#1751
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Quote:
Some days this pile seems like a friend that's overstayed his welcome.
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Jack Set a Goal So Big That You Can't Achieve It Until You Grow Into The Person That Can. Last edited by Jack 1957; 04-12-2021 at 09:18 PM. |
#1752
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I would love to see it some day as well, you will have to come out to So Cal lol. I like the 4 dr as is, I see way to many wagons out here.
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Mike Mettelka Mettelka Craft Metalshaping Wanted, 41 Cadillac Fleetwood |
#1753
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Quote:
Having judged car shows for about 8 or 10 years, I could nit pick this car to death. To me, it's a waist of time to build a car so perfectly detailed that you don't enjoy driving it because you have to spend a whole day cleaning it afterwards. To each his own but show cars are not my bag.. I'm very pleased that this thread has caught the attention of so many people. I hope I've encouraged a few of the younger guys to give metal shaping a shot. It can be frustrating sometimes but that's part of the learning curve. Stay the course. It gets easier as you learn. You'll get to a point where you'll even wow yourself once in a while.
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Jack Set a Goal So Big That You Can't Achieve It Until You Grow Into The Person That Can. |
#1754
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jack u are so right with a riddler car.when u have to index the alignment of fasteners or even make them,practicality sets in.And the money it gets crazy.But i will say what wows me is the talent it takes to build one of these pieces of art
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Bob Risner |
#1755
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That's true. Chromium is the toughest, hardest metal available on earth. Much needed to make high strength alloys. Think gun barrels smalll and large, tank tracks, stainless steel, chrome moly, etc..
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Jack Set a Goal So Big That You Can't Achieve It Until You Grow Into The Person That Can. |
#1756
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I'm still messing with the electronics but I took a break to get the roof ready for upholstery. One of the things it needed was some insulation. This Reflectix insulation doesn't provide much insulation because its designed to reflect heat rather than absorb and dissipate it. The reason I use it is more about a vapor barrier than insulator. Also, it's very light weight. Basically it's thin bubble wrap with aluminum foil on both sides.
The upholstery and the foam layer below it will deflect some heat. Then the roof skin, insulation, and headliner fabric will help avoid condensation, and help a little with sound deadening. The tighter it's sealed up, the more efficient the A/C will cool the interior. This roll was 16" wide x 25 feet long. It covered everything with about 4 feet left over. Cut to fit with a razor knife and hold it in place with contact adhesive. I don't remember if I covered this but I used roof latches from 1967 - 1969 Camaro convertibles to latch the front of the roof to the windshield frame. Right now they are in the open position. When they're closed they tuck away along the roof side rail. Clean and simple operation.
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Jack Set a Goal So Big That You Can't Achieve It Until You Grow Into The Person That Can. |
#1757
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Final prep for the roof. I needed to fit and adjust the spring loaded latch pins for the rear edge. (red arrows) I put a groove along the rear edge for a rubber tack strip. (green arrow) The upholsterer will need this for stapling down the material.
I ordered some 3/4" half round 6061-T6 for the headliner bows. In the 50's and into the 60's on some of the upper level models, the headliner bows were visible from the interior. The tri 5 Nomads come to mind, but there were others also. That's what these are for. I could only find this in mill finish so I had to polish them myself. They were pretty smooth to begin with so I only needed to go over them with some 2,000# then I did the first polish with black rouge. I'll stop there because these will need to be annealed and bent into shape. I think that of all the aluminum alloys, 6061 brings up the best shine. There will be two more polishing sessions after they're bent and drilled. Unfortunately, UPS was running a couple days late so these didn't get here on time. I was going to install the headliner and bows before the outside upholstery but I had to get the roof in to the upholstery shop yesterday. I'll have to do the headliner when he's done. It's tough to get an appointment so I had to take it in. I won't be able to go any further with these bows until I get my roof back. I could only find what I needed in six foot lengths. More than enough for the two front bows but about a foot short for the longer rear bow. I was able to cut what I needed from the front bow and I'll have it welded to the rear one. One thing to mention here, if you're grinding aluminum to be welded, knock it down with a sanding disc if you need to but finish the area with a file by hand. When you use a grinding disc, tiny fractured pieces of grit can get embedded into the soft aluminum and send your welder dude into convulsions. Finish with a file and he'll be there for you next time.
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Jack Set a Goal So Big That You Can't Achieve It Until You Grow Into The Person That Can. Last edited by Jack 1957; 04-29-2021 at 07:53 PM. |
#1758
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Interested to see how you do this, I want to add small trim to each of the ribs on this FG headliner.
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Skip Wilson Last edited by Sprint Relic; 04-30-2021 at 09:01 AM. |
#1759
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While the roof is out being upholstered, I'll get the carpet and carpet backing pads in. This is common carpet backing pad sold by the yard or in a roll. This was a 6' x 8' roll. Plenty.
I built up layers in low areas where wiring harnesses laid along the floor. Mostly in back of the seats coming up to the center console, then covered the whole mess with one continuous layer, front to back on each side. I used Gorilla glue spray for this and only in enough spots to keep it from shifting or bunching up later. This glue isn't as permanent as the Weldwood so if I need to take the padding up for some reason, it won't be a nightmare. Here's what's needed to shape the carpet to fit the floorboards. You need a big fat needle, some big fat thread (actually this is called twine), woven belting, and contact adhesive. For this I'm using the brush on Weldwood. It won't come loose. First, toss the rough cut carpet in and start laying it out along a straight edge if there is one. In this case I started along the door seal lip. Smooth everything out starting from there and working outward toward the other edges and finally into the corners. There will be material bunched up at the corners. Pinch the extra material together and mark them so you know where to cut darts. Don't cut out the whole dart at once. Cut one side, push the extra material under the edge that was just cut. Tuck everything tightly into the corner then mark the second cut along the edge of the first cut. Bam, perfect dart. Do the same at the other corners. Don't cut off the excess material around the perimeter yet. Things usually change along the way. When everything is good, remove the carpet and work across a large bench or table. Flip the carpet over, and one dart at a time, start gluing the back surface along the edges of the dart and the piece of belting.
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Jack Set a Goal So Big That You Can't Achieve It Until You Grow Into The Person That Can. Last edited by Jack 1957; 05-01-2021 at 10:28 PM. |
#1760
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Next, bring the edges tightly together and apply the patch of belting. When that's secure get that twine and the big fat needle and stitch through the belting and carpet. Use small stitches on the carpet side and wider spacing on the backside. The stitches tend to pull down the pile, so if you keep them small on the outer surface you can just scratch over the stitches with your fingernail and bring the pile back up. After the stitching is done, I go over the stitches on the backside with contact adhesive and it's done. It will not come loose or split.
It makes things a little easier if you work along a corner and let the folded area hang over the edge. This is the area where the carpet comes up along the side of the center console and tucks into slots along the lower edge of the console. The original CTS carpet was rigid enough to stand on its own, but this carpet isn't. I cut a strip of ABS plastic and glued it to the backside of the carpet so it would be rigid enough to stay in place and give a straight, smooth line following the contour of the console. This is as far as I got. I'll finish and install this side tomorrow.
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Jack Set a Goal So Big That You Can't Achieve It Until You Grow Into The Person That Can. Last edited by Jack 1957; 05-01-2021 at 10:37 PM. |
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