Brendan
Looking sweet.
Good on ya for doing the interior.... Sewing machines aren't that hard to deal with, but making the pattern for the front seats (even with the old trim) now I take my hat off to you for that!
Add mine to the list of Rusty 70's beetles :o
Not too long before its a driver then
Cheers
Jeremy
[Edited on 12-1-2005 by Jeza]
......random gibberish for today.......
Jeremy,
I've got to remember to put the sewing pins in the right way round so I don't stab myself when I run it through the machine. My wife is lovin' this!
Brendan
Thats very nice Brendan, you should be proud of yourself!
THE LOWEST WITH THE MOSTEST BLING BLING WINS!!
You've gotta do it right though, dont you ?
All the effort it worth it in the end. I see you plated over the 'fresh rust vents' in the rear quarters too.
Looks good Brendan. Will be great to catch up either at Korschies or at the cruise day on the 13th Feb.
Squiz....
Doug,
You can see where the guy before me riveted plates over the old rust. By the time I cut out the inner rust I could put my arm through up to my shoulder on both sides of the car. Add to this 4 previous bad paint jobs that took forever to strip back and you understand where the 12 months before the paint prep started came from.
Squiz,
I hope I get it on the road for Feb 13. At the moment my Kids are financial parasitic leeches (school holidays!).
Brendan
The rust from the inside. Most of the rear firewall and drip channel seam had to be replaced.
erg, thats bringing back bad memories. Sounds like it was a fun filled 12 months though 🙂
I decided to have a go since I did everything else on the car.
Materials:
4m green brown cloth.
4m brown cloth.
4m brown vinyl.
3m 1/2 inch dacron.
3m calico backing.
This all cost about $120.00
1.5m x 1.2m sheet of 1inch dense foam from Clark rubber for the back seat.... $45.00
Did the job over a two week period with 50 hours labor.
I started with the door trims first which were easy. Moved on to the rear seat which wasn't too bad. The last was the front bucket seats which were very time consuming.
Lots of measuring, marking and cutting!
One front finished
Dacron and Lumbar support foam glued onto the seat.
The finished product! I'm pretty happy with the result considdering it was my first time at a sewing machine and I had to work under harrowing conditions like ridicule from my Wife and 3 kids.
Who's laughing now huh? I may have damaged the Janome machine but no big deal as she never uses it!
Registration next!
Brendan
Great stuff Brendan - mighty fine effort for first attempt at trimming (especially working under such conditions!)
GL1972 wrote:The finished product! I'm pretty happy with the result considdering it was my first time at a sewing machine and I had to work under harrowing conditions like ridicule from my Wife and 3 kids.
//quote]
3 kids.....good grief. I hear what you're saying brother.....
Note to self - quality upholsterer just located on Central Coast.
Squiz.....
Hey Dude.
This thing looks shit hot now.
You have done really well on the hole thing
Jasmine the 75 L Bug
56 oval, 2000 New Beetle
Thanks for the compliments guys.
Now for the next bit of news......
IT PASSED ENGINEERS CERTIFICATE AND BLUE SLIP!
Took it for engineers on manday. When it passed that I thought what the hell since I'm on a roll I booked it in for the Blue Slip on the way home. Passed that also.
Pretty scary though. Tried to get insurance cover note for the drive...no one will touch you with and unregistered car. Had about a 30 k each way trip. With the weather you wouldn't believe how many idiots were on the roads. Had one idiot in a commodore wagon sitting less than a metre off my bumper for three corners. I though this is stupid and pulled in to see Peter Korsche at VW Performance for a break and recompose my nerves. Car drove very well other than the tune of the motor.
It'll be on the road for the Newcastle Euro day on the 13th.
Brendan
hey dude, congrats on doing such a good job on your interior,
i just did a weeks work with a mate who is an upholsterer and its not an easy task.
well done once again.
some people are like slinky's
they have no useful purpose
but they are fun to watch
when you push them down the stairs
Thanks Buzz.
Your right it's not easy but tackling small jobs at a time is the way to go. The front seats were very time consuming and I made a couple of mistakes but I'm pretty happy with the results. I may have made evything a bit dark in the colors though. I guess It'll grow on me.
