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catlinyemakerOn the positive side: we’ve started work on the interior of the truck. This weekend we pulled the seats, almost all the trim, and the vinyl flooring. Which was when we discovered the solid dirt in the doorwells; over an inch thick in places, it was clearly beyond the powers of bucket cleaning. So we sighed and hoisted the front seat back into the truck, finger-tightened one of the bolts back in to hold it precariously in place, and J drove (slowly and carefully because of no seatbelts, precarious seat position, no headlights. etc.) to the local do-it-yourself carwash. I took my car and stopped at the auto parts place to see about something to take off the single stubborn nut that would NOT come loose. J took the seat out of the truck preparatory to the washing. Whereupon he was accosted by the 60-ish man washing his car in the next bay over.
“What are you doing?!?” “Same as you,” sez J. “You can’t do that!” exclaims the older gent. “It’s ok,” sez J, “someone’s coming to help me get the seat back in place.”
I found this hysterical when I was told about it later. “You can’t do that!” Well, clearly, since we were, we certainly could.. Several passes of the vacuum later, we replaced the seat for the short drive into the washing bay. Out it came again, along with the battery connections, for washing with the foamy brush and then very carefully with the spray hose. Worked like a charm. And started right up afterward, too, so I don’t think we shorted anything washing the floor (with them there wires running across it.) Whew!
There was a lot of rust lurking under the vinyl, so instead of being able to start right in on the soundproofing, we had to sand off the rust and prime the bare metal. A couple of wire wheels and an extra long extension cord for our drill made that less painful than it might have been. That took care of Sunday and Monday. Yesterday we toted the new seats and the console out and test fit everything. Joy! The front seats and console fit perfectly, no drilling required (just a couple of new bolts.) Sorrow! The new back seat (60/40 split) will require drilling new holes in several places, and that stubborn nut never did yield, and finally had to be cut away. Fortunately it’s the seatbelt anchor and we can just move the anchor point over an inch or two and re-drill the needed hole. But all the seats do fit in there and they look very nice to boot. I did the test piece for the interior paint. I need to take more care with both cleaning up after scuffing the surface (steel wool fragments are pernicious stuff,) and making sure the paint covers completely (edges take extra attention.) But the color is everything I had hoped, and I don’t need to use the test piece at all so its lack of perfection is just a learning aid. So that was Tuesday.
Today we went out to the auto parts store and the fasteners store and the hardware store(s) and got the bolts and tack cloth and drill bits and the other miscellaneous bits and bobs to tackle the next things to be done. And then it was time to pull the last seat (replaced to mark one last hole) out so we could drill the new holes. It’s easier with someone (me) in the truck handing the seat out to J. So I opened the front door, grabbed the doorframe and hopped into the truck (you can see where this is going, can’t you..) One step into the cab jarred the door loose before I got my hand out of the way and WHAM! down it came on my thumb. It closed completely. A tentative tug made it clear that the only way out was opening the door with the latch. Fortunately, J was right there. “Dear? Would you open the door please?”
After a fast trip to a blessedly empty ER, I’ve got a splint, instructions to see my regular doctor this week, a Vicoden for tonight and a clean break just below the thumbnail above the first joint on my thumb. My right thumb. This is going to suck. Did I mention that today is our wedding anniversary? I think we’ll postpone the nice dinner out until I can really appreciate it.
Truck interior before:
Truck interior after (with seats):
“What are you doing?!?” “Same as you,” sez J. “You can’t do that!” exclaims the older gent. “It’s ok,” sez J, “someone’s coming to help me get the seat back in place.”
I found this hysterical when I was told about it later. “You can’t do that!” Well, clearly, since we were, we certainly could.. Several passes of the vacuum later, we replaced the seat for the short drive into the washing bay. Out it came again, along with the battery connections, for washing with the foamy brush and then very carefully with the spray hose. Worked like a charm. And started right up afterward, too, so I don’t think we shorted anything washing the floor (with them there wires running across it.) Whew!
There was a lot of rust lurking under the vinyl, so instead of being able to start right in on the soundproofing, we had to sand off the rust and prime the bare metal. A couple of wire wheels and an extra long extension cord for our drill made that less painful than it might have been. That took care of Sunday and Monday. Yesterday we toted the new seats and the console out and test fit everything. Joy! The front seats and console fit perfectly, no drilling required (just a couple of new bolts.) Sorrow! The new back seat (60/40 split) will require drilling new holes in several places, and that stubborn nut never did yield, and finally had to be cut away. Fortunately it’s the seatbelt anchor and we can just move the anchor point over an inch or two and re-drill the needed hole. But all the seats do fit in there and they look very nice to boot. I did the test piece for the interior paint. I need to take more care with both cleaning up after scuffing the surface (steel wool fragments are pernicious stuff,) and making sure the paint covers completely (edges take extra attention.) But the color is everything I had hoped, and I don’t need to use the test piece at all so its lack of perfection is just a learning aid. So that was Tuesday.
Today we went out to the auto parts store and the fasteners store and the hardware store(s) and got the bolts and tack cloth and drill bits and the other miscellaneous bits and bobs to tackle the next things to be done. And then it was time to pull the last seat (replaced to mark one last hole) out so we could drill the new holes. It’s easier with someone (me) in the truck handing the seat out to J. So I opened the front door, grabbed the doorframe and hopped into the truck (you can see where this is going, can’t you..) One step into the cab jarred the door loose before I got my hand out of the way and WHAM! down it came on my thumb. It closed completely. A tentative tug made it clear that the only way out was opening the door with the latch. Fortunately, J was right there. “Dear? Would you open the door please?”
After a fast trip to a blessedly empty ER, I’ve got a splint, instructions to see my regular doctor this week, a Vicoden for tonight and a clean break just below the thumbnail above the first joint on my thumb. My right thumb. This is going to suck. Did I mention that today is our wedding anniversary? I think we’ll postpone the nice dinner out until I can really appreciate it.
Truck interior before:
Truck interior after (with seats):
