The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors I need upholstery tips!

I have 1946 2-ton with pretty well destroyed upholstery. I’m at the planning stage and am gathering opinions/ ideas/ tips. I couldn’t find much on the subject in previous posts or when I googled it.
I was thinking about going with a heavy canvas outside with a foam layer and burlap over the springs.
Normal how thick is the padding/foam? I was thinking 1-inch, but I’m not sure how thick the original padding was.
I was also thinking about putting a thin sheet of plywood behind the back and bottom of the seat then filling the cavity with shredded foam to add some firmness on bumpy road. Has anyone tried this? And more importantly, would I lose the desired squeaky spring sound?

Thank you,
Josh (Akguy34)

Just finished covering my seats on my 49 5 window. Started out by removing all old material,cleaning all metal including springs and sprayed with good coat of primer. I had a bunch of rubber left over from a fish pond job that i did and used that to cover tne springs, bought 1 inch foam and cut to size. I used gray leather to cover my seats also used grommets to attach leather to seat frame. Feels very comfortable and is holding its shape very well. Did tne entire job for less than $100 .

Burlap with cotton on the inside u can use almost any material within reason to do make a top cover and install with hog rings but I've used diffrent things like regular house insullation foam cut to shape to just reuseing old fillers from the scrap yard most interior shops try to buy most of there chip board from fire slavage sales and they'll have a pretty good aftermarket selection online also it helped me to just go down to the local bookstore and get a book on basic interior teqniques good luk with your project

I'm pretty sure you'll feel ALL the bumps woth only 1" of foam. It compresses far too much that that small amount to work. Think 2.5" minimum and use heavy vinyl, forget the canvas unless your building an old military truck and want originality.

I do flooring. And I,m tellin ya,..I,m going to use this padding we put under peoples carpet for firmness. Its a 10 lb memory foam. Green on the bottom and white on top. I will use this as my last layer before the material goes on it.

Thickness of foam does not always translate to comfort. Foam comes in different densities, so some compress less than others, thus a more firm seat can be made with less thickness. It's worth it to check with an antique auto upholstery supplier to see what is offered. There are plenty if you do a web search. Also, a local furniture reupholstery shop can be of help.