County98's Learn as I Go Thread

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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

Next I finished hand scraping the floor with a couple sizes of metal putty knives. After all that shenanigans, I went over the whole thing with a wire cup on my cordless drill.

Super NOT a good time. PLEASE wear some good eye protection and at least a painters mask over your breathing holes. No joke. Rust, metal, mouse poop, rotted cloth fibers, dust... you hopefully get the picture.
Scrubbed (1).jpg
Scrubbed (2).jpg
Okay, mildly more fun, but still a long sweaty day was the actual coating. I did 2 full, thick coats of Rust Bullet. I didn't mess with the black Topshell, this will all be covered.

There is a forever debate on the "proper" way to fix rust. The hardcores will swear you must cut it all out and weld in new steel. They're not wrong. BUT, my floors were 98% intact with a few pin holes and a couple spots I could see through. Like literally 3 spots. My goal is just a car I can seal up and feel safe that my wife's feet won't go through the floor. I'm comfortable with this fix FOR ME. DO as much as your budget, time, and skills allow.

Sample fix for full disclosure: This is the little spot on the rear seat bottom I found. It's reflective of all 3 of my patch areas and about the same size. Again, none of these areas are in a weight load bearing area. The actual places you press your feet were all fine in my car. Also, none were of structure members, just low spots in the tin.
Bullet (2).jpg
Coated area:
Repair (2).jpg
Got it good and wet and applied a fiberglass cloth patch at least twice the area of the repair.
Repair (3).jpg
Coated over the patch, soaking it solid in Rust Bullet (this stuff dries hard like an epoxy coat, same as POR-15) Viola'. That's it. Not sexy, but I think effective for my needs. Sealed and solid for probably many years.
Repair (4).jpg
Full monty: I only did the pans up to about the height of the sill area. Except the rear, that got done up to the rear window for fumes and stuff. The darker gray on the rear window sides, kick panel steel, and up under dash is just Rustoleum self-etching primer I picked up at Harbor Freight. After the metal putty knives and wire wheel, I just wanted it all mostly coated with SOMETHING.

None of this will ever be seen again after re-assembly.
Bullet (1).jpg
Bullet (3).jpg
Bullet (4).jpg
Going to let it cure out and harden for a couple days and then maybe Monday I'll give the seat mounting a shot. Excited about that, lol.
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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cad-kid
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by cad-kid »

Lookin' good :tu:
Jeremy (cad-kid)
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thunderbearr
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by thunderbearr »

You're hole is in the same spot as mine. :)

Image
Robert Vancel
Knoxville, TN
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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

Lol, so many jokes come to mind.....

Yup! My repair seems to be curing out nicely. Seems very tough! Still curing out though, still a lot of fumes. :tu:
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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thunderbearr
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by thunderbearr »

County98 wrote:Lol, so many jokes come to mind.....
In retrospect... I probably should have thought that one through... ::-):
Robert Vancel
Knoxville, TN
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BobWitt
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by BobWitt »

Shayne - so that big garage smells like rust bullet now - likely better than what it smelled like before! Glad to see you back, looking forward to your getting those Corsa center caps turning... You gave me the idea for the horn buttons...
20150630_172054[1].jpg
Looking good - Welcome back!
BobWitt - South East Michigan
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1966 Corsa 140
Follow my build at: viewtopic.php?f=52&t=9082"
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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

Looks awesome Bob, good job buddy!
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

So, started on the seats today. Made some progress, but not as much as I hoped. Have the fronts mocked up, but the back will take some more work to figure out.

Here's some pics of the BMW seat track measurements.
Front Seat Measure (1).jpg
Front Seat Measure (2).jpg
Install was fairly straightforward. Like I had mentioned before, they really worked out on the front to back measurements. I was able to use the factory floorboard humps and keep the heights kosher, as well as using the reinforced areas.

I was a little worried at first because the fronts look like they are offset on the tracks a couple inches. Turns out they aren't, the outside rails are just kicked out some. I started the mock up by sticking each seat on the one seat stud per side. Got lucky again and the seats were centered like a champ. Sitting in the drivers seat, the steering wheel horn button is right in the middle of my chest.

Front to back.
Install (1).jpg
Width wise, they were very close to not working, but worked out just right. Outside rails are EXACTLY to the edges while still sitting flush to the floor. Whew!...
Install (2).jpg
Install (3).jpg
Driver seat has a manual height adjustment, which is groovy for my wife. She's all of 5' tall. :tu:
Driver Height (1).jpg
Driver Height (2).jpg
The other thing I was worried about was fore/aft travel. Would have sucked a lot if it wasn't going to work for 6'1" me AND my 5'0" wife. Worked out just fine. At full forward, she can clutch all the way to the floor. She says the steering wheel is way to close, but it's the factory wheel and it's huge. I'm changing to a 14" wheel soon without all the dish depth.

