Never Enough Champagne

[mongocanfly]

Jeff.. maybe he can hook it to the Tesla vacuum to try it out...!!...haha..
Those shined up real nice Ed...

 

[oneof3k]

Ha! I wonder how one would hook up a wiper motor to a Tesla vacuum without being jettisoned into space or having too much current and torque?

At one time I did possess a vacuum pump but that was decades ago. I'm not too worried about the motors working properly; if they don't work if and when I fire up the Scout, it's an easy re rebuild. Or re re rebuild. I do like the Jeff's idea of borrowing another vehicles vacuum system for testing though.

 

[mongocanfly]

Are you sitting in line Ed..?...
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/massive-line-colorado-in-n-out-burger-joints

 

[J.J.]

I was able to visit with Ed and Kate in person last weekend. They were the perfect hosts. I gotta say the pics and quality of this build are out of this world! Pics do not do justice to the beauty of his 80. All the small details that add up to a master piece. Wow.

JJ in TN

 

[oneof3k]

Are you sitting in line Ed..?...
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/massive-line-colorado-in-n-out-burger-joints

I'm still in line Greg. I gotta do something to occupy my pea brain as work on the Scout is almost non existent.

I was able to visit with Ed and Kate in person last weekend. They were the perfect hosts. I gotta say the pics and quality of this build are out of this world! Pics do not do justice to the beauty of his 80. All the small details that add up to a master piece. Wow.

JJ in TN

We have to stop meeting in person JJ cuz this transfer of funds for you to say such nice things is killing my budget!

Because I'm told that I need to be in a cast for 10-12 weeks total (or 7-9 more as of today), I decided that I had to figure out a way to be a little more active and especially be able to blow bubbles or what ever I do in the pool. After some research, I found a company that 3D prints water proof casts. I was able to get scanned and three days later, out pops a "cyber" cast from the printer and lands onto my hand/arm.

It's rather pathetic, but I did manage to finish putting my fuel tanks together after lining them quite a while ago. For the record, that liner is really, really tough. So tough in fact that I couldn't screw the fasteners into the tank without first having to rethread the weld nuts!

Special thanks go out to Randy Barringer who was kind enough to send me some extra fuel tank fasteners that were MIA. And for extra credit, he even sent me some brand new wiper blades! This community is truly special.

Are you boys and girls sensing that I have precious little real progress to report so I'm now just making things up? A little over a week ago, I went and looked at a turbo Champagne a couple of hours away from me. I've joked that I want one of those.... but not this one. It ran so bad and I know so little about IH/Corvair turbos that I passed. But I can now say I've seen and driven one in person!

I was going through my box of door parts and pulled out one of the window regulators. That got me thinking about the differences between 80 and 800 regulators. I grabbed one of the later ones from a recent parts haul and compared the two.

Scout 80 on the left and 800 on the right. The skeletons are the same, but the construction is a bit different. This educational presentation is provided for those who may not have been aware of this fact so you don't purchase the wrong one!

And lastly, I've been dabbling in the lost art of embossing. I can't say for sure that I'll be successful, but things are looking promising (which is a BS way of saying no pics!). I'll report on this subject regardless of any successes or failures. FYI, thus far, mostly the latter.

Hope everyone had a good and safe turkey day!

 

[mongocanfly]

That cast looks like it should have retractable bone claws ..!

 

[Kohler]

After some research, I found a company that 3D prints water proof casts.

What a great idea... Looks like it doubles as resistance training in the pool. Maybe they could print you some full body armour to keep you from hurting yourself in the first place.

 

[oneof3k]

That cast looks like it should have retractable bone claws ..!

Don't know about the claws, but it's damn good at leaving scuff marks on the side of Barb and Kate's car!

What a great idea... Looks like it doubles as resistance training in the pool. Maybe they could print you some full body armour to keep you from hurting yourself in the first place.

