Kadett Chronicles 15: Progress report (5/13-5/16)

Lots to report today...I had meant to post throughout the weekend, but time really got away from us. Plus, The Gearhead caught a cold somewhere along the way so we were less productive than we hoped we would be this past weekend. Friday night was spent sans car at all; The Gearhead slept from the minute he got home from work till around 9:30pm and was back in bed by 11pm. So we lost some time there, but he really needed his rest so it was for the best. We both were up bright and early on Saturday and Sunday though.

Here’s what we got done:

The floor carpet was cut, sewed and installed. This is not a hard process, it just takes a while. We bought a roll of brown paper at the local home improvement store and it worked great for creating the template we used to cut the carpet down to size.

That paper also doubled as a backdrop for spray paint work that had to be done. We painted several things a matte black including the dash, cigarette tray, glove box and the gas can.

I finished upholstering the back seat side panels and rear shelf. And I have to say – what a pain. Granted, that was our fault for the design we came up with, but still. It does look great in the end though…very sporty with the alternating black vinyl and blue outdoor canvas fabric stripes. Then we installed these panels. This was another challenge because of the padding that we added to the panels. It made for some tight fits when it came time to put the back seat in. But it all worked out, just took more time.

We put in the door windows and also finally got to install the door panels too. After they went on (with a million tiny clips by the way – ugh), we installed the door pulls, window cranks, door handles and lock pulls. Everything is chrome except for the door handles and lock pulls; those are black. It all looks nice and polished and shiny!

Speaking of…I cleaned and polished just about everything under the sun. If a part had to go back on or in the car, it was dirt-free going in! From the bumpers to the hood ornament, everything got some spit and elbow grease. My hands are all dry and scratchy from all the cleaning supplies and water rinsing. It was a beautiful sunny weekend though and it was so nice to be able to spread out and lay everything on the grass to dry.

Most of the window weather stripping is in. All the new dark black is really impressive against the white/blue colors of the car. It really pops.

Pretty much everything is installed on the car now. Even the headlights and taillights are hooked up and ready to go. The only essential things missing are the driver’s side seat (need the room to work on the steering column and pedals) and the windows.

What’s left? The engine. We took out the front suspension last night so that we can get the engine dropped in. Hook that back up to the suspension and install the ignition switch and let her rip! Not so fast…also need to replace the shocks and work on the brakes. And we need to get the spare tire mounted and balanced. So basically all the mechanicals. Nothing like cutting it close.

On top of that, we re-thought our transportation out to the show. We were going to pull the car behind The Gearhead’s S10 via tow bar. But now that we won’t get a chance to drive the car around some to get a feel for wheel bearings and whatnot, we decided to trailer it. What that means is that we need to borrow my father’s trailer and his truck to pull it (the little 4-cylander S10 won’t cut it). My father and his toys live 2 hours away from us. So now we have to head there tomorrow night to pick those up. Which means one less day to work on stuff. There’s never a dull moment!

I have to say that I’m surprised at how much longer everything took to get done this weekend. I’m not sure if that’s because we were doing such a great job or if it was really just that hard. If we had another week, that would have been perfect. As it stands now, we’ll likely not get to everything. That’s ok though. There’s another show coming up this fall so it’ll give everyone something new to see.

Kadett Chronicles 13: Progress report (5/10-5/11)

Work continues on the engine; it's over half rebuilt now and the plan is to finish that up tonight. Also, we stopped at the body shop last night and got a sneak peek at the paint job. All I can say is wow. It's amazing. The blue is a smidge darker than the original paint it seems, but I quite like it. It has a hint of sophistication to it. And the bright white on the top third of the car is beautiful. I love the combination! Pics will be posted as soon as we get to bring the baby home.

Beyond that, The Gearhead pulled some dark blue carpet out of another Kadett that he owns. He took it over to a car wash and pressure washed it to see if it cleaned up (and didn’t disintegrate for that matter) as a possibility for use in this project.

Normally I’m all for repurposing things, but I have two issues with this old carpet:

1) I’m not sure a dark blue carpet will look right in a baby blue car with black interior. It just seems like one too many colors.
2) This carpet has been out at the farm for long while now. There are creatures at the farm who like to use fuzzy things like this for nesting as well as a repository for other bodily functions. I’m not keen on using this and anyone that has ever owned a pet will probably back me up and attest that there are some stains that just don’t come out. I’m a big proponent of just moving on and going with new in this particular category.

So now that I just made that command decision, we’ll end up using this carpet as a template to cut new stuff.

We were at our favorite home improvement superstore recently and combed through all our carpet options. There was a decent selection of options and colors, but in the end, we picked up a couple of 6x8 foot outdoor area rugs from their patio department.

The rugs are actually near exactly the same as the actual carpet sections in terms of color and texture. The rugs are a little more flexible; meaning that they aren’t as rigid as the carpet samples so we think it will be easier to cut and install. The rugs are a black/charcoal gray mix of fibers so it will blend with the interior of the car perfectly. They are for outdoor use so they can take a beating and be hosed down if we ever need to deep clean them (although we do have black rubber floor mats going down on top of them so chances are we’ll never have to cross that bridge). Beyond that, the rugs were the cheaper option too so it all worked out in the end!