All information on the Seats and Top for the M-38 will be on this page, I will be updating it as progress continues.
All pictures of the top and seats are here.
Below are pictures of the front seats as they were when I got the Willys. I have ordered canvas to convert them back and its just a waiting game now!
The front seat pictured below is the stock seat. A canvas kit will put it back to stock.
So with the seats out, it was time to clean the frames off. I spent a few hours working on getting the paint off, and I was able to get it off everywhere except in the little nooks and cranny's.
On the drivers seat frame there is some over spray from the undercoating / trunk paint that there is on the interior of the Jeep. This stuff does not come off so well.... At first it seems like its sanding off, then it heats up and I guess it kinda melts and then smears around. Not fun stuff, not sure how I will go about getting it off the entire inside of the Jeep some day.
Once I had most of the stuff off, I took the seat frames down to a local show to have them sandblasted and cleaned up. Once that was done I primed and painted them.
Above are a few pics of the sanding, priming and painting. Sorry, only took a few as things were hectic that week!
When I picked the frames up from the sandblasting place they had paper on them and told me they were ready to paint. They said that paper was so that I could handle them and not get oils from my skin on the frames. It turns out that they were not correct, they were not ready to paint. Unfortunately, I listened to them and went straight home and painted them... and its not sticking too well. In the future I will have to take them back down to metal and start over. Oh well... live and learn!
I had already ordered seat covers and cushions from Beechwood Canvas, so it was time to get them installed on the frames. I may have been able to install the drivers seat cushions as they were a standard fit, but the passenger seat was not the original seat so the cover would be a custom job. It was off to the upholstery shop!
Above is the drivers seat. The cushion covers were pre-made and just needed to be installed as this is the factory seat frame.
Below are pictures of the passenger seat. For the seat bottom the stock cover was modified, but for the back it was an entire new cover. The upholstery shop did the passenger seat so that the stitching matches the drivers seat and it came out great.
The new seats are great! I will have to repaint the frames in the future due to some paint issues, but it is very simple to remove and replace the covers after the initial installation. The new seat cushions (foam) is harder than the old spring setups, but there is also some more room between the seat and the steering wheel which is always good in these old Willys.
The seats were done by Clancys Shop in Cotati. I was extremely happy with the work and the price, I will be using him again in the future with this project. His contact phone number is 707-793-9440, if you are in the area and need work done I would recommend him.