IanMc Posted October 20, 2019 Author Share Posted October 20, 2019 This evening I have mounted the Black top rail on the N/S door card (with rivets as before). Learning from my mistake with the O/S one, I mounted the rail before gluing on the rubber strip... far easier! I am away with work for a few days now, so there probably won’t be any updates until the end of next week now. Take care all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 Despite a pretty manic week at work, some progress on the door cards has been made: 1) I have now ordered the fabric that will be used for the middle part of the door cards and this should be delivered to the shop in town in a few days. This will allow me to then add some iron on backing material and then attempt to stitch in the three pleats that add some texture and interest to the door cards. 2) The Leatherette cap for the Drivers side has been trimmed back and punched to allow the chrome diving strip to be trial fitted, as you can see here: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 3) The passenger side card has come a little way along and is now almost at the same stage as the Drivers side. I just need to staple the return of the carpet to the rear face, trim and tuck under the excess material for the cap and then cut the apertures in the foam for the door lock slider and the door pull/release handle. This might all get done later, or more likely tomorrow now as I want to make sure that the spray adhesive has dried nicely. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 4) Earlier I also gave the Drivers side door handle and pocket a scrub and a going over with some dashboard cleaner - they seem to have come up quite well considering their age! Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Cheers all, have a lovely weekend 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealExile Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Looking good! Might get some finally done on mine, got a week off...but as ever the rest of the family cars come first, got a heater resistor and a rear bearing and hub to do first before I can get to mine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 30 minutes ago, TheRealExile said: Looking good! Might get some finally done on mine, got a week off...but as ever the rest of the family cars come first, got a heater resistor and a rear bearing and hub to do first before I can get to mine. On what cars mate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealExile Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Both on the same 07 Polo, lads car... had him replace the blower motor last week (I'd twanged the muscle in my arm so he got to learn something) which was a right pain and now the glovebox is going to have to come out again to do the resistor. Bearing doesn't look too bad...few bolts for the rear caliper, tie it up etc also gave me an excuse to buy a new breaker bar and some hub sized sockets 😎 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 40 minutes ago, TheRealExile said: Both on the same 07 Polo, lads car... had him replace the blower motor last week (I'd twanged the muscle in my arm so he got to learn something) which was a right pain and now the glovebox is going to have to come out again to do the resistor. Bearing doesn't look too bad...few bolts for the rear caliper, tie it up etc also gave me an excuse to buy a new breaker bar and some hub sized sockets 😎 Good luck with those - hopefully either the weather is kind to you, or you can get cosy in your garage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealExile Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Will have to be kind weather as the garage is full of manta which isn't running yet so it's a pain to move... need to get those fuel lines replaced so I can try and fire the old girl up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 27, 2019 Author Share Posted October 27, 2019 This morning I have cut out the apertures in the foam on the NS door card, stapled the bottom carpet in place and trimmed and tucked in the top capping Leatherette. So now I await the arrival of the main fabric... I might make a start on the NS seat later. My thinking is to get it out, turn it upside down and then to try to make a bit of a strip down plan. I have to admit to being pretty anxious at the prospect of making my own replacement seat covers, but hey, what’s the worst that can happen?! 😂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 (edited) I have a few days off this week, so I decided that this morning I would get one little job out of the way and make a start on one much larger job... Firstly the small job - I picked up what looks to be an excellent Drivers/OS headlamp. Some of you might recall that I have messed around with the one I had for ages, without really making things any better in terms of light output. This was was on Ebay about a week ago as an auction, but after I made the Seller an offer and it was accepted. This was the light output from the old, bodged up one: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. And from the 'new' one: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Is this better or worse? - I cant quite decide Then it was time to remove the Passenger seat and start thinking about stripping that down for the 'seat cover mini project'. My Passenger seat is in way better condition that the Drivers seat, but if I take that out now it limits me somewhat with moving the car around: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Of course the seat actually had to come out first, so for those that are not familiar (and there cant be many lol), this is how you do it: Peel back the carpet that covers the front mounting bar and remove the four M8 bolts and the retaining brackets: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The rear of the seat is of course captive on the runners, so you have to spread the 'claw' wide enough to get the seat of of these: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Once that is all done the seat will simply lift out. Get the seat indoors and sitting on something that will protect your indoor furnishings, as these things are bound to have grease and muck underneath from years of lubrication etc. Then take photos of EVERYTHING you can see and think of. These might just save you some heartache and head scratching later on! Pay particular attention to joins, linkages etc Here's just a few random examples of the ton that I took: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. My plan of attack was basically to try to split the seat back from the base and then start to remove the covers. It appeared that this wouldn't be too difficult as these two parts were seemingly only held together by two bolts and a hinge assembly: The bolts are located on the wheel adjuster side - one easy to get at and one hidden behind some material: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The exposed one would be easy of course, but I reasoned that the one behind the material would need me to start to peel the cover forward from the hinge to be able to get to the other one - so this is how we did it. Turn the seat over and at the back you will see some hog rings that hold the material taught - remove all of these. It wont be pretty, but just bend and pull them until they give up basically... Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Once they are all off, you can start to feed the back of the cover through the crease/hinge area of the seat: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. They push and pull the edges of the cover off of the metal 'pegs' all the way around: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. At one end there is a little clip that you need to prise off to allow the material to finally let go of the frame: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. At this point you should have enough movement in the cover to expose the bolt you wanted to get at: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. With both bolts removed, the only thing holding both parts of the seat together is the hinge assembly. There is a small 'E' clip to push off and a spacer washer here: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. With the 'E' clip and washer removed, you simply push the back rest off the hinge pin to separate the two parts: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. So now I have this: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. To be continued... Edited October 28, 2019 by IanMc 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 With the seat in two, it was now time to tr to remove the covers. I started with the base. After the material was pulled off the pegs at the perimeter, it was simply a case of peeling the back section forward and the forward section back - until it stops at about the 2/3 back mark. This is because there is some more hog rings holding everything nice and secure. Naturally, those need to be cut away: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. With the hog rings gone, off came the cover: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The foam itself looks pretty good, with just a few small holes - maybe these are burn marks or just air pockets from manufacture? Either way,. I cant believe that they will affect anything, so I am just going to ignore those: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Next the back rest cover... