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SR5 Replacement Fabric - Any Options?

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Old 11-23-2017 | 10:35 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by Charles4x4
Thanks. It’s been a fun project over the past few months. Ended up working on over 100 different things in the partial restoration. A few exterior pics in case anyone wants to see how we tried to make the exterior and interior close to factory original 30+ yrs ago.
It looks very good. Congrats!
If I'm in your shoes, I'd remove the windshield aluminium trim, you already removed the arc wheel ones.
You're missing the original radio and the 4 rear seat hinge covers as far as I can see when I compare yours with mine. A set of those covers pop up once in a while in eBay, and I was offered a factory radio once, if you're interested I can point you to the seller, maybe he still have it.
Where did you buy those grey rubber mats? I like them also.
Old 11-24-2017 | 07:47 AM
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Originally Posted by SomedayJ
It looks very good. Congrats!
If I'm in your shoes, I'd remove the windshield aluminium trim, you already removed the arc wheel ones.
You're missing the original radio and the 4 rear seat hinge covers as far as I can see when I compare yours with mine. A set of those covers pop up once in a while in eBay, and I was offered a factory radio once, if you're interested I can point you to the seller, maybe he still have it.
Where did you buy those grey rubber mats? I like them also.
Good eye!
- I love the aluminum windshield trim - matches the rest of the crime outline pieces.
- Any ideas where I could get a set of the arc wheel and side molding trim? I looked, but didn’t find them anywhere.
- Yes, radio/speakers is where I deviate from factory intentionally (I have an OEM unit). I really like the touchscreen radio and all new speakers Over factory - having hands free calling, Bluetooth for streaming , and DVDs for the kids is nice.
- I have 2 rear seat hinge covers. Looked high and low for 2 more, but only $100+ full set of hardware, hinges, and covers in black so far on Ebay
- Rubber mays are pretty standard cut to fit liners that the PO put in.
Old 07-17-2018 | 01:06 PM
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Bringing this one back from the dead. Unfortunately my latest, and possibly final restoration project has hit a snag with Factory Cloth specs again! I have a small tear in the Drivers seat - my local Trim Shop looked through 3 Detroit books, but no luck finding anything on '87 SR5 Gray Cloth. See attached pics of both the factory cloth and the "closest match" she could find.

Help?
Attached Thumbnails SR5 Replacement Fabric - Any Options?-87-toyota-4runner-sr5-turbo-gray-fabric-torn-front-seat.jpg   SR5 Replacement Fabric - Any Options?-87-toyota-4runner-sr5-turbo-gray-fabric-good-condition-rear-seat.jpg  
Old 07-17-2018 | 11:17 PM
  #24  
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Our 4Runners (Surf in the asian market) were assembled in Japan, I have a local friend living there, I asked him the same question last year, he searched for the supplier but he couldn't find the right cloth, he tried in a few car seat reupholstery shops but no luck. If you find something, I'm interested also.
What you can do is buy a 4Runner passenger's seat, they are in good/better shape than the other one (usuallly), then install that cloth in your driver's seat.
Old 07-18-2018 | 05:26 AM
  #25  
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Originally Posted by SomedayJ
Our 4Runners (Surf in the asian market) were assembled in Japan, I have a local friend living there, I asked him the same question last year, he searched for the supplier but he couldn't find the right cloth, he tried in a few car seat reupholstery shops but no luck. If you find something, I'm interested also.
What you can do is buy a 4Runner passenger's seat, they are in good/better shape than the other one (usuallly), then install that cloth in your driver's seat.
Thanks - that’s the plan. Just have to find a Passenger Seat bottom somewhere. Where did you find yours?

BTW - I asked a friend with Toyota who has access to the archives. Fingers crossed.
Old 07-18-2018 | 06:50 AM
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local c-list. might be same person i've purchased 4runner parts from before, not sure.

