byakk0

what about running the bracing under the seat, and then up behind the seat? Leaving room for adjustment, if those seats have any.

stripped and prepped the floor of the passenger side for paint. Used up the last of my POR-15. I've only got the foot-well of the passenger side left, so I'll likely go another route. POR-15 Primed and ready for topcoat Also finished everything I can do with the seat at this point. Haven't been able to get new vinyl yet. Stripped and painted the frame. I don't have any good diaphragms but I have lots of extra Pirelli straps, so I drilled holes and used those instead. Not sure yet, but I may need to add one more in each direction. Made some adjustments to the seat cushion-ie fix some sewing errors, and added the attachment snaps. and with one side bolster roughly in place. I heated it up with a hairdryer to get it to stretch and have let it sit for a few days, clamped in place with c-clamps and vice grips. Now the only question is, bite the bullet and glue the vinyl in place, or wait for more and redo the bolster. I'm really in no rush so I should probably redo it as the stitching is visible and though it is somewhat hidden is not the best. I need to figure out how to adjust the speed control range on the foot pedal of the sewing machine, or build some sort of stop. It has a wide range of motion but a very narrow range of actual control. If I'm not careful it will go from no speed to full speed in less than an instant, and that makes it hard to control and yields terrible stitching.

Started welding on the passenger side rear wing but ran out of gas. No pics, sorry. They're just boring plug welds anyway. Finished up the work on my armrest. I was ready to glue the cover to the housing when I realized my car never had a boot on the e-brake handle, and I don't recall seeing them on any Mk1's--not that I have ever looked. I recovered one many years ago using that nasty cheap automotive carpet, and even then, no boot. So I got to asking around and got some pics. In the mean time I was searching through my spares looking for the parts for my front parking lamps (Lucas L594 clear beehive lenses) as I found a handful of the U-clips. Good time to do it as Abby was napping and it was something quiet. While searching I found what I have always thought as a shift boot from a different model and have never given it any consideration, but it was smaller and some hard board that had at one been rectangular in shape stapled to it. It then occured to me the hardboard matched the 6 anchor tabs on the inside front of the housing. (I'll have to snap a pic of this setup later). Here was my missing shift boot. Thank goodness I didn't have to rely on photos and measurements to reconstruct it. This is the final product. I added some additional padding to the top of the armrest, mostly to compensate for the seam along the black piping. It added extra thickness to the top side along the edges and left a dip the full length. But, the extra padding will add extra comfort too That job done I glued to the cover to the housing and clamped it up, using two yard sticks to protect the vinyl from the clamps. Then I turned my attention to the shift boot, getting it installed and bending the anchor tabs over to secure it. I completed the upper seat and the started LH side bolster. It was sewed only in only location. The rest is stretched to fit, so I didn't trim extra vinyl. In this shot I have the base, the back, and the LH bolster, though it is just loose fit, as you can see by the wrinkles. I need to recreate the foam underneath before I can finish this part of the job. As for the nasty RH side, I am out of grey vinyl and this job will have to wait. And a shot of the armrest in place, plus the seat base. The back is just resting in front of the other. You get a good idea of how it is starting to shape up, finally.

Thanks. I don't recall where I got the tip for the bread knife, but it works wonders. Much quicker and more accurate than hacking away with a knife.

Abby decided to try her hand at measuring. All she had to say was "Seven!" Made some seat foams for the back. The old ones are in excellent shape, amazing considering the seat base itself had turned to powder. (Just enough was left of those get an idea of how to construct the new ones.) 3M 77 spray glue on two blocks of 2" foam got me where I needed. I marked up the OEM foam with 1" increments so I could mark the center-line as well as transfer the upper an lower contours, for all four sides. I used an electric breadknife. Not one from the kitchen. I got this for $11 on Amazon just for this job. Maybe I shoulda bought 2 as we don't have a kitchen one. Started in on the armrest as it looked simple enough-and it was bugging me. Didn't get a shot of the metal, but it was black and a little rusty with old foam glued to it in places. Stripped, primed and painted it in body color, then glued on 1/4" foam. Laid out the old pieces on the new vinyl and used them as a pattern. Made up some black piping and stitched it around one side. Looks pretty good. and the nearly final product. I have it slipped over the armrest here. Still need to cut out the hole and glue the vinyl in place, so it looks very baggy right now. Then I turned my attention to the seat base. I completed the other side of it the other day. Discovered I need to narrow it. It should run right along the yard stick, but instead it turns out just a bit. Pick out stitching and adjust. I didn't take any pics for the rest of the night. I made up most of the seat back and adjusted the base and then called it quits. Here is the result. Sitting loosely in a spare frame. Please note this is not a high back. The vinyl is just loose and sticking up high. It will be pulled down later. And then roughly installed in my car. Not ideal, but you get the idea, and that is the point. And then, just for kicks, here is a shot my original attempt at my interior (20-ish years ago). Custom cut door cards with extra cheap automotive carpet glued on, plus a heat reflective bubble wrap. It started balling nearly right away. What was I thinking?

