Still working on the volkswagon. Fortunately the owner has been pretty laid back about things. I think he was ready to try and be a hard @ss and I explained to him how much time I have lost because he did me a "favor" by starting tear out. And there have been lots of Murphy's Law incidents that neither of us predicted. Last week, had I a flamethrower that car would have been torched. Finally got the headliner installed without a lot of wrinkles. Went to close the top and we couldn't get the left side latched. Bob & I both worked on it, including trying to assist it with a rubber mallet all to no avail. I spent a portion of three days last week trying different things to get the latch in place and nothing worked. Still, I was pretty sure I could finish the job without latching the car, just po'd at yet the latest wrinkle. Frank called to find out if I was finished and I gave him the good news. I told Frank that he would need to tow it to a frame shop when he picked it up. I did laugh out loud when he asked me if I could take care of getting it back and forth to the frame shop. I reminded him that there's no battery in the car so it cannot be driven and told him that it is leaving my garage only one time. My patience with this project hit the cellar quite some time ago. I told him I'd call him when the top was on.
Yesterday, full of patience and good cheer and went out to work on the vw. There is a bracket that I wanted to screw on that keeps the front of the headliner in place as I knew that would let me know if I needed to adjust the headliner at all. I never worked so hard in my life to get that bracket screwed in on the left side. Finally did and ran my hand along that portion of the frame and hit something. Took me forever to see it but finally discovered there was a small screw, half in and half out and by now bent. Took a little work to get it to unscrew but I finally did. Just for kicks, I put the top down and was able with basically no effort at all to get the left side latched. Right side has never been a problem and it latched as well. So this stupid little screw that you could hardly see gave me a couple weeks of grief. Frank was very happy when I called him with the good news that a visit to the frame shop is no longer on his agenda.
I still have to spray the shaping/insulating foam in place and will need to trim it a little before spraying it down. Should get that done this week and that means next week, I will FINALLY put the new top on. I am sure there will be lots of adventures with that. But, I'm thinking that I may actually get this job done without using a flamethrower to get out of it.
Oh yeah, and the headliner looked FABULOUS once the bracket was in place and the top latched properly. WHO HOO!!! Still, I recite at least 100 times a day "I am never doing another volkswagon as long as I live"
Gotta get after it!
Virginia
Never say never, next time work out a price and triple it. ;)
Quote from: scottymc on September 09, 2014, 03:48:34 pm
Never say never, next time work out a price and triple it. ;)
Sounds great to me. Hubby however doesn't like having his car relegated to the outside world when I need a spare bay :D
Seriously, if I had the correct set-up I wouldn't mind it at all. When I attached the headliner, I was supposed to have the frame stretched straight in the air. I had to stop because of our rafters and garage door opener mechanics. That was one area I "punted" and was fortunate that it came out correctly. I put the frame down, pulled the headliner between the two frames, clipped it down with my jumbo quilting pins and took a quilting water soluble pencil to mark where the headliner should meet the frame and then sprayed the adhesive on. I expected to have to adjust a little bit at least and was quite pleasantly surprised that the headliner fit like a glove the first time. Beginner's luck I guess ; )
Quoteif I had the correct set-up I wouldn't mind it at all.
Oh do I remember that. ::)---My first upholstery shop was a 256 sq ft choir loft in an (at that time) 108 year old ex-church. I did the leathercraft and shoe repair out of my 7 1/2 X 12 uninsulated work shop at home. [picture some counters/cabinets/ huge old antique finisher and the kerosene heater I needed to get the place warm enough for the glue to stick and my finisher to run--->12 C /5? F apparently---and you'll know why some times it is handy to be the size of a jockey]
Quote from: Virgs Sew n Sew on September 10, 2014, 03:14:01 pm
Hubby however doesn't like having his car relegated to the outside world when I need a spare bay :D
im with him!
I had to order yet a few more parts for the VW yesterday. Stuff that I'm sure Frank and his son either broke or threw away. Really hope that is the last that I have to order. Felt a bit better about the amount of time I've spent working on it after talking to my vendor. He works on VW's in his spare time. I asked him if I wasn't the longest headliner/top replacement in the history of VW's. He chuckled and said no, that I would be surprised how long some of them take. Also that I need to remember that what I've been doing is more than a replacement, it's actually a restoration and that with these old VW's you just don't know what you are going to get into until you get in and start doing. So I felt better about the time it's taken.
