Hiccup on the seats

 I'm really happy with the seat wadding;

It's made a really smooth squishy surface just ready for the leatherette. It glued on to the sides quite well, I did staple it underneath but the plan is to remove the staples and trim the excess just before the leatherette goes on.

I did take this opportunity to take a quick measurement;

That's 750mm to the base of the seat to the top of the headrest. The regulations are;

• 85mm from each side of the centre line. That's an easy one, it's about 220mm total. It is slightly offset but I think it's still fine. 
• Measured at an angle of up to 25 degrees. My recline angle is 15 degrees so I'm measuring ok.
• Top of the head restraint must be at least 700mm above the R point. 

The issue is that the R point is 53mm from the seat base. That means I'm 3mm short. 

At first thought I could argue that the wadding going over the top edge of the head restraint could fill in the extra 3mm, but am I really going to measure a pass/fail on how thick some padding is going to be? Especially it it would mean redoing the seats.

So the easiest fix is simply to raise the seat back. I'm going to raise it maybe an inch or so, it's not going to cause an issue apart from where the leather pulls tight behind the seat. That's just a decorative thing. The priority is to make it strong enough to be considered a safety device. I doubt the extra inch will make that much difference from a 'seat aesthetics' point of view, as long as they're both done the same. 

I'm going to 3D print a measuring block, then take some better measurement to sort out an extension.

(The following Tuesday)

The measuring block is now printed, and it's showing something interesting.  In the IVA manual, the seat base is also angled;

But my base isn't, it's horizontal. So as I move 136mm forward, the ninety degree angle at the top actually makes the seat back 'longer'. In fact, with my 'measureometer' (patent pending) it actually measures just over 730mm;

So again, in theory I don't actually need to do anything. I'm at least 30mm clear to the metalwork, and I still have a layer of wadding to go on top. Havin said that I'm still going to increase it by an inch, it's not much effort and it gives me a safety margin. 

It does make the headrest back cover more difficult to deal with though, as it'll mean I'm trying to staple into metal. I'll have to bring the leatherette down a bit further but I'll end up with creases. The easiest way to fix that is to have a short board covered with leatherette that will bond to the back of the headrest. But that will mismatch with the rest of the back, so I'll have to do something to lift it up.

This is the back of the headrest;

The wood sits inset based on the metal, which works well for what I had planned because the metal clamp would raise the leather up and I'd be left with a nice transition from back to side. Actually, that will work, the extra board for the headrest would simply sit on top. 

One step at a time I think... I'll lift the headrest 30mm and start there.

Start on the seats

 First, a problem...

Yes, despite me having far more space than a regular Haynes roadster, the air filter doesn't fit. I noticed it after fitting the meter and the filter, then seeing the bonnet not sitting right. The filter is jammed between the frame and the body. Given that I'm not going to cut the body or the frame, the filter is the one that has to give. That'll be an interesting side project, not quite sure what to do yet. 

Anyway, back to the seats. The foam glued on really well after my dashboard exploits;

And thankfully just having that thin foam on has made the seats far more comfortable. I did manage to get the wadding from the Hole in the Wall, although storm Darragh did make that particular journey quite eventful. Before that goes on I needed to round off the corners;

The left side is the cut right angle from the initial trim, the right was after I'd smoothed it over a bit. It was pretty easy to do to be honest, the powerfile with a really coarse grit belt was enough to shape it. Then my Japanese saw rasp took off the untidy bits. So now I have two seats with nicely rounded edges;

I'm really happy with the outcome, everything has gone right so far.

There is a slight change of plan on the wadding though. I had originally planned to have the surface as one piece, and the edge trim as another. But that seemed to be asking for trouble, particularly how the rounded corners were done. Instead I've cut it so the surface wraps round and staples to the back. I'll still glue it in the centre so it doesn't slide about under the leatherette, but being able to pull it taught round the edge will hopefully give me a really smooth corner without too much effort. 

Once that's done I can apply the leatherette. 

A halt in the proceedings

 Since the last post I seem to have done very little. To be fair, it's been absolutely freezing in the garage, and the clocks going back make it even more challenging. 

But I thought I would at least update the blog to see what needs to be done. Well, I know what needs to be done, the blasted wiring! I need to get on with it but it really is painful. I could probably get it done in an hour or so, then just need to tidy it up, job done. 

Away from the wiring, I'm also looking at the seats. I put the foam on the seats to see what will happen, and I'm a bit wary it won't be as smooth and curved as it is in my head. The foam is firm and very 'right angled'. Looking on youtube I think I need to add a layer of dacron, a lighter foam that can round off the corners. If I trim the sharp corners then add dacron I think I can get it looking reasonably curved. 

The seat base is 50cm long, 41 wide. Add 5cm all round gives me 60 x 51.

The back is 41 wide as well, 77cm tall. Same addition is 87 x 51.

I also need to add a strip all round, a couple of inches thick. All four sides of base and back is 418cm. Working it all out I can get away with a 2.5 yards based on a 54" width (1.5 yards). I could 'probably' get away with a 1 metre wide, but I don't think haberdashers have embraced the metric system yet. 

Of course, haberdashers aren't as common as they used to be. Where I used to work there was one on the high street, and there's one in Walsall which isn't far. But there is a market tomorrow (Wednesday) and there might be one on there. The weather won't be good but it'll be worth the journey, especially if I can do some Xmas shopping at the same time!

I then have to;

• Trim the exhaust
• Complete and attach the arch fenders
• Finish the fuel tank plumbing (possibly buy some correctly marked hose)
• Bolt together and tighten up the suspension
• Seatbelts
• Edge trim everywhere
• Paint (I'm tempted to leave this until after IVA)
• New tyres