FTO Help Day

Post by **kazbah** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:32 pm

Following on from my suggestion of an FTO Help Day in the "What do you want from FTO Australia" thread, another member, Wild_Flower, contacted me to ask if I would post a request for a Help Day when it comes to fitting the "leather" seat covers that a number of us have on order.

What I would like to suggest is;

If someone has a shed or even some land we could all meet at for a day (or at least a few hours) of fitting. If not maybe a park would do (?)Someone who has already fitted these seats could maybe generously volunteer their time to instruct us in the best way of fitting the covers. It would never be expected that these volunteers would assist physically, after all they have already done the hard yards, just to impart some helpful advice and maybe let us in on some hints. After that we could maybe have a bbq or something like that....

I would be greatful if people could indicate whether this is a good or bad idea and if those who have already fitted the covers could indicate whether they would be willing to come along and offer advice.

Thanks
Karen

paladin · Post by **paladin** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:22 pm

having just spent a lot of time reaplstering my door trim and fitting these seats i would be glade to lend a hand
but iam a canberra hoe:P

Post by **smorison** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:40 pm

rob and i already unoffically run "fto assist" when we have time to come out and try and solve problems for people...

formalising this would be a good idea ... who in sydney would like to take charge?

SilentBob · Post by **SilentBob** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:53 pm

having fitted these seats i can say its not that difficult, just time consuming, and a mile easier when you have it in your hands than when your imagining how to do it...

as long as you have lots of zip ties(varying lengths also helped), some strong strong cutters and some thin pliers its pretty simple, just awfully tedious...

SilentBob

paladin · Post by **paladin** » Tue May 17, 2005 10:11 pm

another little hint is if you are taking off the old covers, you may also want to buy soem extra material ( i used left over vynal from my door trim) to go over the edges of the foam to keep it lookign neat/ keep it form getting wet and moldy in damp days/spills

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:36 pm

I don't think fitting the seats is that hard, there are also some pictures that i put up for a rough idea of how to do it.

But yeah, I think it's a good idea... you can come to me, but like Dave, i'm in Canberra

paladin · Post by **paladin** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:10 am

i found it wasnt so much hard as what else you might want to do at the same time

i ended up doing the door trim (looks so cheap stock compared to the new covers), ralliart logos on oposit sides of the seats to the seatbelt holders and best of all, i replaced the foam from the old seats with some low milage ones and o my god it was worth it

Post by **kazbah** » Wed May 18, 2005 10:46 am

Thank you all for your replys. I think some of the less knowledgeable may require assistance with removing the seats and putting them back correctly and a group fitting day would take the stress out of the whole procedure. There is nothing worse that questioning yourself about every thing you do and hoping you havent stuffed up somewhere along the line which resulted in damage to the covers.....

Also as Steve said it could be used as a more orgainsed day for others with car problems to come along and have them sorted at the same time...

I would be willing to orgainise it, just need to know numbers, problems that require assistance, volunteers who are willing to help with the problems. I'm sure I could find a place we could congregate.

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Wed May 18, 2005 11:09 am

Are we talking about seats or seat covers? I can understand seat covers would be a pain, but seats are only 4 bolts.

People got to remember its spring loaded for the rails so do the back two bolts first & then the front, its much easier to adjust the front as you get a bit more head room. When i do my back seats, i'll take some photo on how to take all seats out.

Post by **kazbah** » Wed May 18, 2005 11:22 am

FTO338 wrote:Are we talking about seats or seat covers? I can understand seat covers would be a pain, but seats are only 4 bolts.

People got to remember its spring loaded for the rails so do the back two bolts first & then the front, its much easier to adjust the front as you get a bit more head room. When i do my back seats, i'll take some photo on how to take all seats out.

Both actually, I believe to get the covers on properly you have to remove the seats, and this can be a major challenge if you're not confident. Some of the female drivers, for example, may be reluctant to attempt this on their own (no offence ladies

) so to have a big, strong, burley bloke to assist would boost the confidence levels...

paladin · Post by **paladin** » Wed May 18, 2005 3:24 pm

you can actually do both seats without removing the seats them selves rather easily
the only tricky bit is the adjustable leavers on teh bottem of the drivers seat which should all be lined up with the cussion off and then the cussion reattached to the frame to make the job easy.

theres not much you can really damage other hten the side plastics and the trim of hte seats (which should be out of harms way fairly easily if you clean out your car before proceeding)

Luca · Post by **Luca** » Thu May 19, 2005 7:49 pm

Sorry for weighing in to this late in the piece ... but I think Kazbah's idea is great. I remember when I got my car, I was always worried about doing anything to it ... but now I do heaps... and occasionally get it right

All it takes is for somone to show others a few tricks that they have learnt, so that knowledge can be passed down from FTO owner to FTO owner.

I suggest that people simply ask on the forums if anyone in their state could show them how to do 'X' ... then for those williing to give their time could arrange days and times suitable. From here any other people wanting to know could just tag along.

Anyway ... great idea, thats my 2c

Post by **kazbah** » Thu May 19, 2005 7:56 pm

Thanks Luca,

If we could make a list of issues and the state each person is in maybe we could set up some type of formal Help day. I'm not super mechanical but I do know a few things about the car and I have also fitted my white dials so I have no problems showing someone how to take apart the dash and hints about how to fit the dials.

Anyway its up to everyone now to show interest...

Cheers

ph3var · Post by **ph3var** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:32 am

The rear seats in the FTO are probably the easiest rears to get out of any car I have seen.

Two levers on each side of the front on the rear seat just pull forward and lift the base up.

Then its two screws to remove the back part of the rear seat.