Driver forward:
Driver forward.jpg
Driver full back:
Driver back.jpg
Fully mocked up. I still have to go get some permanent hardware. All will be grade 8 with solid, big washers for force dispersion, lock washers, etc.
Finished (1).jpg
Finished (2).jpg
Finally, here's the thing I have to figure out. The place I started was with the single stud for each seat mount. Turns out that the stud is too short to come through the seat rail. I guess the easiest thing will be to see if I can find some nuts with a shank that goes down into the mount hole. I'm not sure what they're called, but I know I've seen them. :dontknow:
Front rear stud.jpg
On to the rear seat! That one will take some figuring out I think...
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

Before calling it a day and heading out to my nieces soccer practice, I took a long look at the back seats. Essentially to see if it was something that was doable for me. I even thought about scrapping the back seat entirely, and still may if it doesn't work out. :dontknow: :dontknow: Ehhh, still fun to muck around with stuff. :tu:

After staring at it for a good long time, I decided the best plan of attack would be to graft the mid 90's memory foam onto the mid 60's spring steel frames. I think my best chance of success will be to mesh the seats together rather than trying to fabricate mount points in the car itself. So off we go!

When I first got them (way back on page 2 or 3, lol), I never really thought about what would be involved in REALLY making them work...
Back Seat Start (2).jpg
Back Seat Start (1).jpg
Started with the bottom. First thing was too strip off all the nastiness and see where we were at with the spring frame.
Frame (3).jpg
Since the new seats have preformed foam "butt pockets", I started to whittle away at the height springs with a medium set of bolt cutters.
Frame (4).jpg
I was afraid of taking too much, so I cut springs out a little at a time. Turns out all that was a waste, and they ALL had to go, lol. Who knew? :banghead: The factory seat frame is dipped to stay in contact with the floor, and the foam seats sit right in their fairly well.
Frame (2).jpg
You can see that the fore/aft isn't bad at all, and the side to side is only a couple inches narrower. The resounding issue was that the new seats are contoured and the spring frame is a giant rectangle.

Decided since this is almost entirely in contact with the floor, I wasn't going to lose anything by doing some bending and contouring of my own.
Bends (1).jpg
Bends (2).jpg
Looks like crap kind of, but I was just roughing it in at this point to see if it was even feasible. It was. After a test fit (that I forgot to take pictures of) it looks like it will work like a champ. The front lip of the seat comes down over the floor shelf a little bit, and comes out maybe 1/2", but looks great I think.

Cleaned up the bends, hit it with a wire brush, and sprayed it with flat Rustoleum.
Black.jpg
Tomorrow, if I don't go play golf, I'll pick up some hog ring pliers. I'll shoot for mounting the frame to the seat and getting it mocked up in the Corsa.

The part that has me scratching my head now (cue the appropriate emoji) :think: , is the seat back. It's going to take some actual adjusting I think AND it has a large bolster on each side where the Beemer had rear wheel wells. Even if I get it grafted to the factory fold down, it may never actually fold down. Might be fine anyway and have a nice space to work some stereo gear back there.

Only the Shadow knows...
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

Went shopping today and picked up a bunch of Grade 8 hardware for the front seats, hog ring pliers (and rings), and I think I solved the seat stud being too short issue.

Found some Coupling Nuts at Lowes, that should be long enough for me to get on it and snug it up.
Coupling nuts (1).jpg
Coupling nuts (2).jpg
On to the rear seat.

Got the hog rings around a bunch of contact points on stock frame and through the heavy steel cross bars in the foam. Should work out okay I think. Mounted it in.
20150904_151342.jpg
Doesn't mock up too bad!

Sides are okay, and can see 2 of the 3 fold down bracket bolts, so we'll see how that all works out when I get that far, but keeping my fingers crossed.
Side.jpg
Overhang is a couple inches once I actually snapped the stock frame into the clips. Still should be okay I think? :dontknow:
Overhang (1).jpg
Anyway, I'm calling the mock up on the bottom okay for now. I won't actually know if this will all work until I get into mounting the seat back. I bent in the sides of the seat back about an inch on each side and it allowed clearance to set it into the car. Sits a little upright, but this seat isn't going to get much use anyhow. The real trick will be seeing how it will work with the stock fold down piece...