Brendan
I've been watching...silently, but just ahad to say...GREAT WORK!
Honestly, I like the color scheme, and yeah, it may seem dark now, but after a while it will be cool.
ANd best of all, you can say I DID IT MYSELF!
Unless of course it falls apart, and then it was all the wifes fault. lol
d4
dubless. 🥲
🥷 And who the helled parked the Mitsubishi "Prancer" under my house??? 🥷
D4,
The only reason I did the upholstery myself WAS because I did everything else (except the machining and balancing of the engine parts). I did want to say I did it all (I even rekeyed an engine lid lock to match my ignition key on Tuesday).
Thanks again for the kind words.
Brendan
You rekeyed the engine lock. WOW.
Man, I have the utmost respect for u.
I also have 3 kids, so I know how hard it can be. But u did such a fantastic job.
cheers
d4
dubless. 🥲
🥷 And who the helled parked the Mitsubishi "Prancer" under my house??? 🥷
Did a rough front wheel alignment last night. Used the tried an true method of a straight edge (20mm x 20mm Aluminium tube 650mm long) with a plumb bob hanging from each end. Marked the centre of each wheel on the garage floor then the point of each plum bob on each floor. Measured between each mark to work out whether I had toe out or toe in. In my case I had a couple of degrees toe out (explains why it drove real smooth with understeer when I took it for the engineers certificate). Adjusted the tie rods on both sides to achieve 3mm of toe in then re-measured again before tightening everything and measuring again to check. I'll have a look tonight to see that the camber is the same for both sides (may require some more slotting of the strut bolt holes).
This should be close enough until I get a full wheel alignment and balance. I shouldn't have to do the wheel balance except half the stick on weights fell off while the brand new wheels were stored for 6 months!
Brendan
So show us the car with plates and sticker dude. 🙂
Pete,
Just organising the insurance for it before I drive it. It will have plates on it mid-week next week. First run will be the Newcastle Euro day.
Brendan
ill hav to send u out a sticker brendan b4 euro day
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One man's junk...
brendan...
truely my hats off to you. what a top job, and to have done so much yourself. such a credit mate. who gives a rat about the stir on the sewing machine when you can sit on the porch with a cold one and think... 'i did that!'
again top effort.
2G.
Simply Cruzin'...
After 28 months of work, lots of skinned knuckles, stripping, sanding, painting, polishing, measuring, welding, wrenching, wiring, lifting, laughing, sewing, swearing, smiling, drinking, surfing and a great ammount of money it is finally registered!
Thank you all who contributed kind words to keep me going and those of you who posted inspirational pictures to show me where the bar is set.
Brendan:jesus
An update: My green german looker was sitting my driveway last night minding it's own business and my neighbor across the road decided to use my driveway to reverse into using the rear of the bug as a bump stop. A fair bit of damage although I am lucky it was only the 1600 and not the 2110 with the Dellortos as they would have been smashed.
Nothing that his insurance won't fix though. He must have felt like dead man walking going up my front stairs to tell me about it. He had seen all the 28 months of work I had put into it.
Brendan
A VW for everyone!!
1972 1302 German Look
1971 Bay Panel with Subaru EJ20T
1970 Type 3 squareback in progress
1971 Type 3 notchback in progress
ahhhhh duuuuuude!!!!!!!!
nick
things like that really hurt
im like u ive rebuilt my 74 Lbug from the ground up and i've done all of it myself cept the paint and gearbox rebuild
it was quite amusing reading about u redoing ur upholstry
ive just been through the same thing
i got some front seats from an import toyota and remaking door panels to suit was easy as but i thought i'd have a stab at rocovering the backseat so out came mums singer and away i went
my younger brother and his mates that were around at the time thought it was hilarious the backrest turned out well but i got half way through the bottom part and the sewing machine crapped itself now its just sitting patiently on the lounge room floor waiting for me to sort out what to do LOL
Joel
Ps sorry to high jack ur thread was just funny coz i went through the same thing i had a kid on a bike run into my back gaurd a few weeks after it was painted and do a runner
[ Edited on 29-5-2006 by DUB74L ]
