interior gutting project myself.