Month: June 2011

I finished upholstering the rear seat back, which required a few test fittings to make sure that the contour of the top corners matched the curve of the body.  Then I installed the seat back, bolted the rear seat belts in place, and put in the seat cushion. Now I the car looks a lot more respectable, and I could actually drive around with three passengers.  I also installed the front passenger door panel, but there were some issues with it.  Like  most of the other panels, it is a bit too big, and the front and rear edges tend to jam up against the windlace and the door posts, making it hard to completely close the door.  Unfortunately it would be hard to trim the door panels, since some of the covering is stitched as well as glued in place.  I’ll have to consult with the manufacturer of the interior kit.

I’m going on vacation in a few days, and when I get back I’ll change my focus to the exterior: the finders, splash shields, and running boards.  Besides the door panels, the interior still needs a lot of little things like screwing all the window moldings in place, but I can do those bit by bit over next fall and winter.

I got the last fixed interior panels installed, and I also finished applying the sound-deadening material to the rear of the body. All that’s left to do in the interior is installing the door panels, finishing the upholstery of the rear seat back, and bolting the rear seat belts in place (I drilled the mounting holes a couple of weeks ago). I will also have to mess with some simple stuff like the window cranks, but those sorts of little tasks are not at all tedious.  I also finished one last thing on the roof:  I applied more caulking around the molding that surrounds the roof fabric, and I installed a rubber sealing strip that covers the nail groove in the molding.  Now the roof is (theoretically) 100% waterproof.

I’m just about finished with the interior panels. The most time-consuming part was trimming and installing the long piece that goes over the driver’s side doors. This required a lot of un-gluing, cutting, re-gluing, and test fitting.  Just about all the windlace is in place, and the only panel left to install is the one on the driver’s side with the rear seat armrest, which should not require any modification.  I also have to install the panels on the doors, but those basically snap in place, with no gluing, stapling, cutting, or nailing required.