Sunday, July 8, 2007

Seats are Done

For a change of pace, I started my day with a trip to Lowes and AutoZone. The vent covers needed screws smaller than #8 so I purchased a small bag of #4's and #6's. I also stopped by AutoZone and picked up a small rubber mat for the battery.

Finally it was time to put everything together. I was miraculously able to find the screw holes for the vent covers, they were definitely #6 screws. Still need to do some work on the driver's side vent, I think the carpet is keeping it from fitting all the way into the opening.

I laid the rubber mat over the battery and used the strap from the marine battery box to hold it in place. Dug through my big box of stuff and found the screws and rear seat belts. Those went in fairly easily.

Next the rear side panels. These don't appear to be too difficult, but it's very hard to get all 6 pegs lined up exactly right. After much trial and error, I was able to get them attached. Only broke one peg in the process (I had extras so I just replaced it).

Then I turned my attention to the rear seat. There is a metal bar that sits over the kick panels, and supports the back bench. First I dug out my new kick panels. You have to cut a hole in each for the rear heater ducts. After cutting the hole, the panels looked really bad. So I pulled out the old kick panels and realized there were plastic rings that fit in the holes. I switched them out and the panels looked good again.

I set the kick panels in place and started to attach the metal support bar. The screws have never really fit right. I dug through all of my stuff and couldn't find the right sized screws. So I grabbed my son and headed out for a second trip to Lowes to find smaller screws. The existing screws were 1/4", so we bought some #10's and #12's just to be sure. The 12's did the trick.

With the rear bar in, we installed the back rest, then popped in the bench. I think the bench is supposed to drop down behind the metal bar - but it didn't want to do that. So it's sitting very sungly on top of the metal bar. The front retractable seat belts hold it in pretty well, and I doubt we'll have many backseat passengers. So I'm happy with it.

With the back completed, I had to upholster the driver's side front seat. Same process as the other front seat, but at least none of the spikes broke this time. Seats are done, everything is installed. I held off on the door panels because I have new window tracks to install. No point going through the pain of lining up all those pegs twice. So next weekend will be the windows, and hopefully I can figure out what's going on with the windshield wipers.




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