Can I repair this seat back?

[JTSpeedDemon]

This is the original seat back off my yard kart.
As you can see, it's had a hard life.
It's got some small holes in the vinyl, and part of the wood has rotted away, but I'm extremely lucky that it's not moldy!
I'm planning to do a survivor restoration, preserving as many original parts as I can, while also hot rodding the engine.
Do you guys have any suggestions on how to repair the vinyl and keep the wood from rotting any more? My grandpa suggested using epoxy, but there must be other ways.
Ideas?

 

[Texan]

I like to repair and reuse as many parts as I can on my projects, but sometimes you have to draw the line.

Looks like you have big chunk already rotted off, so not sure how you wood (pun) fix that.

I'd just replace the wood. Use the existing seat as stencil to trace out the pattern and T-nut locations. You can buy smaller precut sections of plywood since you won't need a whole sheet. I've used random scrap pieces (who doesn't have a scrap lumber pile?).

Be sure to paint the wood, both sides, before reassembly. Spray paint is fine. It also a good way to get rid of the random half full cans sitting in the garage since the color doesn't matter as it will not show.

Vinyl is cheap, but yours ain't too bad. For small tears, I've used plastic epoxy and also liquid electrical tape works good.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

I know there's not really any way to replace the missing wood, but is there any way to seal the foam to prevent mold?
As for the epoxy vinyl repair, so I just put it in the tear to seal it together?

 

[Texan]

They sell vinyl car seat repair kits at Wal Mart, but it's a process and I've never tried. So yea, the epoxy or liquid electrical tape is just to seal the tear, not for looks.

For the foam, I would try Plasti Dip in a spray can. I've used it before on my busted lawn mower seat.

 

[950speed]

Slap some duct tape on the back of the vinyl and then spray plasti dip on the front. Of course do this when you take the wood and foam out

Or new vinyl is very cheap, you could probably get that seat back done with as little as 1 sq yard

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

They sell vinyl car seat repair kits at Wal Mart, but it's a process and I've never tried. So yea, the epoxy or liquid electrical tape is just to seal the tear, not for looks.

For the foam, I would try Plasti Dip in a spray can. I've used it before on my busted lawn mower seat.

Yeah, I've seen processes on the interwebz, but they look about as complicated as repairing fiberglass!
I don't care excessively about the looks, I just wanna keep it original and not damage it further. Thanks!

 

[Hellion]

I'd remove all the staples and separate the vinyl, foam and wood from each other.

Do exactly what Texan said and make a copy of of the wooden back and map out the locations for the T-nuts. I think replacing the wood is the main thing you need to do--the original wood is toast.

You could mend the tears in the vinyl by patching/gluing them from behind and pushing the edges of the tear together. Use a piece of black fabric for the patch. There's better foam out there too, like dense foam rubber that doesn't flatten out and is more cushioning. When you reassemble it, I'd even re-staple the vinyl back in the same locations on the new wood.

 

[mckutzy]

I recently did a console arm rest pad for my truck... basically the thing is this... a board, foam and some vinyl.....

If funds are really tight.... you need to do some scrounging....
-The wood back... look around at a construction or home building site... theyll have something im sure you can get from them... always ask... much better that "stealing" it...
-The vinyl.... If you can find an office chair.... that might be enough material to make a seat cover... I did this on my bike... I took off the back portion of the seat and used the outside back material.....Cut out the threads and youll have a few feet to work with...
-The foam pad..... This might be a few dollars...Ideas are...I used a garden kneeling pad. it was cheap and comfy.... had enough to cover the pad I needed and more...
You might be able to salvage some of the foam from the office chair to re-purpose in you seat you need...

Another Ideas are get some vinyl off of the amazon( I did this,last), youll get a good amount and its relitivly cheap..... shod that with new stuff.....