Weekend Project

[chevychic]

Here's what I did this weekend


I have to give credit to my husband for helping. He drew out the bowtie and flames on the dash. Did a pretty good job too.
I did the flames on the door...not the typical flame pattern. I like it that way

I was going to go with tweed and had even gotten some on Ebay, but it wasn't the exact color I wanted when it arrived. I got this material at a local upholstery shop. It has a cool shine/shimmer when the light hits it at different angles. Very stretchy and easy to work with.

Everything is installed but it was too dark to get pics. I'll post them when I get some.

I'm getting my bucket seats installed in a week or two and should have my console within the next month or so. It's so nice to finally be making noticeable progress!

dash 1

dash 2

full dash front

full dash side

door panel before

door panel in process

door panel angle 1

door panel angle 2

[gchemist]

UHMM? No A/C???
Great job.

[Mike76251]

That looks good Gal!
I have been trying to score some leather off of eBay for my dash but that stuff is waaay high.

[gldevall]

That looks great!

[chevychic]

Originally posted by gchemist
UHMM? No A/C???

Nope...it really sucks too. Especially on days like today where it's supposed to be 100°. I would like to install it someday at which point, I'll deal with the fact my dash is non-ac equipped and get a new one and cover it.

[loweredd]

How in the heck did you cover the arm rest part on the door panel? Not the armrest pad, but the base on the actual door panel? Did you cut the material? I have recovered my headliner and the pieces around it, but hadnt done the door panels, cause I thought that part wouldnt work well.......Please enlighten me.

[chevychic]

Originally posted by loweredd
How in the heck did you cover the arm rest part on the door panel? Not the armrest pad, but the base on the actual door panel? Did you cut the material? I have recovered my headliner and the pieces around it, but hadnt done the door panels, cause I thought that part wouldnt work well.......Please enlighten me.

It had to be glued on all the flat part while I creased the material outwards where it would have to wrap around. Then I cut a seam in the material at an angle and lined them up. The first one, didn't go exactly as planned but still doesn't look too bad. The second one looks really good. The pic is of the second one.

[loweredd]

So it's not that noticable, huh? Kewl. I will have to try that. The material I'm using will hide the cut fairly well I think.

Thank you!

[PHOENIX]

Looks good, but why the girly fabric ..... ohh yeah

We will be waiting for the install pictures!

This weekend I played some more with my welder.
Getting better and better all the time, my welds are looking pretty good and they are very strong.
I made one shop table and working on a second. When they are done Ill through a few pictures up. Starting to get some better tools and stuff in the garage. I need to get some tubing in so I can practice welding for the exhaust.

[chevychic]

Originally posted by PHOENIX
Looks good, but why the girly fabric ..... ohh yeah

Hey now....it's not girly in person. The pics make it look that way.

Would you be happier if I chose a mauve floral scene? :p

Keep up the welding...it'll come in handy and soon your friends will be asking you to weld stuff. I would if I lived closer

[82 Silverado 4X]

No matter what kind of fabric or what pattern the work looks great!
I've seen it done before on interiors in street rods but it looked pretty difficult. Your's turned out so well it made it look easy.

Nice job

[swervin ervin]

Wow Heather, you done great. Looks real, real good.

Is there nothing about a truck you can't do or won't try?

[chevychic]

Originally posted by swervin ervin
Wow Heather, you done great. Looks real, real good.

Is there nothing about a truck you can't do or won't try?

LOL Thanks Mike. There's nothing I won't try...plenty I can't do...but I'll at least try and if it doesn't work out right, I'll send it to someone who can do it for me

So far I've been very lucky at the things I have tried to do...

[swervin ervin]

Originally posted by chevychic
So far I've been very lucky at the things I have tried to do...

I don't think it's as much luck as it is skill. That's what you get for hanging out in your Dads garage instead of playing with dolls.

[apstguy]

I love your flames. They looks really good! Keep going!

[84Stepper]

Looks really great Heather! Right now I'm looking in junk yards for a headliner board. An upolstery guy wants about $100 to do it. But that's with some sculpted flames. Heck, after seeing what you did, maybe I could do it myself! What did you cut the flames out of? And what type of glue did you use. Would I start at one side an work across? Is the glue really quick setting? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to understand how to do it. If you have the time can you explain how to do it? I'll give it a try. I want to do my door panels also. Thanks so much Heather.