I am actually itchin' to get out there and work on it but it's in an unheated garage and it's 50, blustery and drizzling. Not good weather to be working with spray adhesive. I'm ready to spray the insulating foam pad to it's liner and then it's time to put the top on. Really want a warm day for the top so that I can lay it out on the lawn for an hour or so to loosen the vinyl before I put it on the car. Once the top is on the frame, nothing looks really horrible until I am ready to insert the window and that has me a bit freaked out. Chuck (vendor) and I did chat about it. He's got it all detailed nicely complete with pictures in the manual he produced but it still gives me the "Can't someone else do the window" blues. I'm sure it will be fine once I get to going on it, just the pre-window jitters. The window is literally the last step. Once it's in correctly, then I total up Frank's ever growing ticket, call him and get my garage back. Hopefully no early snows for us for a few more weeks. The sandhills of Nebraska got a rain/snow mix last evening. Too early for this weather.
Need to work on other stuff since the VW is out for the day.
Virginia
Quotebut it's in an unheated garage and it's 50, blustery and drizzling.
How big is your garage? I've had some experience with heating issues like that. And before some Floridian gets smart aleck---We don't use whale oil lamps down this far south LOL. Well not if we have the hydro ---anywayzz.
It's barely a double -- if we drove pick-ups or SUV's it would be a one-car. Some room is taken out of it because the previous owner did carpentry in there so there are work benches set up. I do have some tools on one of them but don't leave too much of value in it since Grand Island is having a lot of vehicle/garage break-ins right now.
Push comes to shove, I probably can set up a space heater but then I need to leave the garage door shut, screwing up my natural lighting so then I would need to bring in some floor lamps. So, I just need to hurry up and get it done before cold weather gets here permanently. Supposed to be in the 70's and dry next week so I should be able to haul it.
Virginia
I would use one of those radiant propane heaters that thread onto your BBQ tank. We commonly call then sunflower heaters. For the kind of cold you'll be up against you should be able to leave the door open. One of them will sweat you right out of a good sized icefishing shack in the dead of a Canadian winter.
Quoteso then I would need to bring in some floor lamps.
I would spend the few bucks for a couple of 4' florescent lights and use the daylight bulbs.Much better light and they don't get in the road.
Thanks for the tips. I'm hoping to get the VW finished before winter. I am really close but don't know how much of a pain getting the top on correctly will be.
I do plan on working on the loveseat (channel back) that matches the chair in the garage as there is no room at the inn. No way are we lugging that sucker down my very narrow steps to get into the official Sew & Sew area. The chair is in the dining room and that is where I am working on it. I do that with most chairs. There's a nice little niche that works perfectly for reasonably sized chairs. If the VW goes well and the weather holds, I could get the loveseat done before the weather gets crappy but this is Nebraska so one never knows. Having a cold early September, plus all the rain we've gotten, has me thinking that we could have a very cold and snowy winter. We are definitely due for one of those. This will be our 10th winter back and we have yet to be inundated with snow.
Virginia
I've worked out of the living room/had the shoe repair in my 7 1/2 X12 X I almost have to duck workshop/ 256 sq ft in an old choir loft at the top of a spiral stair case--- ::) If you can set yourself up in the garage, your workflow will improve, you will be better ready to tackle it when you do go out to work, and it presents much better when people bring their work to you. Makes it easier to charge your new [what you are actually worth] rate. You have been raising your rate (STERN CHARACTER) ---right??
Before I took the leap and rented the big shop I put a little bit from each job aside---a bale of insulation from these two, a roll of vapour barrier from that one,etc... and made do in my widdle workshop.
Quote from: Darren Henry on September 14, 2014, 04:27:00 pm
Makes it easier to charge your new [what you are actually worth] rate. You have been raising your rate (STERN CHARACTER) ---right??
