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Seat redo with AirTex


FlyboyKC

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Has anyone reupholstered their seats using the Airtex product? If so what are your thoughts? Did it turn out well and how is it holding up? I was thinking about taking on this project over the winter and on the fence about using a local shop or doing it myself using the Airtex products.

Thanks for any feedback and pictures...

Neal

 

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15 minutes ago, FlyboyKC said:

Has anyone reupholstered their seats using the Airtex product? If so what are your thoughts? Did it turn out well and how is it holding up? I was thinking about taking on this project over the winter and on the fence about using a local shop or doing it myself using the Airtex products.

Thanks for any feedback and pictures...

Neal

 

Yes.  Did my seats a few years ago.  There are a few threads with some pictures of mine and others.  They seem to make a good quality product.  There are a few tricks to getting them on right, but it is not too difficult....especially if you can find those threads.  I provided my own hides, which were older.  They warned me that they may not hold up as well, but they still look like new.

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Airtex was a father son operation with two locations KTTN and somewhere in PA...

I believe Dodd was the son.  Really easy to work with.  Their product was really well fit. I went with the carpet and side walls in my M20C...

Made a great project.  About 17 years ago...

I picked up the kit at their hangar in KTTN...

I wouldn’t expect anything different for the seats...

Expect that Dodd might look as old as his dad did, now...  :)

This Mooney time frame is measured in generations...

Best regards,

-a-

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I just did mine last summer in Airtex seats.  The main reason was that I was redoing my whole interior and wanted all the fabrics and colors to match.

From a cost perspective, it's really not cheaper than having a local upholsterer do it.  The up side is that you can do it at your own pace, which is particularly useful if you're doing your whole interior as I did.  Additionally, you can do extra work on your seat frames while you have everything stripped.  The workmanship of the Airtex products is exceptional.

The downside is that what you get in the package is glued foam forms, sewn fabrics, a big flat panel for the rear seat back, and no instructions.  This was my third aircraft interior, and I'm an A&P, and I still found a friend who had done car and airplane interiors to help.  Some pieces were intuitive and some weren't. 

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I just did mine last summer in Airtex seats.  The main reason was that I was redoing my whole interior and wanted all the fabrics and colors to match.
From a cost perspective, it's really not cheaper than having a local upholsterer do it.  The up side is that you can do it at your own pace, which is particularly useful if you're doing your whole interior as I did.  Additionally, you can do extra work on your seat frames while you have everything stripped.  The workmanship of the Airtex products is exceptional.
The downside is that what you get in the package is glued foam forms, sewn fabrics, a big flat panel for the rear seat back, and no instructions.  This was my third aircraft interior, and I'm an A&P, and I still found a friend who had done car and airplane interiors to help.  Some pieces were intuitive and some weren't. 
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Did you get their carpet as well? I started working with SCS but when they quoted me $1000 for 3 bound wool pieces, I ran. They are close enough I could fly over and see what they have.


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18 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 


Did you get their carpet as well? I started working with SCS but when they quoted me $1000 for 3 bound wool pieces, I ran. They are close enough I could fly over and see what they have.


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I used the Airtex carpeting and I can say that for the money, it is probably the best bang for the buck in the industry.  It fits perfect, is bound nicely, and for your M20F is only $289- including the baggage area.

The only thing I don't exactly love is the style of the carpet itself.  I'd prefer a closed-loop type, but I'm a CB so I love it.

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I did the same...

young, with two kids in daycare, low cost ruled out high quality...

But, the pieces were well cut and edged... and answers were only a phone call away...

If only I knew what to ask...

I waited for my first annual to have it installed because of all the control rods around the nosewheel hump...

Getting a carpet upgrade might cost a few bucks more.  A good question to ask... lots of room before getting to an AMU...

Best regards,

-a-

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7 hours ago, Andy95W said:

I used the Airtex carpeting and I can say that for the money, it is probably the best bang for the buck in the industry.  It fits perfect, is bound nicely, and for your M20F is only $289- including the baggage area.

The only thing I don't exactly love is the style of the carpet itself.  I'd prefer a closed-loop type, but I'm a CB so I love it.

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Thanks Andy. Carpeting is one of those areas that I always felt you needed to balance quality (durability) and cost. At $289, I wouldn't feel so bad if they held up 4 or 5 years and needed changing out. But at $1000, I would want them to last for a long time.

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7 hours ago, Andy95W said:

I used the Airtex carpeting and I can say that for the money, it is probably the best bang for the buck in the industry.  It fits perfect, is bound nicely, and for your M20F is only $289- including the baggage area.

The only thing I don't exactly love is the style of the carpet itself.  I'd prefer a closed-loop type, but I'm a CB so I love it.

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Another question. It looks like you have Bruce's Spatial Designs interior (or portions of it, i.e. pockets) but I am seeing screws in the side panel. Is this Bruce's stuff? And if so, what did you do for the window treatments?

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1 hour ago, Marauder said:

Another question. It looks like you have Bruce's Spatial Designs interior (or portions of it, i.e. pockets) but I am seeing screws in the side panel. Is this Bruce's stuff? And if so, what did you do for the window treatments?

