More interior work done

[chevynut]

Sounds like this guy is going to take you for a ride.

So far I'd say yes, but I do think he INTENDS to come through on his half of the deal. The problem is how many more years will it take?

It's obvious that he was in a hurry to pump something out to get you off his back and that's exactly what you got.

That's not obvious to me. He told me he's done Nomads before but I have no idea why he would have put the cardboard on TOP of the headliner. He did a nice job of doing it wrong.

I would say if he doesn't show up in Oct. with a very nice headliner to install you should have his bill ready and call another shop to get you in in the spring.

Yes, I need to keep him moving. I just got back home and I'm going to call him to let him know he can come over and install it next week. Last time I talked to him over a week ago he still wasn't sure if he needed to start over with new material....I'm not paying for it.

Lazlo time to take the gloves off with this guy.

I completely agree. If he falls through on more promises the sheet is going to hit the fan. I need consistent progress to be finished by summer.

[chevynut]

Well the saga continues. I contacted Larry when I got back from the mountains on September 16 and told him I was home. He replied and said he decided to re-sew a new headliner and that he got the material on the 9/15. I told him (again) on September 17th that I was leaving for Montana again on about September 30 and asked if he could get it done and install it before I left. He called me Wednesday 9/20 and we discussed his shop status and delays and he told me he would try to get to his old shop to get the cardboard for the new headliner by the end of the week. He knew he would need new cardboard when the headliner didn't work on 9/5 and his shop is only 30-40 minutes from his house so I don't understand why it's so hard to do. His sewing machine is set up in his basement. So over two weeks later he still didn't go get it. He told me that he should be able to go get the cardboard by Friday 9/22 and sew it on. He asked me (again) when I was leaving for Montana and I told him (again). I asked if he had anything going on Sunday September 24 and he said he didn't, so I asked if he could come over then and install the headliner. He said he should be able to do that if he got the cardboard Friday.

So, you can guess how this went. Sunday came and went and I heard nothing from him until late Sunday night. He told me he had to take his wife to the hospital on Monday, 9/25 and that he "might" get to the shop by Friday 9/29. Really? Another f'ing week gone? I stewed about this all night and I was getting more and more pissed so I called him Monday and left a message to call back. He called me but was still at the hospital so I asked him to call me when he got home.

I didn't hear from him til late morning on Tuesday 9/26. I told him I was expecting him to come over on Sunday and had not heard otherwise. He got mad and said he didn't make it to the shop to get the cardboard and was planning on getting there by Friday (9/29) and I reminded him I was leaving for Montana and it would be delayed yet another two weeks. He got mad and said screw it and he said he was wanting to settle with me. I said fine, and that I would send him a settlement proposal (already written up) and he said all he would pay for was the work on the two frames. I told him that wasn't the deal, and he owed me a finished interior, which was the agreement that he even put in writing. I told him that at a minimum he owed me interest for the past 9 years since I finished his first frame. He said he was frustrated with me because he told me he couldn't work a lot on my interior, and that it wasn't his fault that my project took so long to build. I told him I had been trying to get him to do something on it for over two years.

We talked some more and I reminded him that he said he could finish my car "by next summer" which is a deadline I gave him last time we discussed it. He asked me what that meant and I said the end of May.....he said June 1? I said that's fine, but no later. He said he still didn't see a problem with that. So we agreed to continue working on it together again.

The problem as I see it is that Larry can't seem to handle working on two things at once. I have dozens of projects that I work on and try to make progress on all of them. I just don't see how he spends 24/7 on his new shop but he claims he does. I decided to see how things go the next couple of months. He told me he could spend more time on my interior after his shop is closed up, which he previously said would be October/November, but he won't even estimate a date now.

Bottom line is I'm in Montana now til around 10/14 and he said he will install it when I get back. I heard the same thing in April.

