Wolseley Hornet April 2022

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Upholstery and the 24/80 (EPISODE #2. New Carpet and Seat Sliders.)
Peter Hartigan.(Member #1622) Harrington, NSW.
Prior to installing new
carpet I fitted ‘modern’
sliders for the front seats
as the original ones were
a trial to live with. Just
about all post ‘70
Japanese cars use the
same slides with model
specific bolting brackets
riveted to each end, easy
to cut away (mine came
from a Nissan Navara). It
was then necessary to
weld a 100 x 25 mm
length of flat bar to fronts
of all 4 slides to utilise
original captive floor nuts.
( see pics). All door sills
were then faced with trimmers cardboard and black vinyl (to match under dash knee guards) glued without padding, directly to it.
With the exception of the side sections closest to the doors, the original moulded rubber floor mat under the seats was rotting away and
was replaced with a leather grained plastic door trim from a delivery van (reinforced with ply) and the riser behind your heels was faced
with vinyl covered ply with 12 mm foam padding. Clarkefoam 8 mm black insulation foam was then glued completely over the transmission
hump and rear tunnel and underfelt fitted to the rest of the floor.
Red unipile carpet (supplied by Daleys Trimmers supplies) was then cut to fit in several pieces with much use of cardboard patterns, not a
job for the faint hearted. Caution here, always lay the carpet with the pile brushing forward. Once fitted to satisfaction each piece was
bound with 35 mm black acrylic binding tape and held in place with press studs. Various side trim pieces were glued in place.
Upholstery and the 24/80 (EPISODE #3. Seats and Door Cards.)
After the fitting of new sliders to floor for front seats it was necessary to remove all upholstery from seat frames to facilitate some simple
cutting and welding. All pipe framing was cut off level with bottom of seat squab and a length of 40x40 mm angle iron welded (fr - bk) on
the interior of each side with some sensible reinforcements. Some tedious grinding will be necessary to allow the locking action to work
freely as the seat is mated to the floor. At this point I was careful to fit seats a little closer to the door
to accommodate rigid cable seat belts to rise between them. (I was later to thin down padding on
seat sides as well to achieve a 30mm gap between seats).
BMC, with misplaced trust in elastic web, used 4 single continuous webs to support the seat and
back, which allowed far too much give in use. Experience led me to use double layered 5x4 heavy
duty interlaced webs in seats and seperate softer webs in backs. The original back padding was
mostly reusable but for the seats I installed very high density 50 mm foam with 25 mm strips of softer
foam on each top side to give thigh support. The whole was added to with the inclusion of 9 mm foam
sewn into the vinyl covering. Most people equate thickness of foam with comfort, but the secret is
correct density - and there are many grades to choose from.
The original stitching pattern was faithfully followed when applying the red vinyl covering, (Daleys
transport range) although I chose to eliminate the ash trays in the back of the seats after several
minor
injuries, (those black plastic knobs are razor
sharp). I compensated by fitting very useful
map pockets in the outside backs, lined with
synthetic suede. All pipings were done in
black to tie the colour scheme together. The
rear seat also received high density foam
and original finish.
The door card boards were replaced with 3
mm MDF that received two thorough coats
of acrylic paint each side after all necessary
holes had been cut, and new plastic
sheeting sealed to doors - they’ll never
warp. Ashtrays were also eliminated from
the front doors and certain liberties taken
with the design finish, I’m sure Lord Nuffield
would approve.The blue rubber armrests
were washed with wax cleaner before
application of several very light coats of
Motorspray vinyl, this is brilliant stuff - but
apply lightly.
When I am game enough to remove front
and back window glass, episode #4 will
deal with headlining.
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