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Our regular gas is selling for $ 5.18 CDN or $4.74 USD a gallon.

I remember my first fill-up, gas was .35 cents a gallon.

Sheesh!

LOL = Regular
OMG  = Super
WTF = Diesel (wasn't it always cheaper that gas???)

Hi all,

Got a bit more done on the truck project. I upholstered the underdash unit, raised door panels and cab surround. Recovered the steering wheel to match the color of my seat. That swatch hanging behind the raised door panel shows the contrast.

Test fitted the A/C switches and vents, the tranny position indicator and steering column. Finished up the wire loom ends too.



Also fabricated door corners to straighten the door panel instead of the curved inner panel, these also allowed me to countersink the plastic panel fasteners.



Next I'm finalizing the upholstery design on the door panels. Kick panels and rear wall storage panels will be easy in comparision.

My52Chebby

I'm very pleased with myself, considering that a month ago I had never even touched a sewing machine...

Here are a couple of pics of the finished seat for my '52 Chevy pickup project :









Shaping the foam and making the patterns took forever, the sewing and upholstering... Not so much. Most of the work is in the design and patterning.

Still have to install the seat back release levers, the heated seat pad buttons and the armrest.

My52Chebby

... to show it's complexity.



I'll post finished product when it's done.

My52Chebby

I also checked out your photo album ... Excellent work ... When you built your seat frame , did you include any provision for seat tracks or a method to move the the seat to the front & back ??  

 Loots of good idea's in the photo album ...

Thanks ... :b-d:

Bob  

In my daily cars I like to drive as far back as I can, arms nearly extended to the steering wheel. In my truck cab, that won't be possible, the only options I had was to locate the tilt-steering wheel as close to the dash as possible with no interference and the seat as far back as possible (with a comfortable seat angle), there aren't any adjustments (for other drivers).

My52Chebby

Very nice indeed!  Do the different colors of foam denote different densities?

Except for the white foam, I couldn't tell the difference in densities by touch.

The blue/green and darker beige are both pretty stiff. If I had to say, the blue/green might be a bit stiffer.

My52Chebby

Hi guys,

I glued blocks of foam, shaped them with an electric carving knife and bodywork sanding disks to shape. Then marked where I thought the seams should go and made patterns to match those seam lines. Then cut out the vinyl with an added 3/8" of an inch for seam allowance all around. The next step was to be my wife's work but she got the jitters, she's a quilter and seamstress but it was the vinyl that scared her off. She offered to pay for someone else to sew the pieces together for me (This is MY truck project and I haven't farmed anything out yet).

These are the foam blocks glued up.



After a bit of shaping.



Thursday morning I sat down by the old Singer sewing machine I bought just for this project (paid $150. plus shipping on eBay for a machine from the '50's, it's built like a Mack truck) and did a few tests. As it turned out, I'm a natural. My dad was a fireman and he learned to knit, cook and sew to pass the time at the fire hall. So here's what I've done so far...



That wire hanging from the bottom is for the heated seat pad... After 12 years in the shop, I plan to DRIVE this thing...

Here's the seat back.




I've sewn up the second seat back and will upholster it next...  After that it's on to the bench seat... It's a bit more complex but I'm pumped now.

It started from foam blocks too...





Seeing as I'm planning to do EVERYTHING myself it could be another 2 years before the truck is finished. Idealy, I would have liked a shake-down run in the late fall of this year. Don't think that's going to happen.

After upholstery, I'll be back into the electrical system and final fitting everything in the cab. There's about 20% bodywork left to do, the electrical system is quite complex (of my own doing). Then a final dismantling before painting. I've fabricated racks to hold fenders, front and back, box sides and doors for painting. It will be painted a solid color so painting the parts separately is not a problem.

Here's a link to my truck build's Fotki album:
http://public.fotki.com/skylark/1952-chevy-pickup/

Later guys...

My52Chebby

Hi guys,

Thank you all for your input, I had also sent an email to Sid (Sid Chavers, upholsterer extraordinaire to Roy Brizio) asking the same question and he replied this morning.

He too says that over the years he's developed several patterns for speaker "grilles" and the holes are all punched by hand one at a time.

Here's a picture he sent me.



I guess, I'll get out the old geometry set and design my own pattern.

Thanks again guys.

My52Chebby
p.s.: Link to my '52 Chevy pickup build album on Fotki : http://public.fotki.com/skylark/1952-chevy-pickup/

I think that those punched holes for the speakers on the rear window shelf are done with punch plates instead of punching them one hole at a time.

Any idea who would sell those?

Thanks all.

My52Chebby

... I'll have to wait until the push button switch actually arrives then I'll mock up a test circuit.

What I want to do may be impossible to do...

My52Chebby

Last night I ordered a DPDT push button switch off the 'Bay...

That pb switch and this diagram using two regular relays should do it for me.



I'm thinking I'd just have to connect "lock" to one side of the DPDT switch and "unlock" to the other side. That way, when not pushing the switch, there would be no power to either the lock or unlock circuits.

Any thoughts?

My52Chebby

You're right Bruce... I didn't catch that.

Thanks.

... but I want to use a single pushbutton. This YouTube video does exactly what I need but the fellow doesn't explain how he accomplishes this.

His pushbutton, lights one light on the first push, a second light on the second push... No push = No light.

http://youtu.be/iNzIWwY2xzQ

Wish I knew what he did. How does one contact someone on YouTube?

My52Chebby

I would like to be able to lock and unlock my power locks with ONE momentary switch.

For example:

Push momentary switch once = Doors lock

Push same momentary switch a second time = Doors unlock.

I've seen push button switches that are "latching", in other words, push the switch once = open, push switch again = closed. I need a momentary switch that "toggles" from Open to Open. Or maybe I need a latching relay that does that?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My52Chebby