True. I guess I wasn't thinking about the condition of the frame itself. I have seen a fair amount rusted out at the bottom. Guess I lucked out and the doors (the frames that is) are virtually the one item on my car that had very little rust, and nothing serious at that.

True. I guess I wasn't thinking about the condition of the frame itself. I have seen a fair amount rusted out at the bottom. Guess I lucked out and the doors (the frames that is) are virtually the one item on my car that had very little rust, and nothing serious at that.

I throw my hat in the ring too. Looking forward to the build

Just re-skin it. I just did my doors. See my journal if you want an idea of what you are up againstl ( link below)

Just re-skin it. I just did my doors. See my journal if you want an idea of what you are up againstl ( link below)

With the loose hinge taken care of I can now focus on the rear wing and get the door gaps set so I can complete the work on the passenger side door. I discovered the wing protruded just a little too much beyond the welding flange at the rear, so I needed to add a little metal. Metal added. Much more than I need, but it is easier to work with. fitting and marking for trimming and after prep and primer/paint, ready to go. I got the trim strips that cover these joints, and I've debated on whether or not to put them on. They are kinda ugly as is, so I'll likely use them. Also, I finished my tool cart a few weeks back. Here it is. ignore the mess, or creative organization as some may call it.

Since I work nights I frequently need to stay up all night at least one night a week after days off to get back on schedule. Fortunately my mom was ok with me hanging out at her place all night so I could play with the sewing machine. I had some time to play with it yesterday afternooon, getting the feel for the vinyl and the machine--sorta. It's really touchy. The pedal has a very wide range of motion, but the control band is very narrow and easy to get it going too fast too quickly. I'll get the feel for it, but here is the results of that round of work. The piece I am working on is the snap tab on the rear of the bottom cushion. I made 5 unsuccessful attempts before giving up for a while. Frustration doesn't do any good, plus I felt I better make an appearance at home. I made one nearly perfect...and then sewed the snap tab on the wrong side. That was the last straw before I threw in the towel for this round. I could pick out the stitches, but it would leave holes in the vinyl, potentially weakening it. I went back over at midnight and had more success. I didn't take many pictures, but I laid the seat pieces out on some stiff card stock and used those for the pattern. The good news is, if I flip the pattern over I have one for the passenger side. I made a successful snap tab piece, then I sewed the panel with the pleats, leaving plenty of room on the ends and side, and then attached the vinyl bits to the either end, then attached the snap tab. Next came one of the side pieces. I made up some black piping, which turned out to be the easiest part of the night. Then came the hard part. Sewing the side to the rest. I ran out of piping so I haven't sewed the other piece yet. I only had about 4 feet I had gotten to play with. Didn't realize I'd get this far this quick. Guess I'll need to pick up some more supplies before I continue. I then 'installed' it in my car for a quick look-see. Ignore the wrinkles. The upper gets glued to the foams, and I'm not there yet.