Ha. My shoulder does indeed say something about additional resistance after a mile plus of flopping around in the pool. And there really is not much hope for developing a full body restraint system; I've done a pretty good job of trashing it over the years! Besides, it's the top 10% that I worry about and the last time I checked, the powers that be can't do much to fix stupid. A good friend of mine fondly stated, frequently, that he would rather have a bottle in front of him then a frontal lobotomy!

My embossing trials and tribulations continue. I've had many more factory rejects that were sh!t canned then items I could live with. Here's a small selection of the rejects.

But, slowly, I'm getting there. I purchased a cheap role of vinyl (the gold stuff) as an expendable item to learn on. Then I would get bold and break out the stuff that cost about 1.5 times the cost of a first born (per yard), only to add that to the scrap pile.

Skipping ahead numerous steps (and saving everyone some valuable time), I eventually came pretty close to duplicating the original seat embossing. Original PS seat:

And the cheapo version:

Then the first attempt at the real McCoy:

The lines/ribbing/embossing aren't quite as wide as the factory lines, but pretty close anyways. So one panel down and 11 more to go.

 

[mongocanfly]

Is that the front or the back?.....the original looks like it had piping sewed in...or is that just the "look" of it?

 

[Chris Cooper]

Did I miss something (else)? How'd you do that, Ed?

 

[J.J.]

Easy there big fella, you are most likely going to have a second career with Jeff on seat recovering! Awesome job!

JJ in TN

 

[oneof3k]

Is that the front or the back?.....the original looks like it had piping sewed in...or is that just the "look" of it?

Front Sir. I don't have a clue in general, and certainly what you mean by piping... both the factory and my attempts were heat embossed or pressed, melting the vinyl a touch to create a small linear void or depression. If by piping you mean welting, IH only used that on the front and back seats of RCS and CS's. Once I figure out a few more things, I'll post a pic of an original back seat too.

Did I miss something (else)? How'd you do that, Ed?

Stay tuned Chris. This is still a work in progress and I keep tweaking the variables. Short answer is think metamorphic rock formation.... heat and pressure. Add to that a touch of geometry and peanut oil and hopefully out comes something acceptable!

Easy there big fella, you are most likely going to have a second career with Jeff on seat recovering! Awesome job!

Thx JJ. I have no plans whatsoever to compete with Mr. Jamison, who, hopefully, will make the real magic happen after I send him all these embossed inserts for incorporation into his famous seat covers. And I doubt there are too many people who are as anal as myself in trying to keep things that original. But who knows, maybe I could whip out an additional set or two someday?

 

[Randall Barringer]

You continue to impress me. Skilllllzzz for dayyyzzz.
Have a great weekend!

 

[mongocanfly]

One of those pics looks like the back , depending on how I zoom in on it...
Welting is another word for piping I suppose

 

[Chris Cooper]

I get the heat & pressure— I’d assumed that already. What gets me is you always seem to find a really effective workaround for factory tools & methods.

McGyver got nothin’ on you...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[oneof3k]

I get the heat & pressure— I’d assumed that already. What gets me is you always seem to find a really effective workaround for factory tools & methods.

McGyver got nothin’ on you...

Quite the compliment C2. Whether home projects or field work (during my working days), I often had to figure out a way to cross the finish line without breaking the bank or purchasing tools used only for a couple of occasions. This is yet another reason why I like this Scout building stuff so much; it's generally easy physically but it requires a bit of mental prowess to succeed. Unless of course one has lots of experience, money, or a shop as big as one's house, of which I have neither!

So I've been laying low (or on my back) the past few weeks recovering from some medical procedures and pretty much being bored out of my mind. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be able to become somewhat more functional. In the meantime....

I finished the heat embossed seat inserts/panels for Barb and the Lil Sh!t. Here's either the DS or PS backs and bottoms:

And the rear seat:

And for reference, a pic of one of my original back seats.

I'm sure glad I had a couple of CSs with original seats so I could duplicate the pattern.

As the finished inserts/panels have a tendency to curl at the edges, I had to McGyver a temporary storage using what few available weights I had on hand.

Don't be concerned, the boxes were never filled with any product, rather they were left over from a movie shoot!

