TMI Seat Foam Premium 1967

It was only a few years ago the only real option in restoring your Mustang seats was the original style seat foam and upholstery, which by today's standards is like sitting on a padded park bench. They offer no lateral support whatsoever, which can be a big issue in upgrading your Mustang's performance. TMI realized this and came out with a Sport seat about two years ago. The Sport seat features a vintage style upholstery with increased bolstering of both the seat bottom and the seat back as well. This was such a big hit for TMI they took it one step further with a Sport II.

Today we're going to show you how to install the Sport II using your factory Mustang seat frame. TMI offers Sport II upholstery for all standard and deluxe interior Mustangs from 1964 through 1973. The kit we're installing today is your '66 standard kit and includes all the upholstery necessary for installation.

The kit's going to require the use of the TMI Sport II foam, which has aggressive bolsters in both the seat bottom, as well as the seat back. These seats were built for performance in mind, while still keeping that vintage look. For this installation you'll need hog ring pliers and hog rings, a panel removal tool, pliers, Phillips head screwdriver, pick, 3/8 ratchet, 1/2" socket, 1/2" open end wrench, needle nose pliers, wire cutting pliers, a pry bar, and a large set of pliers.

We've got our Sport II upholstery, our Sport II foam, our original seat, and more importantly, we've got Ben here to give us a hand. Reupholstering seats can be a tough job for a first time installer and the additional bolstering of the Sport II is going to make it even harder. Ben's been restoring seats for the shop for a couple of years now and he's going to share some of the tricks he's learned along the way.

Ben: The first thing you want to do is make sure you've got a good solid seat. If the seat's twisted or broken the upholstery will never fit right. After you determine you've got a good solid seat, you're ready for this assembly. The first thing you want to do is remove the Phillips screws holding on the seat side shields. Next you want to remove the cotter pins. Use a pry bar to separate the seat. Now that we have the seat apart we're going to remove the seat back. Now remove the seat stop bolt. Now you want to remove all of the original hog rings. You can use wire cutters to pull or cut them off. Now you're ready to remove the upholstery. I found it easier to cut it to get it off. Cut the original listing wire from the frame so you can remove the seat foam. If the original canvas is in good shape you can reuse it.

Bill: As you can see, ours is nasty so we're going to rip it out before we install our new upholstery. These little listing wires hold it in, so you can cut them if you have to. In many cases just give them a good pull and they'll separate. Now that we've got our seat back all torn down, Ben what's next?

Ben: Next we're ready to install the seat foam. The seat foam will go around the outer edge of the seat. You generally want to start at the top, it makes it easier. Just make sure the seat frame is all the way down in the foam.

Bill: Okay, Ben now we have our foam installed, are we ready to install our upholstery?

Ben: Yep. The first thing you want to do is put the listing wire in the listing channel. I found it easier to flip the upholstery inside out to make the listing channel more accessible.

Bill: This is the listing channel right here?

Ben: Yep, that's it, both sides.

Bill: Now we're ready to install the listing wire. The kit doesn't include it. You can use a metal coat hanger. In our case we use a welding rod. Ben, how do we install the listing wire?

Ben: The first thing you want to do is hold the wire up to the listing channel.Bring it about an inch and a half up from the bottom and then cut it flush with the top. You want to bend the end of the listing wire so it doesn't puncture through the seat.

Bill: So both sides and both ends get bent the same way.

Ben: Yes. Now you want to make the top listing wire. Just hold it between the two outside channels and cut it to length. Install the listing wire in the listing channel stopping when you're flush at the top. Now install the top listing wire.

Bill: Now that we have our listing rods installed, we're ready to install our upholstery onto our new seat foam.

Ben: You want to make sure the rods go in the channels on the sides and along the top here. You want to make sure the listing rods are in the channels, even on both sides, or the upholstery will be crooked when you install it. This is one of the most difficult parts of the upholstery. You've got to connect the listing rod in the seat foam to the listing rod in the upholstery with a hog ring.

Bill: Ben, how many hog rings do you suggest installing on the top of the upholstery?

Ben: I usually use three across the top. Now we're ready to install listing rods on the sides. You only want to do about the top half to make it easier for when stretching upholstery.

Bill: Now that we have the top half or our listing channels installed we're ready to stretch our upholstery. Any tricks here Ben?

Ben: Well you want to start at the top corner and just get it down as tight as you can on the seat foam. After you get the start at one corner you can work on another corner.

Bill: Is that on enough that I get to work on the other side, Ben?

Ben: Yep. Just be careful not to tear the corners of the upholstery.

Bill: Now we have the corners over, what's the next step to get this a little tighter up top here?

