NEW HEADLINER AND MORE!

My son stopped over today and helped me install the new headliner. Everything went well except I cut the sun visor holes too big and the brackets do not overlap the material. I will need to make a plate to extend out a little to cover the gap between the brackets and the headliner. After the headliner is attached to the roof, there is a channel around the sunroof that the material tucks into. After a few tries, we finally got the rubber trim started into the groove, pushing the material into place and after getting around the first corner, had a pretty easy time getting the rubber trim in place. 

HEADLINER INSTALLED

The sun visors are done except for sowing the edge. My son's fiance is going to sow if for me but she needs to get thread and a larger needle first. I took the sun visors to a local upholstery shop but was told that they were in too bad of shape to be redone. Not! I am really surprised how lazy a lot of local businesses are. The owner wasn't even at his shop but was down the street goofing off at a body shop. Anyway, I got some cardboard and cut a new pattern, cleaned and painted the metal retainer, and put the press board in a vice between two boards to take the warp out. Then cut the cardboard, and material before using contact glue to put everything together. They look great and it is good knowing that I did something in a couple of hours that a professional turned away. 

REPAIRED SUN VISORS

The Plugable USB 3.0 docking station that I ordered last week, arrived today and will allow me to have multiple USB inputs to the Dell Venue 8 tablet. I was able to get the Synkromotive user interface installed and the USB driver for the adapter that plugs into the controller. I took the Venue tablet out to the car and was able to connect to the controller. Actually, I did not even need the docking station to connect but will  use it for the final set up to allow me to have multiple inputs, sound outputs, and charging.

PLUGABLE USB 3 DOCKING STATION

Next a little clean up to get ready to start working on the dash wiring and figuring out where and how to mount the meters and tablet. There is a ton of molding to re-install but I want to take the seats out of the car and clean the carpet before putting it back on.

Most of the major purchases have been made for the car, so now it is just a matter of getting everything back together and installed in the car. With only around 4 months until EVCCON, I will need to kick thing up a notch, if I want to be able to take the car.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

SLOW GOING BUT HEADLINER IS OUT

Even though it's officially spring, winter just seems to want to linger around. Last night we got another half inch of snow and it was cold and windy in Columbus, OH. I was hoping to have the interior back together by the middle of April but that is only a couple of weeks away, so it looks like it may be the end of April before it is back together. My garage is small, so I need to be able to work on the car outside to have room go get in and out of it easily until some of the interior parts are put back into the car. To compound problems, I have had trouble finding volt and current meters that will mount back into the existing holes in the dash and am now waiting on  another set I ordered a couple of weeks ago to arrive. 

REMAINS OF LAST NIGHTS SNOWFALL

On Sunday, I started removing the trim so the head liner can be removed. Everything went well and the headliner was out in about an hour.

BARE ROOF EXPOSED

HEADLINER REMOVED

The sun visors will also need to be re-done, so I am going to need to see if I have enough headliner material to do everything and if not, will need to order some more. 

SUN VISORS

Also, I am going to need to find some LED lamps for the dome light. Blue LED lamps were ordered for the instrument lights but the dome lights need to be white. They seem to be readily available on EBAY, so I will start searching for some.

DOME LIGHT ASSEMBLY

Progress is slow but it is still progress, so I will keep plugging along.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy