1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

[Darren65]

Is there anything you can't do Mark ..

.....water to wine...rock to gold....maybe?.....But I wouldn't bet against those either!

Excellent stuff

[sladey]

Walking on water as we speak

[sladey]

OK a bit more of an update....

Rear seats etc:-



I finished these off a few weeks ago. Not tackled the backrests yet but probably will at some stage. Sewing is harder than I thought - when you've got to sew perfectly straight parallel lines. The original ones were done with a twin-needle machine. I had to do them by eye. After a few goes I got to the stage where I was happy with the straightness but the stitch length just wasn't right. I've put them in my car but I'm going to get them re-stitched by an upholstered in the new few weeks. He's done a test run which is a bit straighter than mine but the stitch length is spot on.

As an example this is the bit behind the rear seats (not happy with this but was justifying on the basis that you never see it)


And here is one of the rear seat squabs in progress - couple of important tips - masking tape is way easier to follow than tailors chalk; and when following a line, follow it against the foot of machine - not against the needle - the constant movement confuses your eye and you'll go wobbly


And the seat squab finished - by now I'm getting better at the straightness.


When you look into the car they really look fine. But if you look closer and you're looking at the stitchin it's not right. So that's why I'm getting them re-done professionally (but he hasn't got a twin-needle machine either)

Compared to sewing, upholstery on the other hand is a piece of p155 (By upholstery I just mean the sort that goes into our cars - not making sofas). Bit of foam, cutting, gluing and stapling.

[sladey]

So then it was on to the front door panels.

For anyone looking to go to an earlier style panels there are a few gotchas:-

Locking knob
You need to order the earlier ones. Shown here side by side


Slight gotcha on this in that the earlier one has a larger (M4?) thread. So out with the tap and problem solved


Locking wheel
On the later cars there is a knurled wheel near the top of the door that you use to lock it. You won't need these on the early panels but there is a square bit on the end of the shaft that you need to grind off (it's obvious when you look at it)

Door opening pull - the leather strap
This connects via some bowden cable onto the latch mechanism in the door. Like a lot of the door stuff a hook goes into a plastic grommet. It's a bit fiddly to get it out - with the window down you can see it but not reach it, with the window up you can reach it but can't see what you're doing. After having done it a few times though you can quicte easily pop it out and back in again without too much trouble. I took this out and cut the hook off


Then I shoved it through a hole in some steel and welded it in place


Bent the steel over


Riveted it to the belt


Then took it apart and painted it


This is it fitted on the bare door

[sladey]

Front speakers
These were a bit of a ball-ache and took many hours of head-scratching. I didn't want them to be proud of the surface but preferred the idea of holes in the vinyl - copying that of Gary if I remember correctly.

When I had a good look at it if I mounted it just inside the whole the centre cone thing would be pushing against the vinyl. I therefore had to make some spaced out captive nuts to push it back into the door cavity

Brackets


On the speaker


Painted up


And in the door

[sladey]

Fitting it all together
I bought 3.5mm ply from Wickes which was prefect in the end. You then have problems in that you need to drill holes but get them all to match up perfectly. After a bit of head scratching I popped a couple of the poppers in to hold it in place and then used a spirit level to draw a hozontal line


I then took the card off and drew the same line from the same hole. You can then measure along this line and down from it and get reasonable accurate holes for the door handles etc. Obviously you drill through both to get them perfectly lined up - however it's crucial that you hit the right bit of the door behind with all those peaks and hollows so it is nice to be able to drill with accuracy


I held the door handle in using rivnuts - the handles themselves are swanky revo jobs.

Speaker holes
I messed around on some crap vinyl a few times and eventuially came up with some stuff to draw around that produced a pattern that I liked




I was pleased with the result


Door capping
This was a bit of a faff - fair bit of glue and stretching. I got the middle on and secure before taking my time and doing the ends. I also cut some steel the right shape for the end piece and clamped it in place



Finished door



On to the other side now.....

[Bootsy]

Looks great Mark

[hot66]

I like it .... but then again I'm quite partial to a bright coloured interior

[sladey]

Thanks guys. It's a really hard colour to shown on a computer screen - most of the photos show it far brighter than it actually is

This pic is probably the best representation of the colour - it's quite a dark muted colour in reality

[radioboy1]

Speaker perforations look spot on! good work fella

[sladey]

Thanks

[mdmax72]

Hi Mark,

Looks good.

Regarding the stitching, looks like you may not have enough tension on your foot. Not sure if you have a tension screw on your old boy. Should have. It's used for different thickness's material, not enough and you'll get different stitch lengths.

[964RS]

Love the doors Mark. Very nice mate.

[sladey]

Thanks for that Rich. The guy at work said it sounds like tension as well (TBH I Wasn't sure which tension he meant). But at this stage it's a lot easier for me to farm it out - it'll cost next to nothing and only take me an hour or so to replace what's already there once he's sewn it

[sladey]

Love the doors Mark. Very nice mate.

Thanks Jason