Seam on outer side of driver's seat back is pulling apart. I'm going to have to remove the upholstery in order to properly mend. How do I get the hard back off in order to remove the cover? Other than disconnecting the electrical connectors so that the air bag is de-activated, any other precautions? TIA!

 

No help here with taking it apart, but, a hint for future reference: Based on sad previous experience with leather seats coming unstitched on my old '64 XKE I now vacuum the seams of the seats weekly with the narrow wand attachment on the shop vac. Dust, dirt, grit of all kinds gets down in there and eventually chops up the threads. Hope this is useful to you and anybody else.

 

Good tip but no help in this instance. Dirt and dust aren't the culprit here. If you saw our vehicles, you'd agree. No, this is plain and simple poor workmanship...inferior stitching.

 

NC, did you ever get anywhere with this? I'm facing the same challenge. Plan to stitch it up myself and wouldn't hesitate if it weren't for the blasted airbag. Please let me know what you encountered. TIA

 

Yes, I did a successful repair after disconnecting the electrical connectors and removing the seat from the car thanks in part to former Grassroots Motorsports owner, Dan Zipkin who gave me this info:
"Take the levers off of both sides and pull the top of the backing sharply. It is hooked towards the bottom, undo the area around the levers from the tabs and slide the back down.
The upholstery is held to the frame by a continuous band with a locking channel, you need to pull this off of the metal. Use a small screwdriver for leverage and be careful. There are sharp edges that will bite if you look at them wrong. With the airbag side pulled back, you will a metal strap retainer buckle, remove it and feed the strap through. At the bottom, there is a flap that is held to the bottom frame with fir tree clips."
Since I couldn't figure out how to remove the headrest plastic inserts, I decided to just repair the seam by peeling back the side bolster cover enough to get where I needed to be. Using a strong polyester thread that matched the color of the original, I carefully sewed up the seam and replaced the bolster cover, then re-assembled the seat and re-installed. Just take your time and you'll be fine.
IMPORTANT: After disconnecting the connectors, do not turn on the ignition until you re-install the seat and re-connect them. Failure to heed will set off the Seat Belt Warning Light and require a dealer to re-set.

 

Thanks a lot, Trackrat. I'll give this a whirl. I have an airbag reset tool just in case...Merry Christmas!

 

You shouldn't have any trouble with the side airbag; just pay careful attention to how the upholstery comes apart (take pictures) so you can put it back the same way. Your biggest problem is likely to be that the upholstery is glued to the seat cushion. You have to basically rip it off, then you will have to re-glue; hopefully without wrinkles and so that it doesn't come adrift in a couple of months.

 

Depends on which type seat material and where the seam has pulled apart. On the GP, the seat back bolster wasn't glued. Maybe that's why the seam failed?!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...l-removal.html

 

Well, as long as we're on ther topic, for future reference, how do you remove the plastic retainers for the headrest? You can't remove the seatback covering without removing these two pieces.

 

You have to take the back cover off and go in around the seat back cushion with a screwdriver or similar tool to press in the little tabs. I found that if you can push them in, they stay pushed in well enough to pull out the part, but you may break them off - not too big a deal. Here is a picture of them so you know what they look like below the surface.

 

Thanks! If there's a "next time", I'll know how to do it.