Projects Chevrolet 1954 210 mild kustom

Thanks for the positive comments!!!!

 

I put a very similar set of seat covers on the seats in my '57 Chevy, they have held up nicely. But the key is to sew some long channels into the bottom edges of the fabric where rods can be inserted (I think the upholstery term for this is "listings" or "listing channels") so you can really pull them tight for hog rings without tearing the fabric. If you just roll the fabric over or bunch it up and then ring it, they have a tendency to tear once you sit on them. Mine have been in the car for a couple years and still look great and have stayed tight but I had those channels sewn in and I don't think I could have gotten them nearly as tight without them. All the factory upholstery had those channels in them for rods.

Seat backs look real good though, perfect colors for that car. Should be ideal once it's all done.

 

I did sew some channels last night, I have looked up some tutorials and they all recomended to do that, otherwise as you wrote the vinyl will start tearing

 

First doorpanel done, not quite happy with it but it will work.
In my plans the light green should have been ribbed but that turned out to be over my skills, had trouble to only glue the vinyl without gettin airbubbles everywhere.
The chrome trim also turned out to be a challenge, but after many hours they finally fits


Got me a new set of inner doorhandels, but wrong colour so plan is to replace the black vinyl with green and repaint the plastic

 

Rear doorpanels also done.


And here is the dorrhandels/armrests it turned out really nice with new color and vinyl

 

That's going to look nice and clean once those are installed on the car with handles and such.

 

Cool . I will be doing mine someday.

 

This is all a big improvement. Before the car had a mish-mash of styles but now it's becoming a cohesive scheme. Great job.

 

Well thought out changes, looking good.

 

These indicator lights were mounted under the dash indicating high beam/oil pressure/charging .
Didn´t really like the style of it so at first i moved the high beam indicator were it belongs, in the original speedometer, then i got 2 small nice lookin indicators, drilled and mouned them above the other instruments

 

The car got this vintage oilbath Cadillac aircleaner, but when i took it apart for the first time i realized that it aint much of a aircleaner, the whole inner section were missing, finding that stuff is like a mission impossible,.
I really like the design of the Caddy cleaner and previous builder had already modified it to fit the carburator so i decided to try modify it with a modern filter.
cut out a steel plate and mounted it inside, instead of welding and ruin the paint i used a oil and gas proof sealant

 

Neat car, like it.

 

The trunk is done


Today i started mounting the headliner, quite a challenge.

 

Isolated the floor, it´s kind of a cheaper version of Dynamat.

The rear seat is in, also the rear panels mounted

Also the bront bench is mounted.
The carpet went missing from the US so i ordered a new one from sweden but it wont turn up the following week so i´ll run without it, i´ts a car show this weekend so i have to get it done.

 

The doorpanels are mounted.

 

Greeeeeeeeeeen! I like it, starting to make it your own, very nice indeed!

Also, I think there's some legality in Sweden about vacuum wipers- as in they're not allowed, due to the propensity to stop under acceleration and the ability of the motors to ice up? Safety concerns.

 

Yeah a lot of green to say the least.
About the vakuum wipers, thats a myth, I got a Buick 50 equipped with stock wipers, passed the test when it arrived to sweden with no problem, the functionality were poor wery poor, after rebuild it works but its not very impressive.

 

Congratulations, it's always nice, when a car gets in the right hands. Your headliner is so much better than mine. If ever you redo your door panels, get a hold of a rolling pin. If not look for a wide wallpaper roller. Yes, the miles are happier in a green car.

 

For the wipers on the 53-4 you can bolt on tri 5 electric. A change to 12 volt is necessary. Use the tri 5 switch and put your 53-4 knob on it.

 

Thanks for the nice words, i'm gonna load up a better pic of the headliner now when i'ts done.
The doorpanels didn't get as nice as i expected but they do the work, and they look a milion better then the old ones

 

Good to know, the change to 12v is already done, probably done when the car did get the v8

 

tonight, making b-pillar covers, gonna cover them with vinyl

 

On the dash i got 3 switches, they aren´t so good lookin so i tried doin my own kustom knobs.
Cut up some green and white plexiglas, glued them together (looks like candy)
And then a lot grinding and polishing, i think they turned out really nice

 

I love the knobs, they're Bob Hirohata style, very cool.

 

Super nice!! Good job!!!!

 

Well done, knobs look fantastic!

 

Acres, what type of glue did you use?

 

I used Loctite cyanoacrylat glue, but any kind of "superglue" would probably work.
As long the glue sticks to the plastic and it's a clear type it should work fine

 

Here comes some better pics of the headliner, it got some wrinkles but to be my first time i´m pleased how it turned out

 

Finally i got the new carpet in place, also new rubber mats, have also mounted my new door sill plates, when i bought the car these were missing
Color looks strange on the photo, carpet is olive green but looks more like brown here