Projects Giant speedster project

If you don't have enough of the brown leather, maybe you can stretch it and still make it look coordinated. Take the brown you do have, and make an alternating pattern with the other color, so as to give the surround stripes, and perhaps a coordinating stripped panel in the door upholstery.

BTW, are there pics of the clutch on that Seagrave? It must be a real monster.

 

I think there are some clutch pics on here somewhere. It's inside the flywheel.
Hey, anybody close to North Georgia might want to go to this swap meet. But I've got dibs on all the speedster parts.
http://macon.craigslist.org/pts/4499851826.html

Jerry

 

Not if I find 'em first Jerry - will you be there?

 

I found the flywheel pics. It's a monster alright.
Did this engine have a belt-drive takeoff right from the flywheel?

The clutch disk looks like a Lifesaver inside that thing!

 

Very close on the seat! Could be tomorrow!

If I have the nerve to get out the scissors and cut off the leather hanging over the back of the seat. I had to slack off the tension on the top row of buttons. I also had to glue on some more foam--and round over the wood on the deck. This learning stuff is over rated. I also added the sides. I'll staple the leather to these wood pieces then add a leather covered metal trim piece to the front. The last picture is maybe a little close to what final product might look like, sort of, possibly, if it comes out kinda of close. Like Monty's comfy chair. Let's see--what else? I'll be at the flea market Sat. There is no belt take off on the flywheel. And then of course---- ---No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!

Jerry

 

do not be afraid to staple a cord or wire along where your pulling then fold the excess back onto it self and staple again

go ahead poke a hole in it with a forgotton pocketed screwdriver and get it over with..

 

Stuff, stuff here, staple there and a little push and heave.
That's how we button tuft a seat in the merry old land of Cleve.

Yes, here in Cleveland GA we don't need no stinking upholsterers. We just git-er- done. Of course, it don't look all that good, but no one cares too much cause we're all half lit on corn liquor and weed and later we're going to the flea market to buy some car junk any how. I've got to modify my wooden side/arm rest pieces and then I think I'm shifting to the door panels. I need to make some patterns because I need to know how much leather I'll need and whether there'll be enough to do door panels and seat. I need a break from upholstery anyhow.

Jerry

 

The roll inerts can be made from a hose, pipe insulaton , thick rope....the doors will take a beating fabric placement may be fragile near edges. THINK of where the wear will be........looking good for a Georgian button tucker. So Ken is no longer kneaded

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ummm...this seat doesn't actually have any adjustment, Does it?

That's gonna make the pedal placement kinda critical...

..

 

I can't remember a car built before 1925 with seat or pedal adjustment. You just scrunch up or stretch out.

 

Or build it to suit the driver

 

Hey, I forgot to tell you where all that green stuffing came from. My son (aka the monk) wanted a couch in his room for his birthday. Well, his room isn't real big. Plus it's up the stairs and around the corner. So my wife goes to the local cheap furniture store (Badcock) and buys this enormous couch that was on sale with no return. Not only was it too big to fit around the corner and through his door, it was too big for his room. I had to get the sawz all and cut a third of it off to get it into his room. Anyway, I spent the day rebuilding the couch into a love seat. I saved all the green stuffing out of it. Do your wives do things like that?
Jerry

 

Couch customizing..........you sir, can do it ALL!!! I am in awe.

 

I'm still stuck back at 'Georgian button tucker' sounds kinda dirty.

 

Could be a new insult--"You (cook, drive, sing, etc.) like a Georgian button tucker!"

Mostly today I drove back and forth between shops cutting and fitting pieces of wood for the arm rests. When I finally got them done I painted them. You're looking at the pics and thinking WTF?? You'll see how they fit in the next episode. While they were drying made a pattern for the door left panel. The right is pretty close to the left. Tomorrow, after I install the arm rest mod pieces I'm going to try and make a pipe insulation splitting device. I hope to use foam pipe insulation for the roll behind the seat. It's real hard to split it uniformly by hand. (I've tried.) I've got a vision for a simple device to split it. At the flea market I found a spare brass gas cap for my 1914 REO speedster ($2.00) and a folding accessory rear passenger windshield for my 1914 REO touring car ($40.00). But the neatest thing I saw was a 1943 complete US Army Signal Corps Field generator chest with tool kit, gas can, spare parts, instructions, generator, etc. $300.00 Cool!

Jerry

 

Electric carving knives or a band saw will cut foam with some accuracy...a hack saw blade /jigsaw-sawsall blade w/o a handle can work in tighter areas...carry on.. ..the cleverest G.B.T on the HAMB

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That generator was neat!

