More interior work done

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Thanks guys.

I really think with all the work I've done on this interior that I'd be way better off having Larry pay me what he owes me and get the interior done elsewhere. The shop doing my seats said they did a similar Nomad interior and it was 400 hours at I think $80 per hour. That's $32K for building and fabbing everything in the car. I've done 80% of the door and side panels, I've done 75% of the console, and all the rear seat, front seat brackets, dash valence, and 25% of the cargo area. I'm guessing there's about half left or 200 hours. That's only $16K and Larry owes me a lot more than that. If he doesn't deliver my foamed seat panels before I leave for TX I'm finished with him. It'll only be 8 weeks until June 1 by then and at the rate he's (not) working it won't be done for many months.

I've been working on the front console outside the car. There's tons of little details like adding PEMs for screws and riveting everything together. I had to make some pieces to simulate the base that's still in the car and won't come back out. It's a lot easier and cleaner to work on the console out of the car.

I'm trying to design the top covers now. I machined a slot under the trim piece below my stereo to capture the panel, then I need to split the panel in front of the shifter to be able to get to my fuse panel and control modules without removing the entire panel with the shifter boot. I formed a 3/16"x1/2" stainess bar on my tube bender so it wouldn't just be a boring straight piece of trim. This is where I plan to split the panel. Access would be by removing 3 screws. I'll do something similar behind the console box.

For the shifter boot design I'm thinking about complementing the door handles, lights, and the A/C vents by making it oval too. The boot is offset to the driver's side because the shifter is offset. The light sensor bezel for the Dakota Digital automatic headlights is oval and it's almost done. It will go on the leather dash near the windshield. Here's the 3D rendering of it.

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I need to have Larry, or whoever is eventually doing the leatherwork, add a little foam to the console lid to make it fit the console a little better. The three hole piece is something Sid laser cut for me many years ago and it's for my window switches and door locks. I'll weld some threaded studs to the plate and epoxy it to the bottom of the cover to attach the switches. That's the way I attached the switches to the valence. The black line is where I think I want a seam stitched to add some detail so it's not so boring...ideas would be welcome. Still not sure what color leather I'm going to use on the console.

By the way, Sid also laser cut the aluminum top plate that holds the lid. Thanks Sid!!!

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Here's the whole console with the valence pieces in place before I made the latest changes. Notice the rear console is still only roughed out....that's why I'm waiting for Larry to bring the seat boards back with foam on them.

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The boot is offset to the driver's side because the shifter is offset.

I just realized that the T56 shifter is actually centered over the tailshaft. I now remember taking the Hurst Billet Plus T56 shifter and rotating the internal lever 180 degrees to put the splines/grooves on the opposite side so the stick mounts on the opposite side. The shifter stick is 10" long and it is straight but bent sideways on the bottom. My intention at the time was to move the shifter stick closer to the driver's side. I may have to re-visit that and see if I can or want to center it better.

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Working on colors. I printed out some pics I have in monochrome and used colored pencils to give me an idea what the upholstery will look like when done. I can visualize some of this but it helps to see it on paper. Good thing I paid attention in kindergarten.

Here's the door. The area above the armrest with the dots is perforated tan leather. The dark areas are charcoal, but I don't know if I'm using carpet or leather at the very bottom of the door.

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Here's the entire side of the interior drawn before i built it.

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Here's the cargo area plan with the cover on. Still haven't built much there except the speaker area.

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Here's two options I'm considering for the console. I originally planned for the valence to be charcoal along with the "spears" that go down the top of the console. Then the console itself would be tan, with the console lid two-tone with charcoal on the sides. After seeing it, I was concerned about too much charcoal in the dash area since the top of the dash is charcoal leather, and the dash is painted charcoal. So I tried making the valence and the spears tan, with the console charcoal and the lid two-tone but charcoal on top and tan on the sides. The charcoal top would go well with carbon fiber on the top of the console. If I use orange carbon fiber the tan may be better there. The tan valence also flows better with the tan on the doors and probably the kick panels.

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[Belair-o]

Chevynut,
Clever and helpful idea to colorize the pics!
Thanks, Doug

[TrifiveRichard]

The interior is really going to pop! It'll look great

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Thanks guys. Monday morning I'm heading down to Denver to talk to Ron and look at the stitch samples on both colors of leather. I wouldn't have to do this again if Larry would have taken a tan sample down when he was supposed to a month ago. I plan to discuss the situation with Ron and try to figure out how to make some progress since Larry hasn't really done shit in over 6 weeks since he finished the headliner that took him 3 months to do. He's supposed to be doing the rear seat foam work now to get the seat boards to Ron, but I'm skeptical that anything is getting done as usual. I told him I wanted the boards first before they went to Ron. Something has to change.

I started laying out the cargo area covers today. I haven't really done anything there since I made the boards for the top of the rear seat area except to install the sound deadener on the wheelwells. I'm going to prototype a few designs and see what I like the best.

