More interior work done

[Belair-o]

Chevynut,
Hoping you can get that contract signed post haste. Hoping Larry will stand and deliver, and do the work he committed to do. What a long strange journey this interior project has been.
Regards, Doug

[chevynut]

So I heard back from Larry regarding the contract I sent to him Sunday. Now he's balking at the April 30 deadline. He said he has been waiting since Christmas for the door panels so he can get started on all four of them. He claims I told him I "could" possibly get all the panels done by Christmas. So now he's claiming I've slipped the schedule, but still hold him to it. We still have 3 1/2 months. He's done very little in 6 weeks so far.

I sent him an initial timeline in early October, after we agreed to work together again, which showed the panels done by the end of 2024. It also showed the rear armrests being done by mid-January. I told him it was a very rough schedule. At that time I was working on the console and windshield, and my Mexico trip got pushed back a week. While in Mexico I added a lot of detail to the schedule, and sent it to him December 3rd. The new timeline showed the rear panels done the end of the first week of January, the door panels done by the middle of January, and the rear armrests done by the end of January. That's the schedule I've been working toward.

He didn't tell me one word about wanting all 4 panels done at the same time, until he came over on January 3rd. Now he's using it as an excuse for not doing anything on them since December 20.

So contrary to his claims, I finished the rear side panels, over 2 weeks AHEAD of schedule (December 20), finished the rear armrests over 5 weeks AHEAD of schedule (December 20), and the door panels are almost done. I told him in December that I was going to start working on the console and do the door panels later, and he didn't say a word.

Also, the schedule he's using showed the rear seat foam done by the end of November, the visors done by mid-November, and the windlace done by the end of November. He said that schedule looked fine at the time.

I told him I absolutely refuse to extend the schedule in the contract. If I do, he'll just take his sweet time doing things. He was supposed to be here today between 10AM and noon, and as I write at 12:05 he's still not here and hasn't said a word to me in text or call. This has been his behavior pattern for years. I have no idea what's taking his time now that his shop is done.

I asked him what he wanted to change in the contract, and I got no reply to that. But the end date won't change. If he doesn't get finished by then, he owes me the balance of the $34K settlement, less his labor hours at $85 per hour. If I fire him before April 30, for any reason, what he owes me is calculated the same way. I told him I wanted him to track his time accurately. I also told him I'm not paying to re-do the visors or anything else he has to do twice.

This whole thing could fall apart again. I've been working my ass off on this stuff to keep on schedule, but I'm not seeing the same from him. I won't do this without a contract.

[chevynut]

I finished up my door panels Sunday except for the very front of the armrests which I can't do until the foam is applied to the top of the removable part. I need to build up that section to be level with the removable part. The front part is attached to the panel behind the armrest, and is not removable. I ordered some EVA foam today to see if it would work there.

Larry never did show up again on Wednesday like he said he would. This has been his behavior for years and I'm done with his bullshit.

Larry started complaining about the contract and the schedule, and would give me no feedback on it. I asked him what he wanted changed and he never said. He claimed I'd just object to his changes so he finally said he's not going to finish my interior blaming me for this and that and everything else he screwed up.

His crap has cost me another 4 months now. He said he's going to send me a "termination agreement" that he's going to have his lawyer write up "in a few weeks". I sent him an e-mail today telling him he agreed in writing that he owed me $34K in September. He spent a total of 15.75 hours at my shop, and I don't know what he spent at his shop. I told him I wouldn't pay for any travel time to my shop or Ron's, because in my entire working career nobody ever paid me for driving to work, and it was HIS choice to get Ron involved, not mine. I told him I'd pay for the dash pad, the rear seat foam if finished to Ron's approval, and I refuse to pay for the visors unless he re-does them or makes the plugs for the ends. I told him if he refuses to re-do them or fix them, he owes me a pair of original visors because he ruined the ones I gave him (he removed the boards). I also told him I refuse to pay for the kick panels because the way he did them with the raw leather edge, and the fact that he said the seam between the carpet and leather would be 1/4" off.

So this is a simple settlement, imo. I told him if he tries to screw me over I'd sue him and ask for payment in full, penalties for dragging this out for years, and attorney's fees. I have the upper hand here and have all the evidence I need in e-mails. I'm so glad I communicate in writing, instead of like Larry typically does where no documentation exists. So sick of his shit....I think he's bipolar or something. IMG_8388.jpg

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[Bitchin'57]

Sorry you're going through such a hellish experience with your upholstery guy. I thought I had a horrible experience with mine, but yours takes the cake. He could be bi-polar, with a bit of A.D.D. thrown in. If he is an older guy, his testosterone level could be in the basement, causing him to completely lose his get up and go.

