Thread: Followed Me Home II

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Originally Posted by 34_40

I was later thinking that perhaps a shim behind the wood to hold the panel further in and get the difference to be less would be easiest perhaps.?.?

I believe the easiest approach, if I decide it needs help, is to mix up a little "bondo", tape the edge of the corner pieces, and lay on a tapered layer back a couple of inches. The other idea that I had was to cut a 3/4" or 1" wide strip of the thin plywood and glue it to the panel that's proud, forming an overlay to cover the joint. I kind of like that idea, but it's still a big IF right now.

Back out this morning and got the second corner trimmed to fit then drilled for clips and got them both mounted. Like I said, I may do a bit of filling, but in truth these pieces are going to be tucked tight behind the seats, which are all the way back for me. We'll see.
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The door panels are near flat, except for the top corner at the hinge side where it tips in about 1/2", enough to keep trim clips from pulling the panel flush. With the success of the corners I decided to try the same thing on the bend and made a few cuts on the back side.
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With a couple of strips of 1/2" plywood under the panel I clamped the corner to the bench....
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...and glassed the back side. Worst case is cutting a new panel.
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But it worked!
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I got the second door panel taped in place to be marked & trimmed to final size, then it will get drilled for clips. Both kick panels also got a bit of backside relief to ease the curves a bit, and they should be in place tomorrow, too, then put the seats back in place and visit the stitcher about seat upholstery, and see if he wants to do panels and carpet too.

Got the second door panel mounted after it tried to kick my butt about a dozen times, and the kick panels buttoned things up. Bolted the seats back in, cleaned out the tools & junk and decided to take it for a drive. Had the top off, so got Chase's leash and secured it to the seat belt and he took his first ride, tongue hanging out the whole time, eating the wind!

On the way out a neighbor was outside and I tapped the horn - no horn! Went ahead with the drive, got home and used a jumper to make sure the horn was good. Checked continuity of both wires from the fuse block, and pulled the horn button. Checked continuity of the switch wire to the fuse block, all good. As I'm starting to hook up the button, the switch wire came out of the column - ARRRGH. Pulled the wheel, and found that the tiny "ear" at the top of the Flaming River plastic wiper contact had broken off, so no spring pressure to keep the switch wire in contact. Decided that the easy fix was to drill a small hole adjacent to the old slot, then hog out the side of the hole to form a new "ear". Bada Bing, Bada Boom it held fine, put it back together and got a horn again! Plus I biased the wiper just a bit to the right, and centered the turn signal cancellation better. Lemonade from lemons, and the roadster is tons quieter with the insulation and panels.

I haven't posted for a while. I mentioned last time reworking the "ear" on the horn contactor, and I believe now it must have been bad from the start, just barely making contact because the horn works great now!

I learned that my guy in Florida who specializes in Fiero covers had major heart surgery last year, ending up with 6 bypasses and coding on the table once or twice! I guess it was a rough go and kicked his butt pretty good but he bounced back and after a few months responded to my emails about making my "Headless Fiero" covers. We had picked a color last fall, and after a bit of back & forth I placed my order, asking him to send me 7 yards of the same material for panels. I'd not done much to get started, other than thinking about the panels and some pockets, then last week he sent me a note saying he was stitching my covers and they should be here around the 15th of December - Merry Christmas to ME!!
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Knowing the covers were coming I ordered a roll of foam and a couple of yards of carpeting plus a heel pad. The carpet arrived this morning (FedEx guy driving his older white F150 Crew Cab, stuffed with packages, said they're using anything that drives to cover the deliveries!), so with the temp in the 50's I got the roadster shifted around in the barn, and pulled the seats and the top for easy access. The carpet - the actual color is darker than the photo and matches the interior material well.
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I bought Juliano's seat belts, and following their recommendation had installed the receiver end of the belts with the rigid housing on the outside beside the doors, to prevent the longer loose end from hanging out the door. Over the past few months I've found it's been very difficult to get the belt latched in the confined space against the interior panel, plus the two loose ends get piled in the passenger seat. With the seats out I decided to look at swapping the parts. Ended up making a mounting bracket for the center using some 3/16" plate I had to spread the mounts from the single base plate.
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Got them bolted in loose, and it's gonna be soooo much better!!
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So tomorrow I'll make a pattern for the carpet. I plan to make the "hump" separate, binding the edges with some interior material, to make it easily removable for tranny access. Hoping it all comes together!

The colors look nice together. At least on this monitor! LOL..

Looks great Roger, really like the color!

It's a nice alternative from the usual taupe shades you see so often. Good choice!

Nice Christmas Gift Roger!
They look great!

As rumrumm noted: it's not the colours you so often see.

I'm picking, that when it's all installed, it will have a rather 'elegant' appearance.

Before....
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And after...
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Headless Fiero covers from MrMike in Sarasota, FL.
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Haven't made my carpet pattern yet, and still waiting for delivery on a couple of yards of 1/4" foam for panels.

Very nice Roger!

I hadn't got any notices about your progress, so I thought maybe you weren't doing much. Then yesterday (Saturday) I suddenly got a notice and i see I'm a couple of months behind! Weird... I have gotten notices about other threads I'm watching here, but not yours... Anyway, I'm glad to finally be "back in the loop" and caught up. Really nice work, Roger. I'm anxious to see the finished interior with the dark blue exterior; I think it's going to be outstanding.

Looking GOOD !

Very nice Roger! Those seats look so much nicer! The panels are looking great too.

Got the last of the family Christmas gatherings done yesterday, so today I decided it was time to get the carpet cut. I had previously cleaned up my pattern, cut all of the holes, and test fit it in the car again. I had looked at the carpeting in my '33 that was done by a local stitcher, and he had done it in eight or ten pieces, each one with binding to finish the cut edges where it adjoined/overlapped another piece. It looks good, and with cut pile is probably necessary but the carpet I bought is all nylon, woven to form a tight mat 1/4" thick with no backing, made to get wet without problems - Roadster = no windows, sometimes topless = good chance of getting wet at some point. The more I looked at it the more I thought that I could do the floor in one piece, gluing back to front in sections, minus the tunnel cover which I want to be removable. The carpet isn't expensive so I decided to risk it give it a try. I laid it out on a piece of underlayment plywood atop the pool table, aligned the pattern and stapled the pattern & carpet to the plywood before making any cuts.
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I was surprised that it only took about 20 minutes to cut the outline & hole for the tunnel, then another 10 to "X" the holes for seat bolts, dimmer switch and cut the holes for the steering column and pedals.

After cutting I carried it out to the barn, slid it over the E-Brake toward the back and the rear seat holes fell right on the bolts, as did the slits for the seat belt tabs. Chase was telling me it was quitting time, which is also his feeding time, so tomorrow I'll start lifting sections, spraying glue, and sticking things together. I think it's gonna work!!
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Looks really nice Roger! If I would have to learn one more thing about this hobby it would be upholstery.