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Honestly, I'm wishing I didn't make the rear tubs as big as I did. I just tubbed them almost to the frame, which was narrowed 3" as was the C4 suspension. There is really no benefit to me moving them in 3 1/2" per side because the suspension doesn't allow the tire that far inboard. I have over 2" from the inside of the tires to the wheelwell, so I could have made the wheelwells at least 1" narrower per side which would have saved me some headaches now with the interior. Live and learn.

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[WagonCrazy]

It's coming along nicely in my opinion. I wouldn't loose sleep over the wheel well situation. Just accomodate for it in your design and get it done.

Something has to change.

I think you are getting to the point of the matter here. This guy you originally horse-traded the deal for a customized tri5 frame for custom upholstery work isn't panning out. You already know that by his lack of action. So you already know what to do here (if you want to finish your Nomad in 2024). Cut bait and fish elsewhere.
Sure...you can lean on him to square up his end of your deal by paying you an agreed difference in $. But honestly Laszlo, you will expend tremendous negative energy and stress on yourself by expecting him to make good. He's already shown you is lack of motivation. Find another upholsterer and get this beautiful car on the road for everyone to see. Life is short brutha. Don't waste too much more energy on being "right" here. Just move on. That's my advice as a friend over a virtual beer!

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It's coming along nicely in my opinion. I wouldn't loose sleep over the wheel well situation. Just accomodate for it in your design and get it done

That's exactly what I plan to do. My point is that I didn't need the room for the tires, I just moved the wheelwells farther than I needed to. I have a plan for addressing it.

I think you are getting to the point of the matter here. This guy you originally horse-traded the deal for a customized tri5 frame for custom upholstery work isn't panning out. You already know that by his lack of action. So you already know what to do here (if you want to finish your Nomad in 2024). Cut bait and fish elsewhere.

That's coming to a head. He told me in August that when his shop was "closed in" he could spend more time on my car. It's been "closed in" for months. To me "closed in" means weatherproofed and even though the garage doors still aren't on, the openings are covered up. I've asked him several times when the shop is going to get done and he won't say. I told myself that if he didn't get significant work done by January, I was done with him. Then he acted like he was more motivated to get things done when he said Ron would be doing my seats. More recently I sent him some drawings asking for some advice so I can get things done and he hasn't replied. I have been doing work he's supposed to have done.

Sure...you can lean on him to square up his end of your deal by paying you an agreed difference in $. But honestly Laszlo, you will expend tremendous negative energy and stress on yourself by expecting him to make good.

Paul, this isn't about being "right", it's about a debt he owes me of around $34K. I will sue him for that much if he doesn't pay up and settle with me. He already offered to settle in December 2022 and we talked about it and decided to continue to work together on it. I thought that meeting we had would change things, but nothing changed for over a year. He booked time with Ron for doing my seats in early April. We're there and he has my seat boards. If I get back from Texas in a week and he hasn't prepared the foam on the boards, he's done as far as I'm concerned. I have my numbers together and I'll have to see what he's willing to settle for, but it's not at my shop rate 10 years ago.

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I don't understand these interior guys. I went to Ron's to look at the new stitch sample on the tan leather. We agreed at the last visit that he would get some Chinese Rust thread in 210 thickness and run a couple of seams. He told me a while ago that he got the thread, and that he'd have a sample ready for me. The color of the thread was different and at first he said it was just because it was a different supplier than his previous sample.

Gary and I left to have lunch and I texted Ron to send me a pic of the label on each of the spools of thread. The 270 thread said "Chinese Rust" which was the prior sample I thought was too thick of thread. He said the second spool didn't have a label but he sent me the invoice, which said it was "Bourbon Brown". I drove all the way to Denver to find out that he didn't even order Chinese Rust, even though I gave him a DIRECT LINK to a website that sold it called "The Thread Exchange". I even told him I would order it and have it shipped to him a couple of weeks ago. Apparently like Larry he doesn't even read his damn e-mails.

But there's something else that went on here. Larry gave me a sample of "Ferrari Tan" several years ago and said he had several hides and he'd sell me the ones I needed. I agreed. He also sent out a hide to have it perforated. I got the perforation samples from him and the color matched the original sample he gave me. He gave Ron the tan leather to make the stitch samples and it's not the same color. Here's a pic showing the original perforated sample and the new color.

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I texted him the pic and stopped by his house to discuss this. He told me he just ordered the perforation sample and that's what they sent him. But why does the first leather sample he gave me match the perforated sample? In this pic, the first sample I got is on the far right, the first perforation sample I got is in the middle, and the actual leather he says we're using is on the left. He gave me that piece of it.

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I don't know why the color changed but he said it was a "different lot". I call bs. Something is going on here. But as it turns out I actually like the new color better, so did Gary and Ron.

The new color is actually more reddish than the original one, so I think the "Chinese Rust" would essentially disappear on it. Coincidentally, the Bourbon Brown color actually looks pretty good on it and on the charcoal. But for some reason his sample wasn't at the 4 stitches per inch we agreed on. So he got the stitch length and the color wrong, but the color isn't too bad and I may go with it. Two of the stitches here are Chinese Rust and the rest are the Bourbon Brown.

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