OK, so you may think I'm getting ahead of myself, but not really. I've got some fabric and vinyl to play with, and the colors may be just what I need. I take the opportunity with what ever I have time for, and sometimes wrenching just doesn't fit into my schedule. Anyway, I finally got some time to play with my mom's sewing machine today. It's an Artisan 797ab. So I did some practice runs and ended up with the following. Then I marked up a seat base with registration marks and pulled it apart. Laid out like this it kinda looks like E.T. At that, I did get some wrenching in today. I swapped a loose hinge on the passenger side and it doesn't sag any more. Now i can get the door gap adjusted correctly and finish the door re-skin job.

before I continue with my resto update, here is a nearly completed pic of the cabinet. I had to make a slight modification to the swinging door, and then I stained and finished it.

the bumpers aren't quite there yet. Haven't had time to actually verify my findings and bite the bullet and drill holes. I'm close though.

Didn't accomplish as much this past week as I would have liked, but here you go. I dug out my rear bumpers, which I had stored fully assembled--thank goodness. With my "organizational skills" I'd be lucky to find all the hardware otherwise. You'd think I'd learn. First item of business, I disassembled them and chased all of the threads with PBblaster and a tap, as well as the mounting points in the boot. Next came test fitting. I want the bumpers straight and not drooping like you see on many restorations. Looks like I should be fine-however I discovered the lower mounting iron is off by about 1". Not sure how they got off so far as everything was fine way back in the day. I ended up bending them until they lined up. My first test fitting, the side of the bumper I have held in place with magnets. Second fitting after bending the irons. The ends I held in place with some rope as the magnets were not quite strong enough after all. A little paint and they are ready to go. ... I've got a friend with an upholstery business and he gave me some remnants that just may work. I'll make a cover for one seat and see how it goes.I probably have enough to do the arm rest and both seats. I can get the color code for the Naugahyde from him so if I run short I can match it. .... I spent the rest of my days off building a garbage cabinet for my wife as she was out of town on holiday. She saw this on Pinterest and has been bugging me for a few months to build one. It has a storage compartment in the top, swinging door in the middle, and tilt out bin in the bottom for access to the can. It was the tilt out feature she fell in love with. I still need to finish it, and she want's it stained...

BMW space grey. Slight variation on color 18, IMHO

Boot floor painted. Once I get the rear bumpers positioned I can install the fuel tank and stop using the gas can. coverage is uneven and it needs another coat or two, but I'm not worried about looks. No one will see the boot very often anyway. I can't wait to see the outside in this color. (drool)

I installed a Heavy Duty headlight harness with relay activated lamps so the high switching current doesn't route through the column switch. This will also grant me the option to go halogen at a later time if I so desire. I purchased the kit from a US based distributor, Victoria British. Turns out it is of Chinese origin and the color coding is quite different and has no documentation. Needless to say I needed to make modifications and additions to get it installed and working correctly. As constructed, the wire extension for the relays is close to one of the headlights, but I had to slit the yellow sheath to get the rest of the wiring routed correctly. This places the relays near one of the buckets-take your pick. I went the driver's side. You can just mount them on the inner support between the bucket and the wheel well. (I still need to do this). If you wish to mount the relays on the bulkhead, you'll need to supply enough wire to do so. The other option to leave the relays in the center of the bonnet. I popped the wires and grommet free from the bucket , clipped the wires and drilled out the hole on the grommet to 1/4" so the new wires would fit and crimped them back in. I should probably solder them as well. The ground wire terminates in a short pigtail. I clipped it and connected it to the old ground wire, but they are two different sizes/gauges, so be sure your connection is good and tight. If you don't mind drilling a larger hole in the bucket, once you remove the wires you make a larger hole for the new headlight connector, and just put a larger grommet in place. If you go this route you don't have to clip the oem wires, just push the old grommet out and pull the wires through. The new ground wire will need an extension, though, and that is not included. I bought a 12' roll of red 12ga and I needed 2 lengths of 6' for the power. I also bought 2 inline fuse @30 amp. Clip the new ring terminal off the harness and add wire as needed to the battery terminal. I ran mine to the connection on the starter solenoid. The only other issue was the connection between the new harness and the old. The old harness has black, blue/red and blue white. The new harness has a plug that is brown, blue, and yellow. Brown(or was it white...) is ground, and the blue and yellow are high and low beams. Make your connections how you desire. I used #12(yellow) spade terminals as they fit the plug tabs, and cut about 3" of the bulleted ends from a donor wiring harness and crimped the terminals onto those so they would connect right into the oem harness. This was the only color coding difference that really mattered. On my new setup it has white, brown and blue/white. Connect Brown to blue/red, white to blue/white and blue/white to black. Double-check you setup, however. I would be surprised if other kits from the same manufacturer had different wiring schemes. In a nutshell, the old harness connects to the new one at the blue/yellow/white connection. Run your power wires and add fuses. Connect the lights and relays, and you're done-wish it was that quick though. Of course you could build this setup from scratch with your own relays and wire. 12 gauge wire, 2 relays, and 2 fuses--and 2 headlamp connectors wire heavier gauge wire. The high/low power from the column switch activate the relays. The power for the headlights connect directly to the battery, the other side for the relay connects to the headlight. One relay is for high beams, and the other for low.