Yeah, I really need to start a thread and post all of my pictures.

I used Bruce's side panels for the back seats, I bought an 8x10 piece of .060 Kydex for the side panels.  I used a bunch of the DualLock pieces that Bruce sent to hold the panels in place, but at the junctions they just weren't tight enough for my liking.  So I decided that a single screw at the center of an overlap would have to be acceptable.  I used a rivnut installed in the Kydex and a 6-32 screw.  I think it looks good and it is tight.

My window treatments are the original 1964 plastic pieces covered in fabric from Airtex so that it matches my seats.  The plastic used before 1965 is not thin ABS, so it is still hell-for-stout, just with a lot of holes in it.  In the picture, it may look like I sewed the covering together, but the window frames were actually covered with 4 strips with a hem I sewed to make it look like a seam.  The lighter colored fabric is actually wool headliner from Airtex.  The pre-1965 airplanes had a cloth headliner like old cars.

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I'm redoing my recently acquired J using Airtex.  Have the carpets, sidepanels, and seats done; just need to repaint the plastic interior panels, and redo the armrests and "highlight" vinyl.  They are great to work with.  Can be a bit "businesslike" when you call to order, but if you have any questions about the install, they will walk you through it.  You will get a link to a webpage showing the installation steps; not exactly instructions, but pretty much all you need.  See pics for before and after.  I'm very pleased.  As someone else posted (I think), you get 90% of a custom job for less than 50% of the cost.

 

Tom

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28 minutes ago, Nippernaper said:

I'm redoing my recently acquired J using Airtex.  Have the carpets, sidepanels, and seats done; just need to repaint the plastic interior panels, and redo the armrests and "highlight" vinyl.  They are great to work with.  Can be a bit "businesslike" when you call to order, but if you have any questions about the install, they will walk you through it.  You will get a link to a webpage showing the installation steps; not exactly instructions, but pretty much all you need.  See pics for before and after.  I'm very pleased.  As someone else posted (I think), you get 90% of a custom job for less than 50% of the cost.

 

Tom

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Wow! That is quite a transformation!

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1 hour ago, Andy95W said:

Yeah, I really need to start a thread and post all of my pictures.

I used Bruce's side panels for the back seats, I bought an 8x10 piece of .060 Kydex for the side panels.  I used a bunch of the DualLock pieces that Bruce sent to hold the panels in place, but at the junctions they just weren't tight enough for my liking.  So I decided that a single screw at the center of an overlap would have to be acceptable.  I used a rivnut installed in the Kydex and a 6-32 screw.  I think it looks good and it is tight.

My window treatments are the original 1964 plastic pieces covered in fabric from Airtex so that it matches my seats.  The plastic used before 1965 is not thin ABS, so it is still hell-for-stout, just with a lot of holes in it.  In the picture, it may look like I sewed the covering together, but the window frames were actually covered with 4 strips with a hem I sewed to make it look like a seam.  The lighter colored fabric is actually wool headliner from Airtex.  The pre-1965 airplanes had a cloth headliner like old cars.

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Bruce used tie wraps to make sure those DualLock pieces stayed snug to the frame. The one area I did not like of his approach was the window and overhead piece treatment. This stuff is old and despite spending a lot of time repairing the pieces, the cracks are still coming. I would like to wrap the plastics just to cover them up. Good to know Airtex has an option.

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1 minute ago, Nippernaper said:

 


When you're starting at the bottom, you can only go up!


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It's impressive. And very happy to see the fleet is being maintained. They just aren't making these planes any more and it is up to us to keep them flying for the next generation. Hopefully, there will be a next generation.

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1 hour ago, Marauder said:

Bruce used tie wraps to make sure those DualLock pieces stayed snug to the frame. The one area I did not like of his approach was the window and overhead piece treatment. This stuff is old and despite spending a lot of time repairing the pieces, the cracks are still coming. I would like to wrap the plastics just to cover them up. Good to know Airtex has an option.

I visited Bruce in Willmar and he showed me that.  I also used the ty-wraps with my airplane.  Since I didn't use his panels for my forward seating areas, I fabricated my own and decided where I wanted to split them based upon structure and access to things behind those panels.  But I had to add those 4 screws to secure those panels to each other, which are DualLock'ed to the frame.

The Airtex "option" is just that they sell bulk material, so I bought a few yards of materials and sewed and covered my window frames myself.  It's definitely a custom interior that nobody could pay me to do on any airplane that wasn't my own!

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On 11/28/2018 at 9:47 AM, Nippernaper said:

I'm redoing my recently acquired J using Airtex.  Have the carpets, sidepanels, and seats done; just need to repaint the plastic interior panels, and redo the armrests and "highlight" vinyl.  They are great to work with.  Can be a bit "businesslike" when you call to order, but if you have any questions about the install, they will walk you through it.  You will get a link to a webpage showing the installation steps; not exactly instructions, but pretty much all you need.  See pics for before and after.  I'm very pleased.  As someone else posted (I think), you get 90% of a custom job for less than 50% of the cost.

 

Tom

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Mind me asking what the cost for the seat covers and time it took to install were? 

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