Ben: Now you want to try and work out all the wrinkles in the top half by just grabbing the top of the bolster of the foam inside and try and pull the upholstery down over it. Keep pulling it tighter and tighter.

Bill: I take it this could be quite a time consuming process here?

Ben: Exactly.

Bill: Now we've got the top pretty well fitted. Is that going to be tight enough for now?

Ben: Yep, that's good for now. Now we're going to attach the rest of the listing channel on the back of the seat. What you're going to want to do is attach the rest of the channel down through the rest of the way. You want to install the hog rings back and forth while keeping downward tension on the upholstery.

Bill: Needless to say this is one of the most difficult parts of the installation. The channel where the hog ring has to connect is pretty far deep down in the foam. With the Sport II it's even deeper. You want to make sure you take the time to make sure the hog ring is connected properly.

Ben: Once you get the first two hog rings on each side you're going to want to roll the upholstery over a little bit to get the last ones on.

Bill: Once you have the final two hog rings in the bottom of the listing channel you're ready to flip over your upholstery at the bottom. You're going to end up with three hog rings across the top and then four down each side. Before we attach the material to the back of the seat we're going to want to work in the bolsters a little bit to make sure the edge of the foam winds up with the edge of our upholstery. To do that, simply use your thumbs to pull it down over the edge as tight as you possibly can. Once the bolsters nice and tight we're going to flip our seat over and we're going to start connecting our material to the frame on the back.

Ben: We're going to start by hog ringing these three holes with the top upholstery.Just pull it tight and use the hog ring and clamp it.

Bill: We're going to flip it back over and make sure the top stayed nice and tight. Everything look good?

Ben: Yep.

Bill: Okay, we'll keep going working on the back. What's next?

Ben: Now we'll start by doing the sides. You want to stretch them and pull them down as much as you can, and also watch the back side of it to make sure that you're pulling the wrinkles out.

Bill: We talk a lot about stretching the upholstery, but the tighter you get it to stretch over the frame the better the upholstery is going to fit and the better it's going to hold up too.

Ben: Now you have one hog ring in place you can flip it back over and check it. We still have a couple of small wrinkles, but they'll work out once you do the rest of the hog rings up to the top here.

Bill: Now do we want to do this side corner as well or do you want to do the whole side and then work your way over here next?

Ben: You want to do one side at a time because it won't affect the other side while you're pulling this side.

Bill: You want to connect your hog rings to this spring down here, which is how Ford did it originally. There are not enough holes in the frame here to hold it properly, so you want to go by the springs. Are we going to want to cut this here to go over this bar?

Ben: No, you just want to stretch it over, pull that tension on the new upholstery, and then just clamp one of the hog rings right over that bar. That's how it was originally for Ford.

Bill: Once you install the hog rings across the top and both sides, put one on each corner just to tighten up the top of it.

Ben: To finish off the top of the seat you want to take the extra piping and hog ring them to the spring with just a little bit of tension. Now we're ready to go onto the bottom of the seat. What you want to do is take the extra piping, go underneath this lip, and then attach it to the spring with the hog ring. Now you're ready to attach the bottom of the upholstery with five hog ring spots.

Bill: This is the last place your hog ringing the upholstery to your seat frame and you want to make sure you get it as tight as possible.

Ben: The last part to upholstering the upper seat is to install the seat back. You want to place these door panel clips in here matching the round part with the round part and slide them in.

Bill: We're going to poke holes in our upholstery to install our seatback. It's a good idea to use the seat back just as a guide as to approximately where the holes are going to be.

Ben: Once you have an idea of where the hole is going to be you can feel where the hole is and then poke a hole through.

Bill: Once you've located all the holes we're ready to install our seat back. You want to start at the top and work your way down. Be careful here because the clip can easily push through the upholstery if you don't push it evenly downward. Now our seat back's finished. We'll move on with the seat bottom.

Now we're ready to disassemble our seat bottom. We're going to start with the seat adjuster stop over here. Now, just like the seat back we're going to start cutting off the old hog rings. Just like the seat back, we're going to cut the corners to make it easier to get our old upholstery off.

Now we're going to remove the listing wire by, again, cutting off all of the old hog rings. Once we remove the listing wire we can pull our foam off. The original canvas on our seat bottom is in pretty good shape so we're going to leave it there to protect the springs and install our new seat foam. Just like the seat back, you want to get your channel as far up as you can and then we can start with our upholstery.

Our lower seat cushion already has the listing wire installed so we're just going to turn it inside out like we did before and start fitting it to our foam. Just like on the seat back we're going to start by putting one hog ring in the center to hold the hog ring channel from our upholstery to the channel on our foam. Just like on the seat back we can do the first two hog rings so it'll hold the upholstery in place while we stretch it over our foam.

Now we have all of our hog rings attached. I'm assuming we're ready to stretch the material. Where should we start?