I snapped a shot of the 3rd brake light cover as seen through the rear view mirror. Very little obstruction to worry about.

Got some little things taken care of this week. Got the windscreen wiper motor working. Turns out I didn't have it grounded properly. I was more or less bench testing it, but when I got it fully installed it fired right up. Good thing too. I had it apart and repainted it back in '09 or so and never tested it. The only thing I had to repair was the connection for the brown wire on the top. I drilled 1/2" holes in the flange around the passenger wing and mounted it to the tub with self tapping screws. Now I can get the door gap correct and then finish the metal work on the door skin and passenger side. That will leave me with just figuring out the fit of the rear emblem panel-something funny going on there with the tailgate. Once I have those complete I can move on to the final body work. I misplaced the new spire clips for the front and rear lenses so I only have turn signals installed right now, but I came across a few old ones and put in one of the rear clear reverse light assembly's to verify if the reverse lights work as intended, and they do. I also modified the horn button. It has been turned at 90o to the steering wheel. I had to tear it apart and make a new slot in the emblem plastic so it would orient correctly. Looks much better now. before: after:

Thanks Nick. I'll keep you in mind. Need to make an adjustment for the dome light fitment. The flashing is not compulsory. It's a module intended for motorcycles, to get quick attention of those behind you. I was rear-ended once because the guy said he didn't are new. I was at full stop at an intersection. Direction indicators also are not compulsory.

Good things to think about, actually. Some day I plan on fitting my OD unit as my GT6 is a factory OD car.

Hey hey now! 😉 At there is someone here to defend us Americans. 😎 My Toyota Corolla has a gear lever mounted switch and my Mazda 5 Van had steering wheel mounted controls. (I'd like to see you try and operate those with your left hand, hmmm? ) Sounds as if you have it figured out John, but if interested, there's a guy in California that makes wood shift knobs. Sometimes he has them on fleabay, but you could contact him through the forum. http://www.triumphexp.com/phorum/read.php?5,1314132 Btw Roy, I take that as an invitation to drive your car when I get the chance to visit. I'll just have to bone up on driving on the wrong side of the road.(clap)

Did a little more on the electrics this week, and got some more bits installed in the dash. Backside of the speedo instrument cluster. I took this more as a reference shot. I also discovered I don't have the long L-shaped bracket that mounts to the back of the center panel to secure the bottom of the panel to the top of the radio support, so I fabbed up 2 brackets that fit into the spire-clip holes in the metal part of the dash. I started off by cutting and then bending a piece 16 ga steel. I stopped the cut above the 90 degree bend to make bending the offset easier. Measurements? No way. I just eyeball it and fettle it from there as needed. After some work getting them sized and positioned, here they are painted black and installed. positioned for tilting in. They almost act as hinges. And the final product (for the workday) I am aware the later models had screws in the lower corners. I'd like to avoid this method if at all possible, but through use of the choke and heater pullout knobs the tiny screws could pull out or the brackets could bend. I usually do it two handed, one supporting the dash as I pull either out anyway, so we'll see if it lasts. I have an idea for a second, slightly stronger bracket if needed. I don't have the heater box installed yet, so those holes are still empty, however I did put in the manual washer pump and the wiper switch later. Something is off in my wiring or connections as I couldn't get the wiper to operate. Testing showed no voltage output to the motor, so more digging. I also realize my wooden dash looks a little ratty, but that is because it is a little ratty. I've got a new one ready to install, but I want get the kinks and bugs worked out before I use it. Scratch up the old one, no harm no foul.