1988 4runner sr5 seats
Old 07-18-2018 | 07:07 AM
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I have 2 88 4Runners, I got the first one to restore (lets call it Red) and one day, when I was looking for parts, the second one popped up close to my place (Blue), so I went for it because the price was cheap. Red has a perfect interior, several dings and dents, some body rust but nothing serious, Blue has a straight body, complete maintenance record from a Toyota dealer, 125000 miles on the clock, but not a perfect interior. So I decided to suspend Red restoration process and bring Blue back to its original mint condition first, using the best parts of both trucks. And that is how Blue driver's seat looks good now.

Last edited by SomedayJ; 03-04-2020 at 06:05 AM.
Old 07-18-2018 | 02:54 PM
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Originally Posted by wallytoo
local c-list. might be same person i've purchased 4runner parts from before, not sure.

1988 4runner sr5 seats
Thanks for sending this! I called the guy in NH and he sent me pics. They were from a '88 and unfortunately the cloth was different that year!

Still on the search.
Old 07-18-2018 | 02:55 PM
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Originally Posted by SomedayJ
I have 2 88 4Runners, I got the first one to restore (lets call it Red) and one day, when I was looking for parts, the second one popped up close to my place (Blue), so I went for it because the price was cheap. Red has a perfect interior, several dings and dents, some body rust but nothing serious, Blue has a straight body, complete maintenance record from a Toyota dealer, 125000 miles on the clock, but not a perfect interior. So I decided to suspend Red restoration process and bring Blue back to its original mint condition first, using the best parts of both trucks. And that is how Blue driver's seat looks good now.
Nice, love the history! Now I just need to get lucky like you and find one of these needles in the haystack.
Old 07-18-2018 | 02:56 PM
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I also contacted Toyota directly, but they don't have any records of the seat cloth fabric specs either
Old 05-06-2024 | 04:56 PM
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re-upholstery pickup bench w/ Split Back

I am looking to re-upholstery my 1986 pickup bench w/ Split Back, not sure if this is a task for the professionals but the quotes I have received are $$$. Does anyone have any experience doing their own and using either of these companies - OC Autocarpets or Seatz Manufacturing for their supplies?
Old 05-06-2024 | 08:20 PM
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Originally Posted by drewgrimm
I am looking to re-upholstery my 1986 pickup bench w/ Split Back, not sure if this is a task for the professionals but the quotes I have received are $$$. Does anyone have any experience doing their own and using either of these companies - OC Autocarpets or Seatz Manufacturing for their supplies?
Are you talking about sewing your own upholstery? Huge learning curve. I am in the process of teaching myself right now and you require an industrial sewing machine. I’ve replaced factory seat covers on three of my cars. On my 67 Camaro i did the front buckets -fixed springs, replaced foams and covers and plastic backs. It cost about $800 in parts. I maybe saved $300 by doing it myself but it took months and a pro would probably have done it better.

Another data point, I had this lower upholstery made by a local shop to replace the shredded original. No, exact match fabric for 1987 does not exist. This cost $150 for the craftsman to make it and he told me it took about 2 hours. I reproduced it. It took me about two weeks due to the learning curve and not having an industrial machine. I’ll get one soon. I would expect recovering your bench from scratch to be north of $500.

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Old 05-06-2024 | 08:24 PM
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also, i believe i bought my ACC carpets from OC Autocarpets. Met expectations.
Old 05-06-2024 | 10:51 PM
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thank you very much for the feedback. These are actual kits that do not requiring any sewing , supposedly . Sold as pre-cut pieces to exactly fit over exisitng foam and frame. Both of which I am lucky and can reuse my current, just stripping off the old fabric. At the end of the day I think you are on the money, so to speak, and l agree just spend the extra $300 and get it quickier.
Old 05-07-2024 | 05:01 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by drewgrimm
thank you very much for the feedback. These are actual kits that do not requiring any sewing , supposedly . Sold as pre-cut pieces to exactly fit over exisitng foam and frame. Both of which I am lucky and can reuse my current, just stripping off the old fabric. At the end of the day I think you are on the money, so to speak, and l agree just spend the extra $300 and get it quickier.
I don’t want to discourage you. If you are buying a kit to install yourself, you would just need some hog ring pliers and hog rings, strong dikes to remove the old rings. Taking it apart is easy. Then you determine if the foam or springs need any repair before putting it back together. Then there is the issue of getting the best fitment, something a pro has experience with. Not all covers are made well. I watched hundreds of videos.again, don’t want to discourage you, but it takes time and patience. No harm in taking it apart and making sure the frame and springs are good. Save everything. If you decide to hand it off to a pro, you will have saved some disassembly time, which equals money.

