The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors C Clips For Upholstery

Hi Everyone,

Got a question for you. First the specifics: 1953 3100, standard bench seat. I want to reupholster the seat and have prepped the seat back cushion frame. I have purchased the seat covers and seat cover installation kit from JC. The kit comes with "C" clips for holding the material to the frame, so that you don't have to use hog rings. I need some instruction on how to place the material over the frame and exactly where the clips are supposed to attach to the frame. What's causing me confusion is that the clips are really small and the bottom of the frame is large in comparison. Adding the thickness of the material and there doesn't seem to be a way to make the clip fit.

Has anyone used this kit before? If so, how did you make it work. Pics would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if I'm too vague or confusing....

Thanks!

hi Gray_Ghost
recently took some photos of fixing a seat for one of my truck this summer, attached a few photos of the clips in action.
the original tiny metal clips are spring steel, they will stretch a lot
if you need clips i suggest a trip to the wrecking yard, i took all the clips off a couple seats and cleaned them all in evaporust liquid overnight so that i would have plenty of good ones to pick from when reassembling the seat.
the grey material i used is recycled school bus seat from a bus i bought to use as a storage shed.

i suggest you do a test fit with a small patch of material to see how it goes before committing to the whole project,
just push them down with your weapon of choice, i put one about every 3 inches or so.
don't forget to preload the seat a bit so the material is snug, i put my seat in a 20 ton press, but barely loaded it down.
i hope this info helps, please send picks of your work!
-s

2MT,

Thanks for the pics! I'm wondering if the C clips that you got were larger than the ones that I bought, or just pre-stretched since they had already been installed. Also, when I disassembled my original material from the frame, I found a different shaped metal piece was used. It was "V" shaped and held the material inside the frame. I've attached a pic showing an original piece and a new C clip side by side. The original piece is on the left. I also attached a pic showing the original piece still in the seat cushion frame (the frame is upside down in the pic).

So I'm wondering if I should try to force the new clip over the material and frame or wrap the material around the frame and use the new clips to wedge it into the frame the way it was originally done?

Here's a pic of a couple C clips.
OD: 1/4"
Length: 1/2"

Those are the same size as the ones that I have. Did you use them over the frame or inside the frame?

Since my seats are installed, I have no pics of them installed but per the last pic that 2ManyTrucks posted, it shows where the clips are positioned. I can run my fingers along the bottom of the front edge of the seat bottom and feel them.

If you zoom up on this photo of the seat bottom of my truck, you can see where the clips are positioned (some are covered where the fabric folded back over them. From the condition I found, I believe it's the original seat cover, so has the original clips. They look like they're spaced about 3-4 inches apart around the perimeter, and probably close at the corners of the seat frame.

I think that the ones you found on your truck (more v-shaped) might be replacements and may have needed to be crimped over the material or frame. The originals (and the ones on my seat) are more circular shaped with belled-out ends so they can slide over the fabric and frame.

I don't understand how your second picture of the installed v-shaped clips work. Is it two clips with the fabric sandwiched between them?

the round C clips in the above photos look like the original i have, they can cut into the seat material quite easily.
that V shaped one might be from a different seat supplier? also my truck is Canadian built so that could also be a different source of parts?

they clip over one layer of material only, you can't double up or else it's just too much for the clip to handle, they go on the inside rounded edge of the outside frame, the whole assembly seems like it will come apart on a rough road, but so far it's holding up after a couple hundred miles.
-s

Actually 2ManyTrucks's 3rd pic show the C clips in place the best. Yes for 1 layer of material is max.

Kevin,

The 2 "V" clips were nested but only holding 1 piece of fabric. They were the bottom layer of fabric. Someone had reupholstered the seats in the past and simply put a new layer of seat cover over the original one. For the new seat cover, they used hog rings. The original fabric was tucked into the channel of the seat frame and the V clip was pushed into the channel. The edges of the V held both sides of the fabric against the inside of the channel.

AH! So they work in reverse fashion from the round clips that go on the outside of the fabric over the seat frame. Now I understand.

Thanks

OK, after looking over the pics (which are very helpful!) I understand how you all are using the C clips. My question now is how you are getting them onto the fabric and frame without tearing the fabric? As noted earlier, the opening on the C clip is only 1/8". I'm concerned that if I try to force it over the fabric I'll end up tearing it. Is there a specific technique or should I try to open up the clip before hand? Any advice before I bollix up my seat covers would be appreciated.

Slightly moisten the insides of the clip before pushing it in place?

Take a fine file and dress the corners of the clips so they're not sharp? I would think that as long as the fabric is held tightly in place around the frame, the clips should just push on. Moistening the fabric or clip might help, or maybe a dab of silicone grease?

If there were a way to open the end of the clip before I put it onto the fabric, it might work. But I doubt it. But as it stands now, the edges of the clip dig into the fabric and if I push, it will simply cut into the fabric. I'm super frustrated at this point and am close to saying screw it and getting out the hog rings. I'm still not sure how a 1/8" opening is supposed to go over the frame, that combined with fabric is close to 1/2"? There's a solid 1/8" on either side of the clip.

hi mike,
i think it doesn't go over that surface you show, it goes on from the inside edge, the opening of the clip should face sideways when it's on the seat, it should not face up like the letter U,
example, the clip openings should be facing the front of the truck on the front edge of the seat, pressed on from the inside towards outside
the clip should not be visible when the seat is installed, but running your fingers under the seat you can feel them
i hope that makes sense

i made a photo with green = good and red = bad, maybe that helps explain

also maybe you have a totally different seat design than what i had in my trucks?
-s

What 2ManyTrucks said.

The seat frame should actually be like a figure 8 laying horizontally if you were to cut a cross section of it. If I recall, the inner part of the "8" is a bit smaller than the outer part.

Thanks Guys. There is either something that I don't understand or different with the seat cushion frame in my truck. If you took a cross section of the frame, it would resemble a J.

I finally called No Joy on trying to fit the clips over or around the frame and went with how the original "V" clips were installed. It took a little trial and error, but I figured out a way to make it work. I'll add some pics to show the result. Overall, I'm happy with the result. One of the corners is a little under stuffed, so I'll add a little padding from the underside. Hopefully the wrinkles will even out quickly.


Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions!

What you have done is replicated exactly how the original V clips were used. I have no idea why they don't just send us replications of the V clips with the kit.

All my 1954 Chevrolet trucks’ upholstery clips were the C-clips (“barrel shaped”), as sold by JC (not an angular V-clip).

A PITA to deal with.

Hi Everyone,

I finished the reupholster job of the bench seat and got it back into the truck. All in all I'm pretty happy with the way it worked out. I did end up using the C clips in the same manner as the original V clip. About the time that I was finishing up the project, I had refined the technique and it was going pretty fast and looked pretty good. I guess I'll leave it to all of you to determine the final verdict (see pic). If I were to do it again, I wouldn't bother trying anything else, I would just use the clips inside the channel the way that Chevy did. There are still some creases from the material sitting in the box for so long, but I'm sure that they'll go away once it warms up outside.

Awesome for you. So......when will you be driving the rig? Tomorrow?

Good job! The task which you just battled and won, was one of my least favorite to do.

Thanks Everyone! I can't drive her yet, I've got a small hurdle in the way...swapping engines! The one that came in her is an internally rusted boat anchor. I've got a running 235 in the garage, so hopefully this spring I'll be able to make the swap. As always, being a truck noob, I've got issues to deal with. Those will be posted in the driveline section, which is where I'm off to now!