Yes sir, I am raising rates. Not going too fast so as to freak people out but I have raised them and will again. I've been trying to up them a bit on each new "big" job. I have a big storeroom off my Sew & Sew area that I am toying with remodeling. I'd like a real bathroom down here -- I just have our old toilet from when we remodeled upstairs. Thought I could make a nice bathroom and incorporate a real changing room for my alteration projects. Use our laundry room now though I could get a couple of cool screens and use part of Sew & Sew. So many decisions, so little money. ; )
Using the garage as much as possible makes good sense. I'm very dedicated about getting downstairs like I should in the morning and after lunch but I really hate having the dining room trashed by my larger projects. As long as Bob has his bay for the 'vet he's happy. I don't mind parking in the driveway. I'm sure the logo on the HHR shows up much better than the yard sign anyway so that would be the bonus.
Gotta get after it. Lots to do today.
Virginia
;) Glad to hear you've given yourself a raise closer to sweat-shop rate. LOL. I hear you on the time-budget-wanna plans for shop improvements. It's a balancing act to be sure. Just be patient and keep picking away---some damaged sheets of gyp rock (wall board I think you call it ) for cheap this "payday", towels and curtains at your thanksgiving white sales etc...She'll all come right on the night as the Brit's say.
We actually dumped a ton of $$$'s into the basement before this started. I worked part-time at our Jo-Ann's Store to get remodeling money. I was still working my full-time job them so it got a bit hairy before it was all over and done with.
Basement originally had a "great room" and a bedroom off it. Tore out the wall between the two and rocked the former bedroom and transition wall. Replaced windows with energy efficient ones. Bob & I tore out the old ceiling together -- that was definitely a hoot. Then we had an electrician come in and rewire what is now Sew & Sew with a dedicated circuit for each machine (sewing, serger, embroidery, long arm quilter and upholstery) as well as a trac lighting set-up with some additional cans over my two large tables that house 3 of my machines. It's all quite cool. My customers are pretty much blown away when they get down here and see all of the machines and those huge tables. The tables have electronic lifts so I don't have to bend down to pick up whatever machine I need which is perfect for me since I'm fused at L5/S1. I painted the ceiling and walls and then had an industrial type carpet put in as it doesn't have a high pile which makes it easy to spot pins/needles/etc and also to vacuum up all those pesky threads that never seem to hit the trash can.
All in all, it's a great set-up. Just was designed before upholstery came into play. 75% of the time it's not an issue as I'm doing restaurants, boats, motorcycles and other assorted small items. But when chairs, loveseats and other larger items come along then it's not ideal.
Really don't want to rent a commercial space as rent is astronomical here. Also Bob, I and all the four legged creatures like having me here most of the time so incorporating the garage into the mix on a permanent basis seems an ideal fix. I'll take the winter hours to try and design a better set-up out there and also how to get that second bathroom/changing area going in the Sew & Sew area. Now I just gotta go find that money tree ; ) Better yet, get those restaurant chairs fixed so I get paid for that job.
Virginia
:-[ Well now I feel like a blithering ass. You speak so modestly about your arrangements that I envisioned way less than that.Please excuse my "presumptions" , and moderate some of posts. I was thinking cement walls, 3 pull chain lights, ---glazed cement floor.
Quote from: Darren Henry on September 17, 2014, 04:19:11 pm
:-[ Well now I feel like a blithering ass. You speak so modestly about your arrangements that I envisioned way less than that.Please excuse my "presumptions" , and moderate some of posts. I was thinking cement walls, 3 pull chain lights, ---glazed cement floor.
LOL, not a problem at all. For the record, before we remodeled, I only had one pull chain light and the vintage 70's foot square linoleum ; )
I didn't realize I had been so modest in discussing Sew & Sew. My bad -- it really is a cool set-up except for being in the basement. I'd love a ranch with Sew & Sew being one of the wings. When I win the Lotto.
Virginia
It's been a good last week or so on the bug! I spent some time removing all the old seals that go around the windows. Lots of fun as some places weren't ideal for using the drill to remove the screws. Of course those were the screws that really didn't to come out but I am very persistent and eventually got all the screws out. At the last minute I had to replace the tension screws and cables. I had one cable break last time I opened the top and the plastic cracked on the other cable so I replaced both this weekend. That was fun as one of the crimpers had gotten bent enroute and neither Bob nor I could get the wire through it on the second pass. In desperation, I went across the street to our neighbor who is a total car freak. He ended up boring the crimper so we could get the wire through. Spent parts of yesterday afternoon and this afternoon getting the insulation pad positioned correctly and then stapled and glued into place. I need to cut a small piece of foam to cover the staples on the rear wooden bow tomorrow and then it is at last time to start attaching the top. : )
Seriously, I am just about giddy with anticipation. I've read the manual on this part a couple of times and it is pretty straightforward. The only part I'm apprehensive about is installing the rear window and Chuck (parts distributor) has said that as long as I take my time and follow the directions in his manual I shouldn't have any problems. He has way more confidence in me than I have. Though I've gotten this far pretty much solo so I'll just take it step by step. At any rate, I smell victory and it smells sweet already!
