Ok, so it's been raining quite a bit making it hard to work on the frame, which is almost finished in the front (pics of that soon)... so some inside work... I've started re-upholstering the front seats and the front dashboard.
Found a really great deal on some good vinyl on ebay. 15 yards shipped to my door for $45. It's an off-white naugahyde with a nice texture (hard to see in photos). It's sewing easy and gluing to the dash quite well. It'll take less than $100 to finish the dash and both front seats.
Here's my first ever attempt at reupholstery (front seat chair arm). I think I got it a little tight, but the next ones should turn out better. I originally wanted to use suede where the lighter material was on the old arm rests, but because of time, price and no experience sewing/reupholstering I decided to keep it simple
Here you can see the texture (grain) of the vinyl better. I'm very happy with it. I still need to exacto out around those screw pegs so the vinyl pops up flush with the name plate.
More angles
On a side note, the molasses rust removal experiment on the propane tank seems to be a huge success. The entire tank is black, from what I assume is basically converted rust. I have two more days until I pull the plastic off and see for sure, but it certainly looks promising.
The front box frame is almost completely replaced with much stronger steel (1/4" instead of the original 1/8"), and further reinforced.
The front end is getting a complete makeover. I'm swapping out the 80s square headlamps for two custom round lamps on each side. The hood is getting a new shape which will tie into the lights and a new bumper skin made from fiberglass. I'll put up pics of the entire process after it's complete.
The dash is getting new vinyl, and the black insert which houses all the buttons and gauges is getting a wood finish treatment. I'm also replacing the gauge backs with custom white inserts.
