Nadia's FE Ute

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Some may recall, the search began last year for a ute for my wife. After a hiccup or two we finally got one.


As it such a STINKing hot day today, I thought I'd stay inside and get a start on the roof lining for the ute.
The first half of the day was spent piecing together the old roof lining for a template, it then only took about an hour to cut the pattern and sew. Fitting will be the real test, but I left plenty of overhang.

The bow's paint is drying and trial fit should happen tomorrow.

Thanks to Scott (collecta) for the template, now I just gotta make another for Scott as part of the deal   oh well, it's all practice  .



NEXT: The bucket seats and door trims.

[Burnsy]

Nice work there on the lining Stink and I love the car, you got some front shots?  Looks to be pretty clean and honest from this angle.  Red or Grey motor?

[customFC]

Hey Stinky.
Looks like you got yourself a nice ute for the Mrs.
A couple of false starts and some headaches, but that's all behind you now. Congrats to Mrs S on the ute, when will we see her on the forum?  
Regards
Alex

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks guys, I am trying not to do too much on the ute until the Sedan is finished. It seems to have the usual rust, but I haven't looked too close yet.
I had actually posted pics before of the ute, but wanted to get a pic of my first "real" trim job. After getting the industrial sewing machine I have been practicing on kids sofas, pillows, beanbags and other small stuff. I am starting a course at TAFE in Feb to build up the skills too.
We haven't taken any pics since it got home, these pics were from Steven J when he checked the car out for us.

I don't think Nadia will get on the board, she has enough trouble logging on to the PC let alone getting on the forum  

Here's the front shot of the ute.

[fccool59]

Dont forget to tell us everything you learn at tafe, my wife and I are going to start on my trim soon, there are a few things I need to sort out with my machine first, its been set up for clothing, its a juki and has a motor hooked up to a clutch to control speed, first prob is the clutch seems to go from stop to a million miles an hour with little in between.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

first prob is the clutch seems to go from stop to a million miles an hour with little in between.

Tell me about   I am thinking of putting on some sort of adjustable governor or messing with the pedal to clutch adjustment. You can't turn corners at a million miles/hr  
Getting the thread tension is a little tricky too.
Hmmm, I'd better look up that sewing forum  

[fccool59]

hey stinky, did you uswe a thinner vynil for the hood linning, I want to use the same stuff as what is on the seats wich is capri marine vynil, it felt a bit like nuagahyde but was half the price yet double the price of the usual cheaper stuff they had.
what kind of machine are you using?
are you using a sewing forum?
was your machine last used for clothing or upholstery?
I was going to go to a sewing machine shop and see if I could get some info on setting it up for upholstery, and slower for a beginer.
my machine is a juki ddl 555, it came with no manual so I know stuff all about it.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Same vinyl all 'round, Roadrunner HJ(?) Dark Brown at about $15 per metre, then we have a light coffee coloured velour for the contrasting colour.
Got it all at http://www.uda.net.au
The machine is a Brother DB2-B755-5, it's a really old machine from the '70s I think. Scored it on ebay for $180, a few dramas getting it back to Adelaide and about $50 in parts to fix it up. Supposedly used for making curtains in a previous life. I just adjusted the pedal linkage today and it is a lot easier to control now.
The only other change I made to the set-up was the needle, I also have an adjustable foot, for piping and zips.
I got all the parts for the machine from http://www.caproncarter.com.au/directory.html

they have a Sydney address too. Even though my machine is old there are a lot of parts that are carried on. They even photocopied parts of a manual they had to help me out with threading and fixing it.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Rough mock up of the bottom of the seat, it still needs to be glued and stapled into place.

[collecta]

Good one stinky,
that hoodling looks Xcellent,
hey ive also got a HD prem interior for ya to do, my brougham needs some , also can ya look at my front seats for my statesman  ,not to mention all my FEs and FCs LOL.
cheers
Scott

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Finished seat, after a few dramas with the machine and a bit of hand stitching  :-/.
It won't win any trim awards, but it ain't bad start for a computer professional, IIDSSM.  

[fc_1958]

Excellent job Stinky, keep the pics comming.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks Andrew, you are pretty good job yourself on your project from the "other" forum  

[collecta]

Good going Glen,
its not like you picked an easy seat to try first up
well done...
cheers
Scott

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Kick panels done durng the week, bucket seat number two finished last night, cut the door cards today in between fitting the bailey channel to the black sedan. Nadia and Jonas (6yr old son) have started to strip the ute and rub back for paint.
Here's an artist rendering of the final product in action.
(Artist being Jonas, note the burnout marks!)

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Dont forget to tell us everything you learn at tafe, my wife and I are going to start on my trim soon, there are a few things I need to sort out with my machine first, its been set up for clothing, its a juki and has a motor hooked up to a clutch to control speed, first prob is the clutch seems to go from stop to a million miles an hour with little in between.

Started TAFE last week, not quite what I expected after doing a Diploma in IT  
It's a casual setup with blokes that have been there for up to 3 years, no theory, all practical, BYO projects after 6 weeks and if you want black or grey vinyl materials are free!
Currently we are doing MG door trims.
You haven't seen an industrial sewing machine until you've seen one that can sew through a door card! Watch those fingers  

[customFC]

Hey Jonas....nice drawing.
The flames are cool.
Regards
Alex

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Thanks Alex, Jonas appreciates the comments.

Here is some more of his handiwork (Mum helped)-

[DagsFC]

Ha Stinky,

Well done on the Seats and roof lining looks great!

Good to see some progress on the exterior too, What colour are you going paint it? Keeping with the cream?

Keep up the good work!
Darren.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Chocolate Brown will be the colour, much like this door trim that got finished tonight!