Virginia
Put the top on the bug about a week and a half ago but there are lots of steps before it is "installed". ; )
The first big step is to "lock" the top in place at the top of the rear end frame. There is what is called a "U" channel and the top needs to be sucked up in that channel just above the welting and held in place with a cable. The cable is also to be sucked in by tightening the nuts on either end, alternately, until you can no longer see any of the cable. Sounds easy, huh? What the manual doesn't say is that starting this process is definitely a 2 person job. You need one person applying pressure on the cable as you force it in the U channel until the cable fits around the ends of the U channel. Not a lot of fun as you don't have much spare cable. I had a customer come by as I was trying this single handed and he graciously assisted me in getting the cable in place. Bob would have helped but Ron had infinitely more patience than Bob would have so it worked out very well. The next day I went out to start tightening the cable and discovered that the nut had fallen off one end -- arghh. I was able to carefully get the cable loosened up enough outside of the U channel to start the nut tightening and then even more carefully pulled the cable back into place in the U channel. That was the easy part. Once you start tightening, you become a contortionist as you have to get into the back of the bug to get to the nut, give it a couple of turns, get out and go to the other side, climb into the back and repeat until you no longer see the cable. For the most part, that job is done. I don't think that the cable is visible but I'm going to tighten it a bit more as that pulls the back sides of the top in. There are two places where the back sides are screwed. I can stretch them in place manually but I think the cable will do it easier for me. Once I'm satisfied with this, I cut holes in the inside of the top so that the tension cables can be pulled through. Then, the front of the top gets spray adhesived to the frame. I'm hoping for a slight warm-up in temps in a few days when I'm ready for that step. Cut holes in the headliner and top for the rear window, insert the window, attach some seals and I believe I will be done. Doesn't sound like much when I type it out but as I have learned from experience, what sounds easy when reading the manual can test my determination to get this car out of my garage. Hoping that this goes easy, rather than hair pulling.
We will take pictures once finished so I can show it off as I am rather pleased with the headliner, especially since it was a first attempt.
Virginia
Still playing with the bug; and the weather gets colder and colder and colder. Actually have had nice weather this week and was hoping to get the top finished as well as starting to cut holes for the window. I had been working with the top vinyl, getting it into position as much as possible using my heat gun (carefully). There was still a bit of a gap between the welting and the top that is supposed to be worked out by tightening the cable. I have been carefully tightening the cable as it is old and pretty frayed. I gave it about a half turn this afternoon on the passenger side and that darn cable snapped. So, one last order from my bug vendor.
It turned out to be a good thing as the manual made it unclear that the top will not close with the top glued to the front of the frame UNTIL the window holes have been cut. I would have spent the winter trying to get that baby stretched. So the vendor and I talked over, pretty much step by step, until I felt really confident. Also, there is what is called a boot, that goes over the top when it is down. There are "fins" that are placed inside the car that the boot snaps onto. The fins have been in pieces in the back of the car since I received it, with no hardware to attach to the car and that is also part of this process so I got those things ordered as well. Chuck promised me that there is absolutely nothing left to order. : )
I'll have the parts in Monday's mail. My drop dead date to finish this (to myself) is the 1st of the month. Chuck said that it is absolutely within reason to finish it. I know that the cable will be in place Monday afternoon. Tuesday I want to get the top attached to the front of the frame. Wednesday put in the window. Thursday replace all the window seals as well as the seals that go on the post by the front window and that would leave getting the "fins" for the boot in place on Friday. Now, I just have to be able to keep to that schedule. I've got afternoons left open all next week so fingers and toes crossed, this should work.
You know what they say about "plans", right?
