Unfortunately we aren’t done yet. Three back panels are required – two sides and a center piece. These panels fit around the mounting brackets for the seat back and arm rest. Unlike the factory cover, these will be seat material instead of carpet. Each panel is measured, cut, sewn, test fitted, and then sewn to the cover.
Finally we are ready to fit the entire cover. With some pushing, pulling, tweaking, and cursing the complete cover is in place and looking good. Flip the seat over the use hog rings to secure the seat cover to the frame. Then flip it back upright and check the overall fit. Not bad, not bad at all! Since everything is in its final position, cut out the holes for all of the mounting points.
Being thoroughly paranoid at this point, the complete seat is assembled – arm rest and seat backs – and the whole seat is checked over for any last problems. Everything still looks good…
Time to take the seat back apart, drag the engine hoist out of the corner, hook everything up, and call She Who Must Be Obeyed.
The seat base went back into the car smoothly. The mounting bolts slipped into their holes in the bottom of the car – everything still fits. Run the nuts onto the mounting bolts and tighten everything up. The next moment of truth – plug in the power seat and see if it works. It does! It moves in all six directions. So far, so good…
Install the arm rest with its cover. Install both seat backs. Install the trim pieces on the sides of the seats. Everything is still looking good.
Now for the real moment of truth – run the seat back to its correct position, slide in, and sit on it.
Wait for it, wait for it…
It is good! The seat is now firm and comfortable. There is much better support and it doesn’t feel squishy. It even looks good! And there was much rejoicing!
We’re not quiet finished – the front door cards still need to be done and I need to do some tweaking around the windows. But the car is usable and even looks good. We may eventually get a Thursday that isn’t raining so I can take it to the local car show!
I’ve been working on the interior more or less non stop since the first of February – three and a half months so far. The front door cards still need to be done and there is some trim work left to do. And the success on the interior has inspired me to consider some additional projects – yeah, potentially a bit of foreshadowing. The car is ready for the road, so I really should spend some time driving it instead of working on it. I sometimes forget that this is a car to be driven, not just a never ending money sucking series of projects on a static display… That this is a vehicle, not an art project!
She Who Must Be Obeyed has graciously reminded me that some projects on the house need to be worked on, so I’m going to shift gears for a while. But I’m happy with where the car is now!