Ben: What you want to do is start with one of the front corners and you'll pull the upholstery over. Be careful not to tear the seam here because they can tear easily. You'll just want to stretch it over and then move to the other side and stretch that side over.

Bill: So don't pull from the seam, make sure you hold the material?

Ben: Yep.

Bill: Okay, now we have the corners stretched. I'm assuming it's like the back where we just want to push them over and pull them down over this edge.

Ben: Yep, just to get some of the wrinkles out.

Bill: Okay, now we have most of the wrinkles out and we're ready to continue with the listing channel.

Ben: Yep, we'll just do the last hog ring on each side.

Bill: Now we're going to stretch the material over the back of the seat, which side should we start with?

Ben: You want to start with the inside of the seat first because this right here, if you pull the upholstery down over it first you'll have less risk of running that through the upholstery.

Bill: Then I can do this side here?

Ben: Yep.

Bill: Careful with the seam again?

Ben: Yep, just be careful with the seam not to rip it.

Bill: Anything else up top or are we ready to do the bottom?

Ben: Nope, we're ready to wrap the bottom and hog ring it.

Bill: This has the same holes the seat back did. I'm assuming we're going to start with these again?

Ben: Yep, we're going to do the center three right here with the front of the seat.

Bill: So stretch the middle as far as it'll go?

Ben: Yep.

Bill: Now we're going to stretch the sides over.

Ben: The first thing you're going to do is pull the upholstery tight and start up here at the top and then hog ring down as you go.

Bill: You want to stretch it between each hog ring?

Ben: Yep. You're going to want to pull the upholstery tighter and tighter as you go down the line for each hog ring. Once you have both sides done you can go ahead and do the front corners.

Bill: Okay, so now we're going to connect the bottom to the seat spring.

Ben: Yep. Take the bottom, pull it up to the seat spring, and then hog ring it on. Then you'll go out farther on each side.

Bill: Once you have the three hog rings in the bottom the last two are going to go in these holes that are slotted on the side of the seat frame. The last two things we're going hog ring on the bottom of the seat are going to be these additional pieces of piping. Just like before, you don't want to pull too tight. Just get it firm and attach it to the spring.

Once these are done we can flip the seat back over and make sure everything looks good. Once we determine that we're good we can start reassembling our seat.

Ben: You'll want to go ahead and cut a slit for the seatback stud and there's one on each side. Once you make a little slice you can go ahead and just push the upholstery over it.

Bill: Just do a slice just across the top here?

Ben: Yep, you don't want to go too far. Once you get the seat bottom altogether you can go ahead and install the washers that go over the studs, one on each side.

Bill: Now we're ready to install our seat bottom back to our seat back. You want to start with the inside of the seat, which is going to be the smaller bracket, get that pressed on first and then put the larger bracket on second. You want to be real careful. Both metal brackets are sharp enough to cut the vinyl, so don't force them too hard. Sometimes you need a little bit of help to squeeze the bracket on. A big set of pliers or an extra set of hands will come in handy here.

Ben: All you want to do is get this clip in the hole and that secures it in place.

Bill: Now the seats back together. We're ready to install the seat stops and the seat side shields.

Ben: What you want to do is take the seat stop. You can feel the channel in here where the seat stop is going to go. Put it in place and then poke where your screw hole is. After you find your holes, put the seat stop there and then put the screws in.

Once you have your seat stop in you want to take your seat adjuster, feel up here where the hole is and puncture it through. Once you have the hole you can take the adjuster and then thread it in.

Bill: Once you have it in place you're going to adjust this nut to stop just where you want it to. Once you have the lock nut tightened by hand you want to grab a ?? open end wrench. Tighten the lock nut down all the way and that'll stop your adjusting bolt from backing out.

Now we're ready to install our seat side shield. The mounting kit is going to come with six pieces, a large spacer and two small spacers. Make sure you grab the screw with the flat tip for the black spacer that goes at the bottom, and the other two go on the top two holes.

You can use this shield to locate the mounting holes in the vinyl. This will give you an idea of the height. What you want to do is stretch it until you feel a spot in the middle where the hole is and you want to poke your hole through. It can be a little difficult to get all of the spacers to line up. You're going to start with the bottom one. The cut out goes face down inside the shield.

We're going to put it on just tight enough to hold it so you have a little bit of gap here to get the other spacers behind the top of the shield. The last step is to install the seat hinge cover on the inside of the hinge and our installation's finished.

Our Sport II seat turned out great. All of your '64 through '68 upholstery is going to install in pretty much the same fashion with the Sport II and the R being the most difficult to do. While the installation is not the easiest, if you follow some of the tips you learned from Ben, you'll be back on the road in no time.