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 The cover for the back rest is a different animal on the basis that it has to cover the seat all the way around. This means that the only opening is at the point closest to the floor of the car, in other words where you cant see it easily. So start looking there and you will find some more hog rings and some half circle clips holding everything together and taught. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Cut away the hog rings, then lever up the clips with a screwdriver and they will let go: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. This frees up the open end of the cover and allows you to start peeling the cover back: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Eventually you will meet two obstacles - more hog ring and the lever for hinging the seat back forward: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Cut away the hog rings and (as I couldn't pull the knob off), I decided to make some 'tactical' cuts in the old cover to get over the knob/lever: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. This allowed me to slip the cover off completely: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The next job is to start looking at unpicking the stitching of each cover to end up with some templates. So far, so good I guess 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exclusive Opel Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 Don't know if this is of any help: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 24 minutes ago, Exclusive Opel said: Don't know if this is of any help: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Yes it does - sincere thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 This afternoon I found myself in Hobbycraft, Chelmsford and one of the staff recommended this little tool for the unpicking of stitching. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. No excuses now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 And so it begins... Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. So now I have the piping and the 'quilted section in the middle to remove from the edge strips - hopefully I can get this done tomorrow. Oh yeah and I also have to remove the lower Black strip on the vinyl that locates on the frame pegs... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 (edited) 18 hours ago, IanMc said: And so it begins... Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. So now I have the piping and the 'quilted section in the middle to remove from the edge strips - hopefully I can get this done tomorrow. Oh yeah and I also have to remove the lower Black strip on the vinyl that locates on the frame pegs... What do you do in your spare time Ian?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Edited October 29, 2019 by Julian spelling 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted October 29, 2019 Author Share Posted October 29, 2019 3 hours ago, Julian said: What do you do in your spare time Ian?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hi Julian, I hope that you are well matey? In my spare time? - well I go to work full time, do Archery on a Friday night then mess about with an old Cavalier when I can 😂 Take care, speak soon! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 (edited) I bring good news people! - the door card material arrived at the shop today and has been collected. Time to dust off the sewing machine and see what we can do... Fingers crossed I don’t mess this up. Edited November 1, 2019 by IanMc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 A bit my strip down work done on the Passenger front seat base this morning. I set about removing the plastic piping from the base material. It appears as if GM used some 'locating' stitching to get the basic position for this part in a different colour - in this case Black. This theme continues in other areas of the seat base too as you will see from below. The 'main' stitching however matches the seat base and associated coloured materials: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. After unpicking any/all remaining stitches it comes free: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Then remove any stitching that remains on the piping itself. In this photo you can clearly see the two colours of thread: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. I then took the piping strip to a warm tap and gave it a decent wash/scrub up. As you will see, it really came up beautifully clean so I will certainly be using this again: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Next I must turn my attention to the main seat area. This has more than one layer, all of which must be unpicked so that I can work out what I need to do to recreate this in my new covers... Again the Black and Red thread is clearly seen here: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Have a nice day everyone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealExile Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 That piping came up a treat 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 Next it was time to strip the foam and generally padding from the framework of the seat. Before I did that though I glued the White material covers for the bolster areas of the foam on the backrest. I assume that these made it easier to fit the cover during assembly as they save you 'snagging' and tearing the foam as you push the cover down over them: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. So with that small job out of the way, I could remove the foam on the seat base - a dead easy job as it simply lifts away after you ease off just a few small dabs of adhesive. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Next I needed to remove the foam and padding etc from the backrest. This was also simple once two more hog rings were located and removed from the very bottom of the frame: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Once these were off, I was able to peel back the wadding from the thin lower frame bar: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. And then proceed to simply slide the frame out of the padded 'parcel': Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Leaving this: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. As you can see from the photos above, both frames have some light surface rust, so I decided to try to do a half decent job and wire brushed them and added some paint. As the base frame would be semi visible when fitted in the car, I gave it some gloss Black (as original). It looks as if the back rest frame was mostly unpainted when new, but I wanted to give it some basic protection, so just dusted it with some primer. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Tonight is Archery night, so that's it for today 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monaco Blue Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 It's all moving along at quite a pace now! It all looks rather complicated. I'd hate to put this all back together again! Hopefully all the photos and marking will be a big help when the time comes! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 11 minutes ago, Monaco Blue said: It's all moving along at quite a pace now! It all looks rather complicated. I'd hate to put this all back together again! Hopefully all the photos and marking will be a big help when the time comes! That’s what I’m hoping too mate. My tedious, perhaps sometimes boring, updates and photos should be a useful guide for myself. Of course, if they also help and/or entertain others, then all the better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-400 Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 Keep posting those pics Ian, you are doing great. Where do you get that motivation from?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanMc Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 31 minutes ago, H-400 said: Where do you get that motivation from?? From people like you Herman! I am a great believer that with enough determination and some forward thinking/planning you can achieve your goals. A little bit more done this morning. My target was to try to separate the parts of the seat cushion so that I would end up with some material templates. This is what we started with: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. I started at one end and started to unpick the stitches: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. As you can see there is an awful lot of stitches, so it is a test of your patience and determination. But after about an hour, we were there: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. On the reverse side you can now see where the comfort comes from - those four foam strips on the back of the Grey material: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. So now we have our first three material templates... Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Onwards! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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