Thread: Followed Me Home, '33 Build

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Well, today was one of those silk purse from a sow's ear days. The before & after... Still have to paint and install the plastic cover pieces for the outer spring/hinge mechanism and the handles for the back adjustment, but I am pleased with the way my $30 Fiero seats look after a day invested.

Nice work Roger! Fill us in on the hows and with whats!

Originally Posted by stovens

Nice work Roger! Fill us in on the hows and with whats!

Several months back I scored a pair of Fiero seats for $30 at a small local salvage yard. I started looking around at upholstery alternatives, talked to a couple of custom interior guys, and then found a guy in Florida that offers several different styles of covers for stock Fiero seats, as well as Miata's, Vette's, and others. http://mrmikes.com/ Turns out that Fiero seats were made by the Lear Company (Lear Jet) for GM, and they are often used in some high dollar sports rides replacing OEM seats. They sit very low and have a lot of adjustment for leg room.

The custom guys were quoting about $1200 to cover the seats alone, and I elected to get a set of leatherette covers from MrMike and do it myself, along with a set of seat heaters - my wife loves them. I also got a roll of matching material for other interior needs, yet to come. R&R took most of the day, including retrofitting the speakers in one headrest (I had one with factory speakers, one without). I like the way they look and feel, especially considering the repairs to the bolsters that were needed.

WOW! Those look great. I'm starting to look at seats to change into HOMADE. Those look pretty sweet - and speakers in the headrest to boot!

Today was a milestone day. Started working on locating the fuse block, but my son was coming by about 2:30pm to drop off his coonhound, Homer, for a weekend football trip and he said he would help with priming the engine (one to run the drill, one to rotate the engine to open oil passages). We got 65psig on a direct reading gauge and good oil flow through all pushrods. Still had time to set the distributor, and install the intake and get it torqued down. With that done I can install the wiring on the engine, get the rest of the wiring done, install hoses and move toward first fire. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm hoping it's not a train heading my way I may actually get to drive this thing before it's too cold to enjoy it!!

Well, my wallet is a bit lighter, but I now have a VIN assigned, insurance paid, and registration complete. Still have lots of work to do, but now at least I can drive the beast between times it is down for more work. The VIN process was painless, but the registration process was long and painful, with the ladies wanting receipts for every nut, bolt and washer purchased for the vehicle. If anyone is going through this process in Kansas I have some thoughts to share with you that will save you some $$$$ Here's the beast after getting a new VIN, but before I was assaulted at the DMV..... Took it for a short drive to break in the differential gears. What a hoot!!

I see that Kansas registration still sucks.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

I see that Kansas registration still sucks.

They title as 2010 Assembled Vehicle's so that they can tax at a 2010 rate, $466/yr for my coupe for this first hit. The bite is that they establish the "Assessed Value" equal to what you admit spending to build, everything down to nuts, bolts & washers. The bigger bite is that they want to see receipts for everything you admit spending, and they review them one by one to see if you paid sales tax or not, and if not you get to pay it to them. My "unpaid tax" bile was $2,564, so my total to get a plate was a bit over $3k. I was not happy, but also knew better than to make a fuss when I was in a no-win situation..... I've already reminded the state rep's that they promised to re-introduce the SEMA Bill in the 2011 session, to title vehicles as the year they replicate. We'll see....

Wow, that really bites Rog!!!! The state sure does seem to get their fair share!! What is the tax rate on sales of new and used cars in Ks????

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Wow, that really bites Rog!!!! The state sure does seem to get their fair share!! What is the tax rate on sales of new and used cars in Ks????

It varies by municipality, but right at 9% across the board. They get their share...

Holy buckets!!!!

The state sure does put a hurt on the car wold in Kansas!!! That's gotta be a bunch of revenue for the state!!! Hope taxes on everything else is cheap!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Holy buckets!!!!

The state sure does put a hurt on the car wold in Kansas!!! That's gotta be a bunch of revenue for the state!!! Hope taxes on everything else is cheap!

Nope, that's a standard sales tax, 8.65% in our little burg, as I recall and I think they added in another bump recently to just over 9%. It's only 8.25 or so in Olathe, an nothing is exempt in KS - everything sold gets a tax bump....

Roger,

Since it's a "2010" Ford, do you get hit for emisssions controls on the engine, etc?

Dave,

The process in Kansas is primarily the result of the work of an acrimonious old fart who used to work at the DMV in Overland Park (as opposed to the acrimonious old farts on this forum ). He made getting a hot rod licensed a trip to hell and back. He's now retired, as I remember, but his process lives on. Of course, the politicions see the green, and most of them don't know a hot rod from a hot dog.

Texas is not good either, from what I hear. I hope they get the SEMA law before 2013 when I return to the States.

Originally Posted by rspears

Nope, that's a standard sales tax, 8.65% in our little burg, as I recall and I think they added in another bump recently to just over 9%. It's only 8.25 or so in Olathe, an nothing is exempt in KS - everything sold gets a tax bump....

That sounds like a bargain compared to our 13% here in Ontario. To make matters worse if this is a build, unless you have registered your vehicle as unfit prior to building it, the tax will apply to the full appraised value whether or not you have paid tax on the parts you used. That means that if you buy a $1000 shell, improve it until it is worth $20,000, you will pay 13% on the full value unless you had the foresight to register the original $1000 car as unfit. How's that for 'fair.'

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Roger,

Since it's a "2010" Ford, do you get hit for emisssions controls on the engine, etc?....Texas is not good either, from what I hear. I hope they get the SEMA law before 2013 when I return to the States.

Jack,
Nope, it is titled as "2010 ASVE, Ford 33, Coupe" for Make, Model and Style. My understanding is that the emissions controls rules are not imposed on "Assembled Specialty Vehicles". I trailered to the DMV, as they have been known to impound vehicles in certain situations, and they asked for receipts for the body, frame, engine and transmission, asking if each was new or salvage. My engine receipt had a salvage VIN listed, so they were happy. Other than that the gal only looked at the vehicle to see where to put the VIN ID plate, commenting about how it was such a "cute car". I was impressed that she recognized it had a Ford engine when she said, "Oh, you've even put a Ford engine in it." There was absolutely no inspection, or even a question about the car. I was concerned that my lake pipes were going to be questioned as they are quite loud even with the baffles, but they did not ask me to light it off. The pain came later......
I have already reminded our state rep's of their promise to re-introduce their SEMA Bill for the 2011 session. Not sure what impact it will have, but mine would have been titled "1933 Ford" if it passes, which some see as a good thing, others see as bad.