Sean Rose - An American Graphic Artist, Photographer and Computer Programmer.

Fixing the seats my way turned out to be fun.

Everyone told me it won't work. But I had a secret, I had done this before.

New seats for the Jeep are actually reasonably priced, but since mine were structurally sound, I decided to repair and re-cover them.

That said, I didn't want the springs punching through the torn seat material below. So, my rocket adhesive knowledge to the rescue again.

I mixed up in the bottom half of a peanut butter container, some epoxy and then I added 90% pure rubbing alcohol to thin it down. It doesn't take much, but it's not a little bit either. I thinned the epoxy quite a bit, but not enough that it was runny.

I soaked some fiberglass cloth in the expoy and then spread it by hand on the seat. Four strips later and $7 worth of epoxy from the hobby store and I have a super hard, yet flexible, fix. Yes, you read that right, the seat is flexible and it's really stuck to the seat itself. It will last a long time, and no spring is going to just pop through it. The only drawback to this fix is it's pretty ugly, so don't do it unless you plan to cover it up with some sort of seat cover. But it will stop the rip and protect your new covers.

To give the seats some more new life, I bought some polyfil and trimmed up to fit the seat area. Some spray adhesive is all it takes to stick this in place. I have new seat covers to add, but those will be later after the seat frames are painted and ready to drop back in the Jeep.

Floors. Wire brush on the drill time. Lots of brushing later and I had bare metal where there had been the beginings of rust. Once vacuumed, cleaned and dry, I put on a nice coat of primer and then industrial grade white enamel.

The industrial enamel didn't make for the smoothest finish, but as advertised, it's really hard. Very hard. Since carpet is going over this and I'm aiming for durability, that suits me just fine. I just found it odd that an expesive paint wouldn't have better finishing characteristics. The primer was super smooth and was the same brand and match for the paint itself. And yes, I'm leaving the brand out intentionally. I'm not here to bash products, and I don't want to influence your decision, I'm not a paint expert. I was and am happy with the results, just not as smooth as I would have thought.

You can see the paint partially on and then finished. I am going to let it sit a couple days to fully cure before I start putting new carpet and seats back in.

Vehicle Made in the U.S.A. How nice is that? I was glad to sell my Subaru, even though it was a great car. It was great on gas, reliable and fun to drive. But I like my job. I like where I live. And it's not Japan. The old saying every little bit helps is true. And I've made the decision to buy as many american products as I can. I've been doing it since before I bought the Jeep and they are out there so start looking for them and spend the extra dollars when you can to get Made in the U.S.A. products. It IS worth it in the end. Preaching over.

With that philosophy in mind, the tires, polyfil fake foam, seat covers, new locking lug nuts, paint, TORX tool set and more have all been made in the U.S.A. Alas, the stereo isn't, but hey, you can only do so much.

Page 06 has more paint and wirebrush fun.