Working on a Katzkin install today and need some help.

[Keila]

Hi all!

I’m not typically a forum goer but I needed to start a thread because I haven’t found answers to my stupid questions just by searching. We are putting in Katzkin leather this weekend. Got the back seats done yesterday and every step was a new challenge!

We’re doing the fronts today and having trouble disconnecting the wiring. Any tips?

Sponsored

 

[Keila]

"It should have been below the red clip. The red clip prevents the button from being pushed" - from someone named AJ on Facebook.

This worked - once the red clip was slid it revealed a pushable button underneath. This was a bear to unclip and required 4 hands.

 

[Keila]

Ok, what do we do about this guy?

 

[Keila]

The airbag I mean. The fabric is underneath it, of course. Do we need to remove it, or is there a way to extricate the fabric?

 

[Keila]

We don't remove the airbag. The wire will have to be unclipped and rewired, but the airbag itself stays and the fabric is extricated out from underneath.

 

[Keila]

Progress... Sort of.

 

[Keila]

I spoke too soon. That guy does come off, and must. We have to be really careful not to tug on the airbag wiring itself - we have it unclipped and taped out of the way.

One of the screws in there is Torx; the others are Phillips. Because why not.

 

[Keila]

Yesterday I was like, "Now seems like a great time to do a Back Seat Delete." Today I'm thinking, "Now seems like a great time to do a Front Seat Delete."

Haven't been able to sell the BF on either one.

 

[Keila]

This is how the airbag goes back in its sleeve - the leather is rolled inside out.

I feel like I've been attacked by a bear. This is a good lesson in just because you can doesn't mean you should. We're going to get this done, but it's terrible.

 

[Keila]

The airbag I mean. The fabric is underneath it, of course. Do we need to remove it, or is there a way to extricate the fabric?

Also that thing isn't the airbag it just says airbag on it, as we discovered.

 

[Keila]

FML

 

[bastage]

And this just convinced me to pay someone else to do mine..

 

[Keila]

And this just convinced me to pay someone else to do mine..

That's probably a pretty wise take-away message, unless money is super tight or you are either already experienced in upholstery (we're not) or passionate about becoming experienced in upholstery. There are currently no good videos or tutorials, so this was a whole weekend of us figuring it out while hurting our hands and arms.

That said I think I'm going to wait 6 months to forget the pain of this install and then go ahead and tackle my Tacoma. I hate cloth seats and these look great.

We aren't done though. We finished the back and the passenger seat, driver's will have to wait.

After we decided we're done for the day, we dropped in the Mopar mats I got him for Christmas that we'd been putting off because it seemed daunting. It was not daunting; the hardest part was vacuuming the carpet first. Literally five minutes and they look and fit great. So maybe that's more our mod level at the moment

Anyway we're nearly done and I have only a few regrets about tackling this project. I'd say we're about 12 hours in, so it'll total maybe 16 hours. Will update when we resume work - this isn't the most informative thread but maybe it'll help the next dummy who decides to DIY their leather.

 

[z0lt3c]

I would love to see some before and after pics.

 

[Keila]

The lighting is really bad right now. I'll do more pics later.

They are certainly not as smooth as professional/factory; everything I have read says to expect some improvement/smoothing over the next day or two. We're going to have a couple of cool, rainy days, so I won't expect improvement until it's warm out again.

That said, if they just stay like this we will be fine with it - leather with some visible wrinkles is way better than the cloth.

The driver's seat won't be done for a couple days.

Sponsored