Installing Your Katzkin Interior
Ok, I just received my Katzkin leather interior package and have started to DIY install. I figure that since there were several of us who were involved in the GB here, I would post some of the things that I have learned. Please feel free to add on your own comments.
Items used:
Hog rings (I did not get the installation kit but purchased these from a local auto upholstery store. I did try Home Depot but they did not have the right size.)
Needle-nose plyers (these are needed to get into the really tight places)
Vise-grip plyers
Dikes (or wire cutters)
Scissors or modeling knife
Black marker
Band-aids (the rings are sharp so be careful :roll: )
First thing I did was pulled out the back seats. The tutorial can be found on a different post so I won't go into that here.
Once the seats are removed, you will see that the cloth is held onto the seat by little metal clips (these are called hog rings). Try to cut the ring in the middle with the dikes. Use the needle-nose plyers to get the pieces out of the seat. After you pull out each ring, mark the hole with the black marker. This is so you know where to put the rings when you put on your new seats. Do the entire outsides first. For the internal rings on the bottom half, start with the outside rings and work inside so that the last rings to come off are the center two rings. These rings are when the needle-nose plyers really come in handy.
For installation it is just the opposite. After the leather has been lined up with the seat, start with the two middle rings. The easiest way to put them in is to first push the hog ring through the leather. You will need the vise-grips when doing the outsides since the vinyl is much harder to get the rings through than the other internal material. Once it is through the material, hook the other end through the hole that you previously marked. Make sure that the ring hooks on to the support on the seat. You want to have the sharp sides of the ring facing into the seat and not towards you. Now use the needle-nose plyers to crimp the two ends of the hog ring until they close together. It is best to hook an small section together, look at it on the other side to make sure that it fits and looks good on tops side, and then crimp them all down. After the internal rings are all in and crimped, stretch the leather across the seats. Hook all of the rings through the vinyl and the seat supports but do not crimp them down yet. You want to start with the middle of each side and put it tight so that any slack goes to the corners. The back corners are preferable since they will not be visible. Look at the other side and make sure it looks good and is tight. Once you are satisfied, crimp down all the rings.
The top half is similar to the bottom except that you have a new challenge, the fold down section. (If you have a DE you can disregard this.) The fold down section first needs to be removed. You will need to remove all of the cloth from away from the section so you can see what you are looking at. There is a little black plastic retainer in the holes on both sides of the section that holds in the rods. I ended up ripping them both out but I think that you can get it pull out the section if you open it up all the way. (Someone please try this and let me know.)
Once you have removed this section, peel the cloth until about half way where you will need to remove 3 hog rings. At this time you need to remove the plastic thingy at the top. This is done by removing the locking piece first. This piece should be lift up very carefully so as to not break the ends off. Once this piece is off, the rest will side up off the main section. At this point the rest of the cloth can be removed. Turn the leather piece inside out up to the middle section where the hog rings were on the cloth. You may need to steal the wire from the cloth to use in the leather. Place the leather over the section and pull it tight. Put in the hog rings and then pull it the rest of the way over. You will need to cut some small Xs for the bars to come through. It is better to cut too small than too big. Once the holes are cut and the bars inserted, put in the last few rings. Cut away just enough of the cloth material on the back of the new section to put the plastic thingy back on. It goes on the same way it came off. Put this off to the side until the rest of the back is finished.
The rest of the back is done pretty much the same as the seat. Do the inner rings first. (not the section ones) Pull the leather over the entire back and start hooking the rings. Do the complete outside first and then the ones where the section goes. When everything is crimped and tight, you will need to make 2 more Xs where the bars from the section go into the back of the seat.
The seats will be really tight going back in especially the bottom section. It took two of us 10 minutes of pushing and grunging to get it in but man does it look HOT!
I will add more after I do the front seats tonight.
Total time:
Removing covers: 2 hours
Install back seat covers: 4.5 hours