[79BIG10]

That looks great Heather. I'm wondering how hard it would be to add different cloth the flames and bowtie? Just curios to see how it would turn out with flames fading from color to color.

[chevychic]

Originally posted by 84Stepper
Looks really great Heather! Right now I'm looking in junk yards for a headliner board. An upolstery guy wants about $100 to do it. But that's with some sculpted flames. Heck, after seeing what you did, maybe I could do it myself! What did you cut the flames out of? And what type of glue did you use. Would I start at one side an work across? Is the glue really quick setting? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to understand how to do it. If you have the time can you explain how to do it? I'll give it a try. I want to do my door panels also. Thanks so much Heather.

Don't pay someone else to do it!!

The headliner is the easiest part to do. You can get headliner material at any upholstery shop. It's already padded and everything. You just spray the headliner board and the back of the fabric, wait a few minutes for the adhesive to get tacky and lay it down gently. You don't even have to press it down if you are doing just a plain headliner.

I haven't done mine yet. I'm in the same boat as you. I need all my trim pieces first. I have a few leads on a set, but I need to take care of other things first.

I saw flames done on a headliner on Horsepower TV in January and it looked really easy. Here's a link to a picture from the show:
http://www.horsepowertv.com/schedule...03&show_id=280

That show is what actually encouraged me to decide to give it a try on my own. The other thing you can do is to call a local upholstery supply shop and explain what you are trying to do. Don't call someone who does the upholstery because they will try to discourage you.
The shop I went to here was very friendly and helpful. Even threw in a bit of fabric and foam for free since I was a first timer going at it myself. He actually gave me detailed instructions on where to be careful and what to do to get it to look good. With a little searching you could probably find someone that can help you in the same way.
Good luck on finding the headliner in a junkyard. Ours is completely wiped out or only has trucks that didn't come with headliners.

EDIT: When you do decide to do it, be sure to buy the adhesive made for high temperature. It's about $11 a can here.


Brandon, I actually thought about using different material, but it seemed like it'd be too much of a pita to get it to match up just right. Although, if you were to apply the material on the foam design first, with a bit of an extra bit of material running off the design, then apply the base color fabric up and over the edge of the trim color, and then trim the base fabric to the design and glue the edges over the trim fabric, it probably could be done very clean if you take your time.

[crossy]

"Would you be happier if I chose a mauve floral scene? "

two words = TYE DYE

remember she said the fabric was 'stretchy' and thats the key. I had guy do a set for me in vinyl and they turned out horrible and it all peeled back. DAVE

[bigblock73]

Pretty cool Heather...excellent job!!!

-Jeff

[chevychic]

Here are some more pics of a dash mod. After I installed the dash in my truck last night, I realized that I forgot one of the most important things....a cup holder. So out the dash came again so I could install this thing.

While I was in Alaska, we spent a weekend between my grandparent's and my dad's RVs and they both had these cool cup holders that work awesome. I've used them about a hundred times, but had never thought about putting them in a truck. You can only find them in the RV sections around here. I went down and picked one up for $5.99. It fits perfectly on the dash and conveniently folds up out of the way when not in use.
Now I can drive around town with my drink up out of my lap or even better, be able to use both hands if I need to.

Closed

Open

in use...kinda

[kballan]

Impressive! That looks really good!

[Ric83]

Heather, you never stop amazeing me. That looks really good. Great job.

[swervin ervin]

Yeah, Heathers husband is a lucky man. I bet he doesn't even realize it either.

I bet money there isn't a guy on here who wouldn't give anything for a wife who could work on their own truck. Every time she pops in here with something else she has done to it, it makes me want to slap my wife. Just kidding of course. I don't slap women. But the thought does cross my mind. :p

Now, before any of you wiseasses pop up and say I'm hitting on Heather, get it out of your head. It just blows my mind the things she will try and succeed at most of them.

[TIMSPEED]

Heather,
That's EXACTLY what I wanna do with my new door panels. (Except the pattern of course ) But aswell, I want to cover ALL the metal on the door, with fabric.