Thread: Followed Me Home II

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After drilling a location hole from the bottom I removed the seat and MC, cut out the access hole and put the seat and MC back in place.
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I cut a piece of 16ga sheet metal to overlap the hole all around, and after sanding the top side of removed plug smooth and roughing up the plate I bondo'd the two together. The plug keeps the access plate located, and also fills in the hole from the bottom side. This is the cheap and easy way to do an access port, and with the bed liner material in place it becomes all but invisible from below.
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Sitting in place the cover will be underneath the carpet with a fold back panel to allow access, held by velcro tabs.
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The only thing left to do is to swap my power brake master with the shallow dimple in the piston for a manual model that has the deep recess. I was able to re-shape the brake line from the front to use in the back position, and only needed to buy one 20" line and form it for the front. Problem solved.

I talked to my guy in Florida who does Fiero & Mazda seats for a myriad of vehicles, to see if he might possibly have patterns for Fiero seats sans headrests. To my surprise he pointed me to a page on his web site, and scrolled me down to a picture of a '62 Corvette with Fiero seats. He quickly explained how I should go about cutting off the headrests, and told me that it was as easy as taping in a length of cotton batting atop the cut edge to fill out the top of the seat back, and they look like they were made that way from the factory. With that advice I chopped off the headrests, and did a test fit of the seats. They're cozy, only about an inch or two between the bolsters, just enough room to reach the E-brake handle.
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You're gonna love the seats Roger, I've had em in quite a few of mine. Very comfortable on the long road trips.
If ya ever run across another set let me know.

Originally Posted by DA34GUY

You're gonna love the seats Roger, I've had em in quite a few of mine. Very comfortable on the long road trips.
If ya ever run across another set let me know.

I have 'em in the '33, and picked up a second set off of CraigsList before I had the '32 - a guy was parting one out so I grabbed them for $40. Ya' got a pair of seats needing a home, so it makes sense to pick up a project for them, right? Worked for me, anyway....

Don, You probably know this but try Pick n Pull, I got an extra set (gonna save) and you can check the different locations online and search inventory even with a pic of the car, I went there and with one metric wrench and 10 minutes I had them out. I believe they only charged $60 for the set as they have the flat rate for any car bucket seat, heck of a deal compared to the aftermarket 300 dollar frames, it was actually cheaper than my Craigslist find. I built a tilt forward frame on my sedan for back access, as everyone knows when you are after 19" wide seats in a factory car it gets pretty limited.
PS Roger lookin' great but aren't you gonna miss those seat speakers!

Originally Posted by Matthyj

PS Roger lookin' great but aren't you gonna miss those seat speakers!

Not without a radio.....

Originally Posted by rspears

Not without a radio.....

But then you won't get the weather alerts either.

Warmer weather, and yesterday afternoon I finally got tired of dodging and tripping over the differential third member sitting in the old drain pan on the shop floor. I pulled it back in August and took it to a 4X4 shop that I use for stuff I don't feel qualified to do, to have a Detroit Eaton True Trac put in. I'd paid a guy to put in new gears and set them up, but then decided that having an open diff just wasn't going to work for me. Even if I don't keep it, it's the right way.
The roadster was sitting on jack stands, two under front A-arms and two under the rear axle, high enough to get under and clean things up, but trying to hoist that heavy chunk of dead weight laying on the concrete just wasn't happening. The spirit was willing, but the old body weak After looking at it a while I decided that the only way that third member was going to go back in was to call one of my boys for help, or drop the rear axle and get it out where I could get to it from above..... but the jack stands are under the axle, right? Not liking to call for help, and wait....
Now I know that you guys never do foolish things, but once in a while some of the things I do border on foolish It was obvious that I needed to shift the jack stands from the axle to the frame, so I wheel over the floor jack, center it under the rear axle and start lifting.... clear of one stand, move it under the frame, and then..... Do you know what happens when you lift a car with that bar that Rene' named (Rene' Panhard, French Inventor) is sitting on the floor, beside the car? As the body started moving to the side, it shifted just enough to increase the drag on the jack stand still under the axle, and it stopped! I quickly repositioned the jack stand under the frame rail and lowered the jack, then raised it just enough, pivoting on the frame rail jack, to shift another stand under the other rail and pull the stand from beneath the axle. Whew!! That would have been UGLY, UGLY, UGLY!!

After a quick "Thanks, Lord" I pulled the coil over's, lowered the axle and while pondering the ladder bars realized that I could come in from the back, leaning over the axle and lift the third member into place! And it worked like a charm!
So, third member in, axles in, brake drums on, coil overs on, PANHARD BAR ON!! I think it'll be on four wheels again, for the first time in almost two years, before noon, and shifted to a spot where I can assess where I left off, what remains to be done, and get ready to pull the body for the last time so that I can do exhaust unrestricted, blow it apart to repaint the frame (PO didn't know how to prep for paint ), finish some bottom side fiberglass work on the floor, figure out my dash, decide if I like the way I did the steering wheel to firewall so long ago, etc, etc.
So many "projects", so little time

Good to see ya back on it.......

Glad yer back on the roadster Roger. FYI Check out my buddy Jeff Johnson (Tazhog) has bitchen steering column and brake pedal boots he is marketing website is JJs Rods.

Good to hear you're making progress again Mr. Spears.

But.. um... BE CAREFUL!

Originally Posted by 34_40

BE CAREFUL!

My middle name, Mike

Originally Posted by rspears

My middle name, Mike

Your middle name is Mike?? WOW, Who knew?!?!

Originally Posted by 34_40

Your middle name is Mike?? WOW, Who knew?!?!

....and I have yours in mind, but it's best left unsaid

Originally Posted by rspears

....and I have yours in mind, but it's best left unsaid

And you'd be absolutely right! In BOTH cases!!

Originally Posted by 34_40

And you'd be absolutely right! In BOTH cases!!

Mike's not here, man....