This is the car. The stainless is perfect. The paint needs help, The build is very detailed and home shop done. 350 crate Chevy with a 350 trans.
The interior is very tired. the duct tape is positioned properly and of the right matching color. The addition of the Cad side lites add a touch to this beautiful interior.
The rear carpet is of the worn mohair blend. The headliner is a natural black and rust.
Notice the driver's side of the seat. The springs are so broken down that blocks had to be put under the seat so the driver could see over the steering wheel.
Is that a look of astonishment on my face? Note the seat belt coming out of the quarter card. This would require much modification to accomidate. The seat belt reel protruded into the passenger compartment and held the quarter card off of the b pillar. How do you make the belt transition look good? This is part of that, "I'll leave it for the trimmer to figure out."
The battery was moved to the trunk and was too large for a flush side panel. I suggested a gel cell but I couldn't convince him that this was the way to go. In hindsight, I would have been ahead if I had just bought him one. He also had a battery disconnect switch that was turned the wrong way. I wanted to move it but this to was a no. These two simple things cost me untold hours of fabrication. But I enjoyed it.
The black seen here is a ceramic such as Lizard Skin only less expensive and called VB1X from CEI.
Here's the upper part of the adjustable seat belt / shoulder harness that required Derrek nine or ten hours of metal fabrication.
This is the beautiful result of ten hours of labor. 10x8.00=$80.00 labor right?
The air table is a valuable asset when working with large fabrications. The material floats on an air cushion. Headliners require a set procedure to get good results. The middle of the headline is usually marked. Clean the bows with Scotch Brite before you begin. You need to find the center of the windshield and back glass to position it in the center. If the front and back glass are out, thed process is greatly simplified. If you have the glass in, line up the center marks in front and stuff the fabric under the rubber in front.
The center bow in this Chevy is the anchored bow. Some cars have the rear most bow held in position with a clip. Or the front one. Or??? Our guess would be to find the bow that isn't supposed to move and work from there.
We stretched from the center bow to the front (in the center) and stapled it in place. Moved to the rear and repeated the process. The bows go into listings that are longer than the bows. Start at the middle bow and cut the listing between the bow and the seam for about two inches to start with. Pull on the listing to remove some of the slack. Repeat for the other side. Be careful not to pull it off the center. Move from side to side on this bow, repeating the cutting/pulling until there are no more wrinkles on this seam. Do not cut above the curve in the bow. The listing should be intact to the last inch or so of the end of the bow. Repeat this process for all of the bows. Some headliners are tucked into a tack strip above the doors while others are glued. Starting at the center bow, pull the seam tight to remove any wrinkles, glue or use your tuck tool. We make the listing fast first to make sure that the listing doesn't bind on the bows and then work the headlining into place. The headliner has to be trimmed as you go. Use care not to push the tuck tool through the headliner. Work from side to side using care to keep the headliner in the center and the tension equal. Repeat this process up over the doors. Move to the quarter windows and repeat. Glue the headliner around the front windshield. Move to the back glass and temp fasten the center of the headliner to the backglass frame in the center. Move to the C pillars and work them tight. Back to the back glass and glue the headliner in place. lhttp://www.larrydennis.com/tools/default.asp?offset=36 The easiest way to put in a headliner is to have someone else do it.
This stuff don't stretch. Out, out damn wrinkle.
We made the door cards, kick cards, rear cards and package tray. It is much easier to buy the cards. The amount of time for me to make the cards range from four to eight hours each.
We added four rocker switches to the left kick panel. Door card and quarter card. Note the shoulder harness retractor cover. There's carpet on the bottom of the door. A divider of vinyl then stainless and tweed and stainless and vinyl, and stainless and tweed. Complicated for a man of simple desires.
Arm rest needs a little revision. The bottom has a insert that covers all the wrap.
Let's do something simple. Two colors seperated by stainless trim.
Pleats are laid out on the back side of this tweed. The piece of wood works as a pattern. I've changed my process since the pictures. I mark on the frontside using tailor's chalk. When you stitch, use the edge of the presser foot as a guide on the chalk mark. Don't sew right down the chalk line. It's too difficult to remove the chalk from under the stitching.
more to come