 

We used a hot wire to cut foam straight for building panels. It would cut the foam rolls too.

 

Jerry, your projects are hot rods on a grand scale! Curious, how do you find the donor trucks or do they find you?


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"Jerry, your projects are hot rods on a grand scale! Curious, how do you find the donor trucks or do they find you?"

Ever since I saw Gary Wales' La Bestioni at Hershey I wanted to build a monster speedster but I couldn't find a suitable La France. I didn't have much money either. I looked on ebay and Craigs and Hemmings and all the other for sale sites on the web. Finally, I got one of the firetruck sites and saw a '23 Seagrave for sale in Rochester NY. It was in real bad shape having been in a fire and I wasn't sure I even wanted it. The seller was asking $1800 (if I remember right) which was cheap enough but the transportation was going to be a lot and that, along with the poor condition, made it a no sale in my mind. One day the seller called me up and said, " The Seagrave is on the way to you." He just sent it to me with no guarantee that I would pay. Well, I figured it was fate that I should have the truck so I sent him a check for $1800 and paid the shipper $600. When it arrived, everyone down here thought I was crazy and I probably was but that's the story, and I'm sticking to it.

Jerry

 

My homemade insulation splitter worked but the insulation wanted to tear a little. The razor was band new so I'm not sure why it tore. Maybe it's crap. You can see how the arm rest piece fit in. I used a large tie wrap to staple through but I had to form it into the corners with a heat gun which I found made it a little brittle in places. The next thing is to figure out how to fasten the metal that will hold the foam roll down to the deck. After that I'll glue the foam roll to the metal and glue the leather to the roll. Good news: I think there will be plenty of leather for everything.

Jerry

 

Georgian Button Tucker, you say. Why, them sounds like fightin' words to me!

A former co-worker once worked in a tire factory and spent some time there as a "butt-splicer". That sounded pretty low-down to me. "Darryl, you ol' butt-splicer you!"

And a friend of a friend grew up on a beet farm. He wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. So anyone else similarly afflicted was likely to be called out as a "son of a beet farmer".

 

If you have any of the old time TV antenna wire the two strand 1/2 inch wide or so works well for a hidden tack strip..and it will not be ruined if moisture gets to it....I have been telling people I know a Georgian button tucker. .they do not seem surprised...Also my smart phone now prompts "button tucker" if I type in Georgian..now that's smart?

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That'll work easier if you wet the blade as you go. I've done this with rubber tube before & It does the same thing if dry.

Generally, rubber and soft plastics cut cleaner and easier when wet.

BTW, the seat is looking awesome.

 

Probably cut cleaner if you had the blade angle set so that the tip followed the edge rather than leading the way.

 

Oh, no kidding. The blade is angled wrong. It's forcing the plastic up against the wood as you pull, creating extra friction.

 

Duh--blade angle!!

 

You are here.

But not for long. I changed the knife angle and the foam cut perfectly. Good work! Next I painted the steel and welded on some studs. I added some wooden pieces on the ends to have something to tack the leather too then temporarily taped on the foam. After that I went to see my buddy Chad at The Sign Shop. Chad has all kinds of neat stuff, and he gave me some
PVC sign material that I think will make great door panels. I just had time to cut one out. I still have to make the door pocket and figure out how to fasten it to the door--also whether to add any fancy stitching or other stuff. Yes, there will be enough leather--Yes!

Jerry

 

Serendipity
I was at diesel shop in town trying to track down a potential renter who called me about opening a cleanup shop when this guy walks who wants to sell a box truck. The shop owner wasn't interested so I offered to take a look. The guy said the 1990 E350 had a bad transmission. He wanted $500, I offered junk price of $200. We settled on $250. The truck had been sitting since 2006. With fresh batteries, it started right up. I checked the trans--no fluid. I added 3 qts and it shifted fine but no brakes. After some detective work, I found a bad grommet on the booster. Tow, batteries and paying to scrape the lettering and pressure wash the mold off, plus misc, I've got less than $600 in it. If I can sell it for $1600, it will pay for the paint on my fenders. WooHoo!! And Bruce just called to say the back fenders are done! Other than that, I've been meticulously fitting my door panel. I added an extra layer for a little 3D effect. What do ya think?
Tomorrow: Call Ken to make the seat bottom and roll. Install rear fenders (no easy job.) Oops, I forgot, the box truck needs 4 glow plugs. Maybe I need to get $1700 for it. I should order the linoleum for the floorboards and running boards.

Jerry

 

I'd like to see more of what's painted on the bottom side of that fender.