Virginia
Last of my parts arrived in today's mail. Weird weather. It was fabulous when I first went into the garage. Front definitely came through as by the time I came in, I was thinking that long pants might be in order-brrrrrr.
At any rate, the new cable is installed. I will take a butter knife out tomorrow to push the cable into the U channel in a couple of places and then one or two turns on each side. But it is basically installed. The difference in the two cables was just amazing. The first cable was pretty stiff and so getting it over the top of the channel so that I could start pushing it into the channel was darn near impossible. I really didn't think that first cable was going to stretch over. And I had a helper assisting me. I pushed the new cable through each side by myself as Bob had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, gave the nuts 2 or 3 turns so that the cable would not come loose, stretched the cable over the top of the channels and away I went. It was pretty easy getting the top and the cable pulled in the U channel this time as the top fabric was already stretched and so it just kind of popped back into place. The only issue was that the nuts are supposed to be a metric 10 and they were an 11. I used a metric 10 wrench on the old cable, the manual says to use a metric 10 but the 10 just wouldn't fit correctly. I fought for about 10 minutes and gave up and went in the house and raided Bob's tools for an 11. Went back to the garage and the 11 worked perfectly. Otherwise no hitches. Hope the next 4 steps go like today. If so, I will be finished Friday.
Virginia
This is such a sad topic for me. I alternate between frustration and loathing for this project. I did research what this entailed but had not found the samba website and what I read outside of samba made it sound like not a big deal to do a headliner/soft top replacement. LOLOL.
The weather has been absolutely glorious most of last week and so far this week. A little windy today but if you're working in a garage not a big deal. My five day schedule got shot all to hades last week. One of my steps was to pull to cables attached to the tension spring through the top and then attach them to a bend tab on the convertible frame. This particular make of top has a string that you attach to the crimped area and then pull the other end of the string and voila, the cable pulls through. Right side went without a hitch. The left side not so much. After working and working to get the strings moving, I discovered that the string was either glued or in the wrong place at the wrong time and when the top was pressed for imprinting the string is not immovable. So, I learned about using an old coat hanger and got the cable through. That turned out to be the easy part. Took maximum effort to get the left cable hooked over the pull tab but I did. Right side I could not get closer than 1/4".
I decided to see how the left side was lining up. There are flaps at the top of the frame and the quarter panel area that get glued to the frame. There was simply no way that those were lining up correctly. I got out my hot gun and loosened up the vinyl a bit and worked on the flap to see if I had made any gains. Much to my consternation, the wires in the flippin' cable that I just received decided to pull out of the cylinder that the nut is tightened around. ARGHHHHH. That was Monday. My vendor is closed on Monday always but was also closed on Tuesday this week for some reason. I called and got his voice mail on Wed, called again this afternoon and got a return phone call about 30 minutes later. We talked about the top issues and he agreed that I have been following his manual religiously. Finally he asked the 64 million dollar question which was what brand of top am I using. VW owner bought the top and when I told him the brand (TMI), he said that he doesn't carry that brand because they are a royal pain in the backside to install. Basically they do not want to fit properly. I don't have much choice as I doubt that Frank is going to want to buy a new top. Vendor did say that you can get them to fit, just have to go about it differently. I hopefully have the necessary information now and am just waiting on the new cable to arrive. He said that I should get it Monday but after I hung up, I realized that Monday is Veteran's Day so probably not until Tuesday. Hope the warm weather continues a bit longer. Basically, he said to cut the back window hole before trying to secure the flaps and usually it is done with the flaps attached first. But by starting to cut the window, you get "relief" and that allows you to adjust the position of the top without breaking cables and such. He said to make a small window cut, no more than 3 inches and then work the front of the top into position. He said that I should be able to get the front of the top glued as well as the flaps that are glued to the front sides of the frame. That will start compressing the foam and then he said I should be able to work the quarter panel flaps into position and get them glued.
Once those pieces are secured into position, the top is correctly installed and I can finish cutting the back window, install window and then start installing the window seals and other finishing pieces of hardware. Sooo, another really sucky bump in the road but after typing his instructions it doesn't sound horrible and should be doable. I am a very stubborn person and I refuse to have a crappy little hunk of metal get the better of me. : )
Virginia