Those door panels look great. Can I ask what materials you used, and how you sculpted them?

[chevynut]

Well, it's finally over. I sent Larry a list of everything he owed me, including all the panels, armrests, leather carpet, etc. I told him he had to re-do the visors, or I wasn't paying for them. He said he'd bring more material so I could have them re-done because he wasn't going to re-do them.

I told the sonofabitch that I wanted all my parts and materials returned by Friday (today). He e-mailed me at 12:04AM on Thursday and said he'd be over "tomorrow" with everything if it worked for me. I got the e-mail Thursday morning when I got up. I told him I could meet with him Friday but he had to give me a specific time because I had other stuff I had to do. He replied and said he meant Thursday. I told him he had to be here at 10AM Friday. This is just one more example of the screwed up communication this guy does and I told him so.

Why in the hell would he do this and screw up an otherwise great job, with "50 years of experience"??

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I also asked him, nicely, to please explain to me how he planned to cover the door panels, given how he covered the kick panels. I told him I needed to know so I could relay the info to the next guy, and I wanted to discuss it with him when he brought my stuff over.

He showed up on time this morning, we unloaded all the stuff, and took inventory. Everything seems to be there. I asked him where I would get more leather or carpet if I needed more, and he assured me I wouldn't. He seemed cordial and I was trying to be nice too.

After he had me sign a sheet confirming the return of everything on it, I asked him if he could please explain to me how he planned to cover the door panels, given that he covered the kick panels and supposedly had a strategy to make them look the same. He said "I'm off the clock and I'm not going to discuss that with you". So I told him that's fine, but I'm not paying for the kick panels either. He said he didn't plan to charge me for them. I could sense his demeanor changing.

As far as I can tell he really screwed up and realized he wasn't going to be able to cover the door panels the way he'd planned. I think that's really why he bailed on the project, because he kept making mistakes and realized he couldn't finish the car.

Then he said "I think you need to take a look at how you've treated me...." I interrupted and said "how I TREATED YOU? What about how you treated me? You screwed me around for two years and I fired you because you wouldn't do anything. I gave you another chance to finish this car. You said you'd enter a contract, you bought into the schedule, then you didn't show up when you were supposed to, and you've done very little in almost 2 months".

He told me in October or early November that he would start working with Ron to get the rear seat foam done by Thanksgiving. I just saw the finished pieces today. I asked him if Ron had seen them and he stammered a little and finally said "no". I got them two months late. I plan to take them to Ron to see if he approves of the way Larry did the work. If not, I'm not paying for those either. He was supposed to do them so they were ready for Ron to cover.

He started to explain why he wouldn't negotiate a contract with me and I said I was done with his bullshit and told him to get the hell out of my shop. I told him that I don't understand how he ever ran a business, and he replied "I have 50 years of customers...". I told him that I have talked to some of his customers and people who know him and they don't have a lot of good things to say. I told him that I was so done with him.

So it looks like I have all my stuff back, and now I need to figure out (again) what to do. I'm so glad I don't have to put up with the ongoing bullshit. I really thought in October when he did the dash pad that he would come through this time. Even through December when he was working on the rear seat foam (behind schedule) I was fine with it because he was at least doing something. But he just sat on the rear panels that I finished December 20. It was in January when he started flaking out on me again.

He has 30 days from January 19th to pay me what he owes me. At this point I told him I will pay for the dash pad, and the foam work if Ron approves it. Since I have to have the visors re-done and I don't think the kick panels will work, I'll have to have them re-done too and I told him I won't pay for them so he's not going to charge me for them. Since October all he's really accomplished is the dash pad and rear seat foam. What a waste of time this guy has been.

The only good coming out of this is the schedule I put together FORCED me to finish the 4 panels and the rear armrests. I did them to Larry's specs, and I hope they work for the next guy I hire. Thank God I have all the e-mails admitting what he owes me. I think he knows he's screwed.

[chevynut]

Sorry you're going through such a hellish experience with your upholstery guy. I thought I had a horrible experience with mine, but yours takes the cake. He could be bi-polar, with a bit of A.D.D. thrown in. If he is an older guy, his testosterone level could be in the basement, causing him to completely lose his get up and go.

It has been suggested to me by 2-3 people now that Larry is showing signs of dementia. I don't know if that's the case but he forgets a lot, blames others for his issues, and just can't get things done, and doesn't do things correctly.

