"You can't fit a hatchback leather interior into an estate"... Says who??? - (IMAGE HEAVY)

[Ian-Highlander]

As no doubt everyone knows by now lol we've been slowly stripping and cleaning an SRI full leather interior we picked up last week for a lot less than they normally go for.

The down side? It was a hatch back set, so the fronts (which went in yesterday) were a straight fit, but the rears were an unknown quantity with everyone saying it can't be done...

Well, it's taken nearly all day today, but the story so far...

The difference between hatchback (leather) and estate (cloth) rear benches. It's actually a considerable difference and there's no chance of the bench fitting straight in.











So, the challenge, to strip both and transfer the leather onto the original bench and hope to god it could be stretched to fit.

Starting to strip the original bench.























Starting to strip the new leather bench (didn't take many pics at this stage but funnily enough it's the same as the other one). Also discovered that these leather seats were made in September 2002 which makes their condition even more amazing.







New heated bench and backrest mats for the rear seats.



Rear heated seat switches.



Fitting the bench mats.















Just how many metal clips do Vauxhall fit to two bench seats to hold the fabric on? This many...



There was no way in hell I was going to be able to re-bend and get all those metal clips back in, so my genius idea for an alternative...













The seat recesses tightened and in place and the main leather loosely fitted, it's definitely too small, but.



So the fun starts. Fitting cable ties all round and gradually tightening them up in a row to draw the leather into place.

















It's on !!!!



Sorting the backs out, fitting the heated pads and re-assembling them again.













So did it fit? We know the fronts did (can't resist a couple more pics though lol).





HELL YEAH IT FITS!!







Just to add a few final notes.

The rear backrests are a perfect fit out of the box, hatchback backrests fit the estate with no modification whatsoever. The hard work is the bench.

The bolsters also don't fit but are slightly bigger than the estate ones, so I'm hoping I can re-skin them in the same way, will be doing this later in the week.

And of course the rear door cards are too small, again, these are on my "to be looked at pile" later in the week.

So? What do you think?

[tony-1977]

Excellent job mate

[bigmac]

Great pics and write up mate seats look awesome and just in time for winter, nice warm bums

[lizard]

top job Ian as usual, question, what are you doing with your rear door cards, and, are they the same as a HB one....

[kenp]

very nice

[JohnSH8892]

Who the man!!

Well done mate, I knew you would find away to do it!!

Door cards will be interesting or are you gonna buy proper ones?

[Signum-Steve]

Fantastic mate, give yourself a huge pat on the back, well done . Did you find any £1 coins down the back LOL

[Ben_]

Looks great Ian, top job mate. Hats off to you!

[tony-1977]

Fantastic mate, give yourself a huge pat on the back, well done . Did you find any £1 coins down the back LOL

When I took mine out for cleaning, I found about 20 £1 coins under it

[Ian-Highlander]

Who the man!!

Well done mate, I knew you would find away to do it!!

Door cards will be interesting or are you gonna buy proper ones?

Haven't got round to looking at them properly yet, they're only "just" shorter than mine, so there may be a possibility of stretching the leather again, not sure yet. Going to be careful though because if they're not good to me I don't want to damage them as I'll have to re-sell them and buy some for me.