[chevynut]

Another thing that I've been working on.... Larry told me he wanted a decision on whether I wanted contrasting thread or not before I left for Montana, so he could sew up the dash leather. I told him previously that I was leaning toward the contrasting thread because my interior is more modern. He doesn't like it and thinks it's a "fad" and it will go away in 15-20 years. By that time I won't care.

After looking at the two stitching samples Larry gave me for some reason that I didn't understand the tan thread sample just didn't wow me. I started discussing it with some guys on FB and asked some interior guys to give me some advice on thread size. After having it out with a couple of old-school assholes who didn't like contrasting thread I finally found a couple of guys who do this stuff.

As far as I can tell Larry used .009-.010" thread (#46 or $69) which is really small. The thread in my GMC truck is much larger than that. A few guys told me I should be using larger #138 thread for decorative, contrasting stitching and said some cars even use #207. Also, Larry used 5.5 to 6 threads per inch and they told me the stitches need to be longer to look good. The ones in my Sierra are around 4.5-5 stitches per inch. Also to me the thread color doesn't match the tan leather, it's just brown.

So I sent Larry an e-mail telling him I wanted #138 thread that matched the tan leather, and 4.5-5 stitches per inch. I also told him that I realized it would delay the dash, but I wanted him to sew me a sample with tan #138 thread and the longer stitches so I can be sure that's what I want.

He'll probably get pissed about this too, but he said he would do "anything you want" on my interior after doing his second frame. I haven't heard anything in response yet, but that's typical.

Here's the difference in thread sizes...

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/359936195194530352/

Here's the stitching on my GMC Sierra Denali seat....

IMG_6218.jpeg

Here's a thread size chart if anyone is interested.

https://www.sailrite.com/Selecting-t...ht-Thread-Size

[chevynut]

Larry finally came over Wednesday before Thanksgiving with the new headliner. He was hobbling badly and had sciatica. We got the headliner partly installed and he said he couldn't do any more work. He said we'd have to finish it after I got back from Mexico. December 6 was a year since we discussed continuing with the interior project. So far I have a covered sbgteerinhyg wheel and half of a headliner....in 12 months.

IMG_6529.jpeg

IMG_6528.jpeg

[chevynut]

Larry came over again after I got back from Mexico, but again delayed it as much as possible. I was home on the 9th and told him I was heading to Montana before Christmas. I told him I wanted the headliner finished and padding installed under the rear seat so I could install the seat frame, ECU, and wiring. He came over on the 15th and we finished the tweeters and the front of the headliner when he said he couldn't work anymore due to his back problem. I asked about the b-pillars and he told me he needed to make some cardboard pieces to put there and would be back the following Monday. I installed sound deadener under the rear seat so he could cover it with the padding when he came back.

IMG_6645.jpeg

Monday arrived and I heard nothing. I contacted him late in the day and he said he had a funeral Tuesday. I had planned to leave Friday and told him I needed Thursday to pack for the trip so it had to be Wednesday and heard nothing back. I later decided to leave Saturday instead so I had Thursday open and he said he'd be up. Yeah, he showed up with no cardboard and all he did is install the padding under the rear seat which was about an hour's work. I assumed he'd bring his pressure pot and glue spray gun but he just brought brushes. I could have done that myself.

IMG_6659.jpeg

He says we'll finish the b-pillars "when you get back" from Montana. I've heard that a hundred times this year. He also said he looked for the heavy thread and his supplier didn't have any so he'll have to wait til after January 1 to see if he has any. He could easily order it online. I told him I wanted the dash done asap so I can install my windshield. I think he thinks now that I'm re-wiring the car he can slack off.

This has been going on for years. It's been over a year since we agreed to continue the project on December 6, 2022. My headliner still isn't done and it's almost 2024.

Here's the problem....I think there's 250-300 hours worth of work left on the interior but I'm no expert. I base that on a local shop telling me they did a similar job and it took 400 hours. I haven't asked Larry to estimate the hours left. I told him in August that it HAD TO BE done June 1. He said "I don't see a problem with that" and said that after his shop is enclosed he could spend more time on it. His shop was enclosed in November. There's 5 months left until June 1, so at this point he needs to work on it 50-60 hours a month. So far I haven't gotten 5 hours a month in the best month. Now the problem is his back. At some point he needs to shit or get off the pot.