Got the fold down stripped. What a mess.
Fold down.jpg
Just a rough set of the back onto the board. Width seems fair, height is a couple inches tall, and the side bolsters look crazy on the board. In the car though, the rear window panels are flat and it looks okay, but will never fold down. That's for sure!

Thinking of POSSIBLY trying to take a couple inches off the bottom of the seat back. Would fit the board better and the bolsters wouldn't be so dramatic. Would make the fold down center armrest work a little better as well. I'm not sure that's all in my skill set though.
Rear Pan (2).jpg
Rear Pan (1).jpg
That's it for today, called it off a little early to do some chores. :sad5:

OH!!! While we were running around town, we ended up at Hobby Lobby. While I was wandering around aimlessly, I found this, lol!
20150904_122037.jpg
I know others have posted pics of it, but I had never seen one in real life, and certainly didn't expect it to be just sitting on the shelf at a store. :clap: :tu:

See ya! :wave:
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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cad-kid
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by cad-kid »

Good post!
Jeremy (cad-kid)
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BobWitt
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by BobWitt »

Those BMW seats look great! I'm anxious to see the rear assembled and in place...

Looking good!
BobWitt - South East Michigan
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by GriffinGuru »

I like it!!
I had replace cheap aftermarket "racing" seats for the fronts in my 924 with some nice mid 90's VW seats. They were that black syn-leather and only $100 vs. the inflated prices for Porsche seats... The only problem was that I had to fabricate mounts and shave foam out of the VW seats to get everything to line up and sit low enough. Like yours, things did not line up 100% and I think they should still be a tad lower, but the end result was 110% better than what was ion the car. I've had people who were surprised that the seats were replaced!

Those BMW seats look good and once carpet is in there, any areas that aren't quite fitting will be hidden better with the carpet taking up the negative space.
It keeps me humble:
64 Corvair Monza convertible called Lucy (work in progress)
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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

Thanks for the feedback guys! I think they look pretty good too. Hope I can get the back to work.

Any tips on trimming the foam? I've never done it before...
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by GriffinGuru »

I used a hacksaw blade and sawed it like carving a turkey breast. It worked pretty good, but I do recommend running a shop vac over anything you cut that way after you are done, or you will forever be finding small foam dust falling out of it! :neener:
It keeps me humble:
64 Corvair Monza convertible called Lucy (work in progress)
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County98
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Re: County98's Learn as I Go Thread

Post by County98 »

Well, not too much excitement today. Kind of a bust for today, but at least I figured out what's not going to work.

Plan "A" was going too smoothly I guess. Got the new bottom back out and loosely bolted in the pivot board. No Bueno with the new seat bottom.
Rear Pivot (2).jpg
Rear Pivot (1).jpg
The deal is that the seat pivot board sits around 4" off the tub, but the new rear seat is about 5 1/2" tall. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but apparently it is, lol. With MUCH massaging and trying not to tear the new seat bottom a second issue popped up. The pivot board pushes the seat back forward almost 6" and doesn't leave much seat bottom. Didn't include a pic of that, but even though it may be doable, it just doesn't look quite right.

The sucky part there is that the gap would have been handy for amp mounting for the stereo as well as using the factory cardboard and insulation issues for noise and heat.

Pivot with seat bottom installed. First with the seat propped on the board in back, second showing the height problem.
Nope (1).jpg
Nope (2).jpg
SO...had to sit back a minute and think it through some. At first it dawned on me that I could just use spacers and bring the pivot mounts up an inch or two. Sounds good right? No bottom clearance issue and would actually cover up higher in back maybe? Won't work. Doesn't solve the problem of the seat back being pushed out 1/3 of the way across the seat bottom and makes for some final assembly issues.

Finally admitted defeat on Plan "A", pulled the pivot board back out, and pulled the cross bar as well. One of the show stoppers in my mind with this plan was that I would have to cut off the side brackets for the cross bar and I didn't really want to do anything I couldn't undo. Got lucky though and with the side bolsters on the seat back, the seat sits flush all the way across, pressed up onto the rear metal and picks up on the sides just enough to clear the brackets.

Here is a temp of the seat with the bottom mocked in, and the seat back just sitting there flush to the rear of the pan.

I think now this will be my next try. I need to try to cut 2-3" off the bottom of the seat back and figure out mounting. Oh well, I guess half of working on this project is figuring out what's NOT going to work. :sad5:
Temp Seat Back.jpg
I hope it doesn't come to it, but Plan "C" will be to ditch a rear seat altogether and I may or may not reinstall the pivot board by itself. Might be a handy place to stash stuff underneath and still have the shelf. Who knows? :dontknow: :think:
Cheers!

-Shayne
Lawton, OK

'66 Corsa work in progress
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8079
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