I sent a sample of leather off to Woolies for them to match my sand leather interior. I ordered Kit No. 2, the 4/5 seats (Mk 2 Jag) size, but then spoke to Phil Tanser and he told me he needed more than the 500ml dye that is included in this kit, so I phoned Woolies to try and upgrade to the Jensen (1000ml dye) kit, which is apparently sufficient for 4/5 seats and a full leather interior, a la Excel. Unfortunately Woolies had already dispatched the first kit, so the second bottle of dye was an extra £50. Lesson learned - if you have the full leather interior, go for the Jensen kit straight off.
I removed the front seats, 7 of the 8 bolts came out fairly easily. The standard problem of getting a grip on the bolt head was solved by using a pair of vise-grips, the jaws of which just fitted in between the runners. Allen head bolts on order for refitment. The 8th bolt (rearmost on the outside of the driver's seat) proved more difficult because I didn't have room to get the jaws over the top of the bolt - the seat frame was in the way. I thought it was strange, because they had fitted OK on the passenger side. The reason was about to become apparent!
The frame had cracked in the most common place, just forward of where the recline bracket is welded on. In fact, it is probably this weld that causes the tubing to become brittle in this area. The size of the crack was only revealed once I had dremelled the paint away. I've mentioned before to some that my driver's seat had a bit of a list towards the door. I suspected the seat back being twisted, but the actual cause was the distortion of the base. Luckily, I am friendly with some fabricators who, after some discussion, were able to skilfully straighten and weld the tubing, while adding to thickness in the affected area. The clips holding the seat diaphragm intrude into the tubing, as do the threads for the mounting bolts, so it was not possible to slide in a length of tubing of any length inside the affected area. So we were relying on the strength of the weld. You can see in the first photo that the crack has occurred when the recline bracket has pivoted backwards on the single hex bolt that holds it to the runner. Fortunately, I found a way to reinforce the area. I added a second M8 hex bolt (the one on the right in the last photo). There was enough metal in the recline bracket and tubing to enable a decent length of thread to be tapped. A thick penny washer maintains the right spacing between the frame and the runner. So the recline bracket now cannot move, and so hopefully the stress on the tubing (and the weld) is reduced:
So, frame repaired (and listing seat fixed
) it was on to the leather. I thought it wise to start on some small parts, so I removed the centre console, the tape storage tray, and the panel which covers the fuse box under the steering wheel. I followed the Woolies instructions to the letter, regarding cleaning and then wiping down with a damp cloth, but I have had no success in getting the renovator to "key" and actually stick to the leather surface. As soon as I try to apply a second coat of renovator, or apply the sealing paste, the first layer is just dragged away from the leather. The leather in these areas is smooth and in good condition; I was hoping to carry out a minimum of renovation to them, just enough to match the colour. The Woolies instructions mention it COULD be beneficial to apply wire wool to smooth leather in order to get a key, but this seems quite drastic on a piece of perfectly good leather. Does anyone have any experience with the Woolies kit, and applying it to smooth leather in particular? Thanks in advance...
)... I ended up with panels in 3 rooms through the house!