Those door panels look great. Can I ask what materials you used, and how you sculpted them?

I first made aluminum panels that fit the doors. Larry told me they had to be within 1/16" all the way around. It was tricky to make that happen and I almost gave up at one point. Then I made the removable panels and attached them.

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Next, I made dams around the individual sections and poured urethane foam on them. I had never done anything like this so it was a learning experience. Then I sculpted the foam to the shapes I wanted. I got a lot of large bubbles in the one section for some reason.

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Then I covered each section and the sides with fiberglass.

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And after a bunch of more fiberglass work and attaching the armrest brackets, this is the finished product. The section just above the armrest isn't attached, that's why the gaps are so large.

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[bigblock]

Nice work CN!!!

[chevynut]

Nice work CN!!!

Thanks! The main thing I wish I'd done differently is used lighter gauge aluminum for the main panel. I asked Larry at the time what he thought I should use, and got no answer. So I used .063" which made it hard to form and heavier than I'd like. I used .050" on the removable panels. I think I should have used .050" on the main panels, and .040" on the removable ones. Even thinner may have worked out since the foam and fiberglass give it all the structure and stiffness. But you have to make sure it maintains shape when applying the fiberglass. That would have cut a couple of pounds off of them. The trickiest part is trying to figure out the height of everything before applying fiberglass. The upholstery foam and leather add about 3/16" and the fiberglass adds anywhere from 1/16" to 1/8".

[mokicruz]

Well I'm just about to lose it with my interior guy. We agreed on December 6 that he was going to do my interior, but he would not commit to a timeframe. He's building a shop at his house and is the general contractor, so he claims he doesn't have much time to work on my stuff. I told him I couldn't wait 2 years for it and I said in November that wanted it done in 6-8 months. He said it had to be on his time so I just asked him to do regular work on it a few hours a week, so there's measurable, visible progress. I asked him to take my steering wheel and finish it.

A month later I got my steering wheel....probably 2 hours of work.

Time went by and I did some work I needed to do on the car so I didn't push him.

On March 23 (see post above) Larry came over and we installed the roof insulation. He told me he would work on sewing up the headliner so we could get it installed. He also took a pattern off of my dash, which I told him should be the same as any other 55 or 56. He argued that no two are the same....I disagree.

Time went by and his old shop (he sold it and rents part of it for storage) got broken into about early April. He called me and told me about it, and told me he was working on the headliner and would have it done when I got back from Montana in early May.

I returned to CO and after I caught up with things I contacted him on May 10 and told him I was back and ready for the headliner installation. He said he didn't have time to work on it while I was gone due to a bunch of issues with his new shop. I told him my schedule for the next 5 weeks and told him that I would be heading back to Montana around mid-June. He said he'd get the headliner installed before I left.

It's now mid-June and I've heard nothing from him for over a month. Six months and a week have gone by since he came over to discuss the project with me. So far I have a steering wheel and roof insulation. Six goddam months later!

I am just about fed up with this but here's the problem.... I contacted Auto Weave Interiors in Denver and they can't get to my car until January. I contacted Recovery Room Interiors in Nebraska and he is booked until next summer, about a year out. I talked to a guy in Indiana and he said he's 4 months out, but he's also 15 hours from me which I don't like. All of them are $80-85 per hour. If I fire Larry now, nothing will get done for months anyhow. Larry is probably getting close to finishing his new shop in a couple months, but I don't know exactly where he's at on it.

Auto weave said they've done 2 Nomads and one took 230 hours and the other 400 hours. The first one was a modified stock like interior, and the second one was a full custom one like mine with bucket seats, full length console, and even leather covered interior moldings. I asked about calendar days for 400 hours and was told it should be about 12 weeks. Since I've done so much of the work already, I doubt it's anywhere near 400 hours left. 400 hours at their shop rate is $34K, which is about what Larry owes me per my calculations, not including the material I paid for. So I might actually make out better having someone else do it.

And the question is how will he settle with me. I've paid for $8200 in materials and owe him a little for roof insulation, glue, and shipping of leather. He owes me many hours of labor for building his frames. I have documented time spent on his two frames, and cost of materials for them. He owes me a finished interior, no matter how many hours it takes. That was our agreement.

If I let him work at his pace, will my interior be done before I can get the car into another shop? I don't know. Maybe when his shop is finished he will spend more time on it, but as we all know there's a lot to do after a shop is "finished". I'm not sure I want to burn bridges and settle at this point, but I don't want to wait another year for this project to be done either.