[Belair-o]

Chevynut,
Sorry the travail continues to get 'er done. The headliner does look very spiffy though!
Regards, Doug

[chevynut]

Chevynut,
Sorry the travail continues to get 'er done. The headliner does look very spiffy though!
Regards, Doug

Thanks! It's only been 13 months so far! I was told he'd install it when I got back from Montana in early May.

[chevynut]

It continues.....

I got back from Montana on January 9 and texted Larry the following morning to let him know I was back as he requested. I was hoping that he would make time to come finish the headliner that week, but all I heard was a reply text asking "how long are you going to be here?". I knew that was a bad sign. I told him I'd be in Colorado until around the end of February. The I didn't hear a word for two fricking weeks so I sent him an e-mail (to document my correspondence) and asked him what his plans were to finish the interior by June 1 and told him he's running out of time. He only had 18 weeks to do what I estimate is 250-300 hours of work on it.

He replied to the e-mail with a text (he doesn't seem to like documenting our conversations) and said he was sorry for the delay, and planned on coming over in a week. Another week gone. So he finally came over February 2, almost a month after I got back, and all he did was cut the cardboard for the b-pillars and took them home. He did bring my tailgate cover with the carpet on it, and told me I could install it. That should be his job but I don't have a problem doing it.

I asked about the stitching sample and he said he didn't have time to set up his machine and make one for me. So he said he'll sew up the dash and have Auto Weave do the top stitching per my specs. I told him we needed to get a sample from them for me to approve but who knows when that will happen.

The "good" news is that he is finally admitting he can't get this done himself. He told me he's going to have another shop in Denver, Auto Weave, do the seats. Ron, the owner, is a long-time friend of Larry's and he's the one I talked to last year about doing the car if I fired Larry. I don't know what the plans are to get him working on it, but Larry said to "get the seats ready" to take down there. I told him the seats are pretty much independent of everything else, at least the front ones. We need to put foam on the rear seat bases so I can finish the console construction so I'll push him to do that.

He was here about 3 hours and got very little done. He told me I needed to fill the grooves in the floor with something, and that he'd be back in about 2 weeks. I have a feeling that's not going to happen and he'll tell me to get ahold of him when I get back from Montana again....typical pattern.

Anyhow, I'm trying to figure out how to fill the floor grooves. Larry says they will show through the wool carpet and he wants a clean, smooth floor. He said to use Lizardskin or bondo to fill them which I don't want to do. So I plan to "bridge" the grooves with thin metal or plastic laminate, and cover the metal with sound deadener. I did the passenger footwell and it's a long, painstaking process. I will need to fill the grooves in the toe boards and I'll probably use some sort of lightweight filler.

He once told me the carpet was about the last thing, but now he wants to install it. it can't go in before the dash though, because the dash needs to be glued on and I'm not real keen on having glue in the car with carpet in it.

So basically still no progress, but he's starting to understand the urgency. He has my passenger seat and the driver's seat is still in the car. I need to remove it and take both seats to Denver myself and talk to Ron at Auto Weave, show him my design, and find out what it's going to take to get the seats done.

Here's the floor smoothed out. It's a ton of work to do this so I need a better process.

IMG_6796.jpeg

[chevynut]

I have been looking for something good to "bridge" across the ribs in the floor and a friend of mine took me to his son-in-law's sheetmetal shop. I found some coated .020" steel siding that works great. It's even black . It's apparently a high strength steel alloy and works great without making the sound deadener bulge over it. I cut it into strips so it fit over the areas I wanted to flatten. I tried a few different things to stick it down with and ended up with silicone caulk that seems to work well.

[chevynut]

Passenger side is done. I have started covering the driver's side. Not sure what to do with the toe board ribs.


IMG_6835.jpeg