In the unlikely event anyone has an interest, I'll summarize how I embossed the panels.

Step 1: Sample product from one or more of the above boxes.

Step 2: Cut your vinyl into appropriate sized panels, glue some 1/4" sew foam onto the back, and mark the area one wishes to emboss (last step only required for those that are mentally challenged).

Step 3: Design and make an embossing mold to fit whatever pattern you wish to duplicate. For RCS and CS Scouts, 1-1/2" angle iron welded together works.

Step 4: Preheat oven, grill, nuclear reactor, etc. and apply a trace amount of peanut oil or other high temp substance to the mold edges to prevent the hot mold from sticking to the vinyl. Place mold into your heat source of choice.

Step 4: Make a working surface for the magic to happen. I used a 5/16" steel plate as the base. Place your vinyl insert onto the working surface.

Step 5: Take your mold out of your heat source and quickly place onto the top of the vinyl surface. (FYI, the angle iron I used turned out to be a wonderful heat sink and would thus rapidly dissipate the heat). Then I used a second 5/16" steel plate, followed by some additional weight. I found it critical that one use Toyota rotors first, followed by some Volvo rotors next. Not sure how your embossing would turn out if you used Chevy or other rotors!

Step 6: Continue to sample any liquid product that may still be available.

That's it in a nutshell. There are many variables that need to be considered such as the mold temperature, the amount of weight, and the duration of the pressing. Those variables depends on the vinyl, the area of the mold (or psi), and other factors. It's more art than science. At least it's not political.

Next up is to try and recreate some sun visor blanks so they can get upholstered at the same time as the seats do.

Have a great day, week, month, and what's left of the year!

 

[mongocanfly]

Those turned out looking great Ed..!!..although I doubt I ever will, thanks for showing us how its done..!..
One thing I've been wondering about ,,maybe you or Jeff could shed light on it..
Would the creases you made be prone to being a weak point in the fabric?....
Also one thing I noticed on your angle iron, are the ends are square ?..if so ,would it have been better to put a small radius on the ends so it wouldnt be a hot hard corner on the the fabric..?...asking for a friend...haha

 

[oneof3k]

Those turned out looking great Ed..!!..although I doubt I ever will, thanks for showing us how its done..!..
One thing I've been wondering about ,,maybe you or Jeff could shed light on it..
Would the creases you made be prone to being a weak point in the fabric?....
Also one thing I noticed on your angle iron, are the ends are square ?..if so ,would it have been better to put a small radius on the ends so it wouldnt be a hot hard corner on the the fabric..?...asking for a friend...haha

Creases: the factory embossing definitely was the weak link (see earlier pics above)... but they (the manufacturer) "melted" the vinyl more/deeper then I did (for that exact reason). Plus, the vinyl I ended up purchasing is even heavier duty than the factory stuff so I think it will last several decades. Like Don B said about metallic single stage painting, it is a dance between viscosity and gun speed so the paint don't run. In this case, one needs to find the happy compromise between sufficient melting from an aesthetic perspective and upholstery longevity.
Angle Iron: My smart-assed engineer son give me a similar lecture when he saw my prototype mold, only he used big words like moment of inertia and differential equations to say that the imprint will be heavier at the ends. At the end of the day, Greg, it's a moot point as I deliberately oversized all the embossing and edges to hopefully make sewing easier. Jeff will just use the middle 3/4-ish of each of my panels for the embossed inserts and toss the "hard edges".

 

[mongocanfly]

Ok...I see now....tell that sa son of yours, when he builds his own correctly restored Scout , that you may listen to him then....!...but me, just dont pay me no mind...I was just curious more than anything..

 

[J.J.]

In the movie shoot pic I spied a Kona. HAHA. My 100 year old Aunt Nance says she doesn't trust anyone who doesn't pull a cork.

It is admirable that you have made this happen Ed, its all bout the details.

And probably to Kate as from what can be seen in the pics it is an all over the house project. I guess she spared you the going up and down the stairs and using the kitchen floor maybe HAHAHA

JJ in TN