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Old 05-13-2024 | 07:11 PM
  #36  
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i bought a seiko walking foot industrial sewing machine to re-do the front seats on my 4runner, it was difficult because i had to disassemble the old stretched-out torn seat fabric and trace it out on new upholstery, then learn how to adjust the sewing machine to perform correctly... these videos helped: https://www.youtube.com/@mtrccrane7809

i also had to replace both pulleys and the belt, in order to slow it down.

long story short, it was the foam that ended up being the biggest problem, because you can't buy it new, and when it's too rotten to repair you'll have to do something like switch passenger seat foam over to the driver seat frame, then glue a layer of foam on top of that.

getting the right foam is a pain, you want heavy dense foam to sit on and cushy easy foam for the back rest part of the seat, and that's not what amazon sent me.

with a 4runner, the early buckets only locked on one rail, so the seat sits slightly crooked, and that feeling is accented when using passenger seat back rest foam that's more worn out on the right bolster, from people getting in and out on that side... so use the later model 4runner buckets, that lock both seat rails.
Old 05-13-2024 | 09:01 PM
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Originally Posted by osv
i bought a seiko walking foot industrial sewing machine to re-do the front seats on my 4runner, it was difficult because i had to disassemble the old stretched-out torn seat fabric and trace it out on new upholstery, then learn how to adjust the sewing machine to perform correctly... these videos helped: https://www.youtube.com/@mtrccrane7809

i also had to replace both pulleys and the belt, in order to slow it down.

long story short, it was the foam that ended up being the biggest problem, because you can't buy it new, and when it's too rotten to repair you'll have to do something like switch passenger seat foam over to the driver seat frame, then glue a layer of foam on top of that.

getting the right foam is a pain, you want heavy dense foam to sit on and cushy easy foam for the back rest part of the seat, and that's not what amazon sent me.

with a 4runner, the early buckets only locked on one rail, so the seat sits slightly crooked, and that feeling is accented when using passenger seat back rest foam that's more worn out on the right bolster, from people getting in and out on that side... so use the later model 4runner buckets, that lock both seat rails.
I recently did what you described with the foam, in addition to steaming it to expand it. I’m working on modding some new foams to fit the Sr5 sport seats.
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Old 05-14-2024 | 08:46 AM
  #38  
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i've seen videos of people creating the entire foam seat from scratch, we may have to resort to that.

what i did was expand the seat cover pattern length by an inch or so to accommodate the added thickness of more foam, which worked out fairly well until i had to strap the bottom seat cover down, it was a bit short so i used zip ties instead of hog rings in some spots.

i was doing this during covid, there were shortages of spray glue but after trying several options i ended up paying the premium for super77, it worked better for gluing the thin foam sheets to the cloth backing on the vinyl upholstery... the other glues peeled off after a few weeks, but they might work fine for gluing foam to foam.

toyota did an outstanding job with the original seat covers, they even sewed a thick piece of material into the driver seat back bolster to protect it.
Old 05-14-2024 | 09:24 AM
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fortuntely my foam, from what I can tell, is in good shape and my plan is to just reuse and possibly just add a think layer on top
Old 05-14-2024 | 09:45 AM
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the driver seat area will have the worst wear, if it's too compressed you grind out a section and glue foam in, just try to get the dense foam for the seat... my seat backs had vertical tears all the way thru the foam, but i glued it back together and covered it with a layer of 1/4" foam.

i also glued cloth onto the foam, where it rested against the springs and the frame.


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