Thread: Followed Me Home II

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Originally Posted by J. Robinson

Hey! Those toe boards look just like mine! Did you sneak in my shop and steal them..??!!.. Oh.., mine are still here... never mind.. LOL!

Seriously, those look just like you used mine for a pattern, but you're several hundred miles away. You have a good eye for size and dimensions. An acquaintance of mine used to call that "calibrated eyeball". I like that term. Anyway, since I made mine (about 15 years ago) I have used them many times on my cars and friend's and a couple of them have made sets of their own. On a beam axle like my '31 and '32 and the roadster I sold a while back, I set the caster with a bubble protractor and the toe with these boards. I never have to pay for an alignment.

Oh yeah, the orange tape in my picture was just masking tape holding the boards up against the tires. Otherwise, they would fall over if I tugged on the measuring tapes.

LOL they say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery! I just happened to have a 2x2 piece of veneer grade ply that had solid core sub-plys, and my front wheels measured 24" so it was meant to be! I had a drafting instructor that taught us to draw without scales for measuring, using a folded piece of paper and proportion marks, so my "calibrated eyeball" has served me well through the years. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by johnboy

Crikey. That'd make you spit wouldn't it?

Or rip your hat off and jump on it.

Three times.

No hat, and five lanes of traffic moving 65mph so all I could do after the initial scare of the hit was yell out a minor oath and slap the steering wheel a couple of times! What compounded the frustration was that I was glancing at my passenger side mirror to see if I could change lanes and get away from the truck when it hit

Originally Posted by 34_40

I'm glad they decided to do a commemorative edition... not as "flashy" as I would've thought but.. it's cool.

They issued them early 2015, after my free wheels had already arrived, and when the Cragar guy told me the plan for them I asked if he had a set of 4 earmarked to send for my "commemorative wheels" but it didn't fly. I was really kind of surprised to see them pop up at Performance Tire & Wheel in California after 6 years, thinking I'd probably be looking at aftermarket eBay. LOL they're probably happy to see them moving off of their shelf!!

I'm glad they decided to do a commemorative edition... not as "flashy" as I would've thought but.. it's cool.

Shame about the new glass.. but they'll make it right and that's what matters!

I've been working on interior panels for the roadster, and found that I needed to address the floor before getting too far. Following a suggestion from Jim Robinson I looked at bubble foil insulation for HVAC ducting and it's a great product! Using 3M spray adhesive to secure it to the floor.
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Tomorrow I'll be drilling for trim clips, and getting panels in place.

Originally Posted by rspears

I've been working on interior panels for the roadster, and found that I needed to address the floor before getting too far. Following a suggestion from Jim Robinson I looked at bubble foil insulation for HVAC ducting and it's a great product! Using 3M spray adhesive to secure it to the floor.
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Tomorrow I'll be drilling for trim clips, and getting panels in place.

That bubble foil is good stuff. We get 'Home Chef" meals delivered once a week and they come wrapped in two sheets of the stuff. I have piles of it now, enough to do the floors roof and both doors of the Express. lol.

Back at it today, and decided on a different tack on the corner problem. I'd cut one piece putting the grooves to the inside and wasn't happy with it, and had just about decided to buy a couple of pieces of aluminum sheet stock that I could form, but I decided to try putting the grooves on the outside of the curve and I liked the result better. I needed a 90 corner at the bottom, fanning to a curve at the top matching the body. After a bit of finagling I used a 1.75" bottom, 1.25" flat at the top, and 7.5" of curve.
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Took the fence off of the radial arm saw to give me more length for the cut, set the blade ~3/32" above the table and cut the grooves. I'd drawn the corner curve on a piece of matt board stock, transferred that to a piece of 2x6 stock and used the inside curve to form the corner.
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After tacking the piece to the upper corner and a small 90 block at the bottom I flooded the grooves with resin, added a layer of cloth and slopped on more resin and let it dry.
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As Gomer used to say, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!" It seemed to work!
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Not sure yet, but I may add a 1" strip of plywood to my corner piece to overlay the back panel and cover any gap, or I may just leave it alone and let the foam & material hide the gap.
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All in all, I'm happy with the corners. Got the other side cut & glassed. Tomorrow I'll trim it to fit, then drill both corners & the body for clips, then get the door panels mounted to line up. As jb likes to say, another duck in the row!
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Originally Posted by rspears

Back at it today, and decided on a different tack on the corner problem. I'd cut one piece putting the grooves to the inside and wasn't happy with it, and had just about decided to buy a couple of pieces of aluminum sheet stock that I could form, but I decided to try putting the grooves on the outside of the curve and I liked the result better. I needed a 90 corner at the bottom, fanning to a curve at the top matching the body. After a bit of finagling I used a 1.75" bottom, 1.25" flat at the top, and 7.5" of curve.
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Took the fence off of the radial arm saw to give me more length for the cut, set the blade ~3/32" above the table and cut the grooves. I'd drawn the corner curve on a piece of matt board stock, transferred that to a piece of 2x6 stock and used the inside curve to form the corner.
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After tacking the piece to the upper corner and a small 90 block at the bottom I flooded the grooves with resin, added a layer of cloth and slopped on more resin and let it dry.
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As Gomer used to say, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!" It seemed to work!
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Not sure yet, but I may add a 1" strip of plywood to my corner piece to overlay the back panel and cover any gap, or I may just leave it alone and let the foam & material hide the gap.
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All in all, I'm happy with the corners. Got the other side cut & glassed. Tomorrow I'll trim it to fit, then drill both corners & the body for clips, then get the door panels mounted to line up. As jb likes to say, another duck in the row!
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That's bloody clever.
I like your style.

You should shout yourself a nice cold beer to celebrate.

Well done, Roger. The result speaks for itself. I would not worry about the gap you have as it is minor, and the foam will more than compensate for it once the upholstery goes in.

Originally Posted by rumrumm

Well done, Roger. The result speaks for itself. I would not worry about the gap you have as it is minor, and the foam will more than compensate for it once the upholstery goes in.

Thanks for all the kind words, and Lynn your comment made me think that I need to cut back that joint line to allow room for the interior material to wrap to the back. The foam stops at the edge, but the material wraps, and I too think the foam will compensate.

Originally Posted by rspears

Thanks for all the kind words, and Lynn your comment made me think that I need to cut back that joint line to allow room for the interior material to wrap to the back. The foam stops at the edge, but the material wraps, and I too think the foam will compensate.

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.?.?

Hey that works pretty slick! Good idea! Looks nice too. Can you do the same technique to the curved piece in the other (horizontal)
plane so it can bend and blend the 2 pieces together?

Originally Posted by 34_40

Hey that works pretty slick! Good idea! Looks nice too. Can you do the same technique to the curved piece in the other (horizontal)
plane so it can bend and blend the 2 pieces together?

The problem is if I cut the corners in the horizontal the top stays fixed but the bottom, below the grooves has to get longer. Easier to use a bit of bondo or a piece of ply on the low side, then sand to make a ramp but I'm thinking the gap will disappear with some creative application of foam beneath the vinyl. It's behind the seats, anyway so likely a "Who Cares?" point. I'll leave it for now and talk to the stitcher, unless I'm the stitcher......

Nicely done............

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..