The guy at Auto Weave figured out who I was talking about when I told him the problem I was having. Apparently they worked together at some shop years ago, and he said Larry has no concept of time. But he said he does very nice work. I've been trying to get Larry to do something on my car for about two years now. His daughter died of cancer over a year ago, so I backed off any didn't pressure him for months since I still had a lot of work to do myself. But now 90% of the work left is his.

So what do I do?

Wow you're more Patient than you were on Chevy Talk. The last time saw this Nomad was when you were building a frame for someone else and your son bought a 56 sedan. You've came a long way. I'm going look for your Hood Hinges to see how they worked out for you.

[chevynut]

Wow you're more Patient than you were on Chevy Talk. The last time saw this Nomad was when you were building a frame for someone else and your son bought a 56 sedan. You've came a long way. I'm going look for your Hood Hinges to see how they worked out for you.

It's been way too long of a project. My interior panels were almost done in 2015. Frame went to paint long ago and I built the engine which I started for the first time in 2017. Body was painted in 2018. I've been trying to get my interior guy to do something since then, because there was stuff he could have done. I built a wiring harness from scratch, got the body on the frame and fired up the engine again, and have been working on assembly for a while now. I hoped to be finished by April 30 because that's what my interior guy said he'd do. Now the asshole reneged again....and I told him to get the hell out of my shop.

The hood hinges worked great but I haven't used them since the car was painted. The hood is ready to install now that the windshield is in.

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[mokicruz]

Your Hood Hinges are an amazing achievement, you definitely think outside of the box. To bad the interior man doesn't have an ounce of integrity. I remember how fast Chevy Talk grew with you and Rust Bucket posting great solutions for projects and asking questions to get everyone involved. It was the best sight to be on if anyone needed TriFive advice.

[chevynut]

Well the good news is that it looks like Larry has agreed to my numbers in the settlement. I sent him a settlement last fall that he agreed to pay. I decided that in lieu of that money, I would work with him to finish the car by April 30. He reneged on his promise to complete it by then, and to sign a contract. I credited him for the dash and the foam work he did on the rear seats. The visors are made wrong and he said I don't have to pay him for them. I may be able to make them work, but it will take some work on my part. Or I can have them re-done. The kick panels will probably have to be re-done so I'm not paying for them.

This has been one of the most frustrating things I've ever had to go through. Years of broken promises, years of arguing, years of waiting for him to get this car done. I thought we were on a roll until early January when he flipped out again. He's working on a settlement agreement, and has until February 18th to pay me. Then it's all behind me.

[chevynut]

Years ago I installed a Lokar foot-actuated park brake assembly. I think RickL talked me into using one since the hand operated stock one wouldn't work well. I never did build or install a brake release lever, and the one that came with the assembly didn't work. So I built one and bought a 69 Camaro handle for it. The handle was supposed to have a 1/4-20 thread but a 1/4-20 bolt didn't fit. After screwing around trying to find a bolt that fit, I found out it was 12-24. The rod for my brake release is 1/4" so I drilled out the handle and re-tapped it. Why is it that I have to modify every fricking thing for it to work? I finished it today, and will probably have to tweak it when the valence is covered. I think it turned out pretty good.

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I'm also finishing up the rear of the front console, to get it ready to cover. I added some brackets to bolt the front and rear console together, and I'm making some 3/8" thick aluminum pieces to widen the top for covering with a French seam. There will be a curved angle piece that follows those pieces to support the top panel, just like forward of the shifter. I installed the seat boards with Larry's partially done foam work and have done the preliminary contouring of the rear console, matching both sides. I need to talk to Ron about the finished height and shape of the seats to finalize the contour. Then I can build the structure between the side panels.

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[WagonCrazy]

I have that same foot brake setup. But i just used a simple round pull handle on mine. Its actually not big enough as I struggle to get enough grip on it to release the pedal once its depressed and locked into position. I will probably change that out for a t handle. But not a plastic 1970s style one like you have there. You need a small chrome t handle there IMHO. Somebody must make one. Where's madmooks mike when we need him?

[chevynut]

I will probably change that out for a t handle. But not a plastic 1970s style one like you have there. You need a small chrome t handle there IMHO. Somebody must make one. Where's madmooks mike when we need him?

There are chrome ones available similar to the one I have. I just wanted a black one so it "disappears" in the car.

https://www.classicindustries.com/product/all-years/chevrolet/impala/parts/3893178.html?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwuPIlr-ciwMVQDNECB3dahXpEAQYASABEgLq4PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds