1939 Chevy coupe

[DanStokes]

A note on commercial sewing machines (I looked into this 30+ years ago). My horse trainer friend has a Juki that he uses for tack repairs and such. He bought it cheap and used and now we know why - it does not have a walking foot. The walking foot feature pulls the work thru the needle at the correct rate so the stitches are properly spaced. BTW - your Mom's Singer was not a walking foot machine. The ones w/o walking foot will work but they are much harder to use with nice results. So the question is, as a rookie do you want a machine that makes the job easier? I toyed with buying a machine but never did but if I did it would have a walking foot.

Dan

[1946Austin]

Resell... explain? I buy stuff, it stays forever. How does this work?

Can't be that tough... yes it can. LOL!!!

Nothing makes sense to me right now. I think they are quoting in pesos, like how I get paid! I'd say go for it, worst thing that is going to happen is you learn something. You might even like it.

I've always bought tools to do my own work, and keep them forever. But I'm closing in on 70 yrs. old in a few months, so why keep a sewing machine longer than I need to? Not like I'm going to be using it for decades to come, and not like I plan to take up sewing as a hobby or side income. I've got plenty to keep me busy, so I wont take up space keeping a sewing machine I wont use. Makes much more sense to buy a used machine, fix the seats, and then sell it to get some or all of my investment back.

[SuperBuickGuy]

two things:
1) it's a talent to make straight lines on fabric
2) once you get your talent in line, you can do the interior on my Buick wagon :D

my dad is closing in on 80 this year, you have lots of time to learn a new talent.

[Beagle]

I've always bought tools to do my own work, and keep them forever. But I'm closing in on 70 yrs. old in a few months, so why keep a sewing machine longer than I need to? Not like I'm going to be using it for decades to come, and not like I plan to take up sewing as a hobby or side income. I've got plenty to keep me busy, so I wont take up space keeping a sewing machine I wont use. Makes much more sense to buy a used machine, fix the seats, and then sell it to get some or all of my investment back.

Can you rent one? The nothing makes sense part I was saying was everything got expensive really quick. It seems like staying at home and self quarantining made 50.00 junk suddenly worth 400.00 ... there wasn't much ramp to the rise in prices.

[Deaf Bob]

I can sew. Not well.. Straight lines? What madness is that?

[1946Austin]

Since none of the seams will be exposed stitches, it's a little more forgiving than they'd be if everyone could see them.I doubt I'd take on complete restoration of interior, with French seams, etc. But turning the material inside out, and sewing the back side shouldn't be any problem for a beginner.
I hope I can get a used machine with a walking foot, but not sure I want to pay $800 or more, and then try to recoup something that high when I sold it?
I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to rent their quality sewing machine to a stranger with no experience. But I do have one lead of a friend whose wife did upholstery work, and I need to talk to her and see if she sold everything when she retired about 8 yrs. ago? She wanted to get her son to take it all over, but not sure that happened. If she still has it she'd probably just let me use it.

[1946Austin]

Went to a cruise up north Friday night. On the way home got stuck in traffic and the temperature went up well above the usual 180 degrees. At around 200 degrees I pulled over to check, and the electric fan wasn't running. Unplugged the sensor and grounded the wire and the fan relay pulled in and worked. So I grabbed my tool bag and temped the wire to a ground to make it run full time. Temp came down and it was fine then.
I ordered a new sensor that doesn't hook into the cooling system, but has a probe that mounts on the backside of the radiator. It's also adjustable, so I can select when it closes the contacts. Installed it today, and started the engine up. Then once it got to 170 degrees I turned the stat until the fan came on, and left it there.
Also pulled the valve covers and readjusted the lash. Had a couple valves too tight, and had a full turn more than they needed. Did the 500 mile oil change, and filter, and cut the filter open to inspect things. All looks good, so just drive a lot, and enjoy it until winter when I'll restart bodywork.

[milner351]

Great progress - it's those little things on the first few shake down runs that show you what new parts are good and which aren't. Frustrating that a new relay or temp sensor would fail that quickly. This is such a cool car, you do great work!

[1946Austin]

Great progress - it's those little things on the first few shake down runs that show you what new parts are good and which aren't. Frustrating that a new relay or temp sensor would fail that quickly. This is such a cool car, you do great work!

Thanks. As far as new builds go, this one hasn't had too many glitches, and for the most part not many failures. The failures have been poor quality parts, which seems to be far too common these days. I wish we even had the option to pay 2x-3x times for good quality parts, and actually get that. I hate having to rework, or replace brand new parts.
Funny I just got an email this morning from the place I bought the sensor! They were touching base to tell me they hoped I liked it, and if I had any issues please let them know. So I gave them an earful of what I thought about the quality of that crappy part. If they offer a replacement I'll decline, and only a credit to my card would be a solution.

[DanStokes]

I wish we even had the option to pay 2x-3x times for good quality parts, and actually get that.

Well, some of the suppliers can get you part way to that goal. You can 2-3 times as much for the same crappy parts so you're half way there!

Dan

[1946Austin]

Nothing really new, but a friend sent me an old picture he took seven years ago at the Billetproof Drags in Toutle, Wa. My first trip to that race, and the first run I made they staged me up against the "Evil Twin" rail. A twin SBC powered rail, and to say I was intimidated would be an understatement. I kept telling myself to just not embarrass myself! Unfortunately that didn't help, as I fell asleep at the starting line trying not to red light. But The Evil Twin was already taking off in a cloud of tire smoke when I finally launched, and I caught him quickly. Then about the time I thought I had a good lead, and was going to win, he came barreling past me and beat me by a couple car lengths! It was still fun!



Think I better get the old Austin out soon, as I haven't driven it since the '39 got road worthy.
It sounds like there will be no Billetproof Drags this year, unless something surprising happens. Just got an email from them stating things were up in the air, and unknown whether they'll have it in August.

[SuperBuickGuy]

if it's fun, it's illegal right now....

[Deaf Bob]

Always nice getting something moving, be it street, arena or dragstrip..

[1946Austin]

Had to loosen up the tank straps today to get the rubber insulation back on the straps. Not sure how it happened, but one strap had mostly slipped out, and wasn't insulating the tank from the straps. Might need to re-bend the straps to allow them to tighten up better on the tank if it slips out again.
Took both car out for a ride today, and surprisingly the Austin after sitting two months fired right up, and drove great. I did have to re-learn to shift it though! The Austin has a TH350 manual shift valve body, and when I forgot and stuck it in 3rd gear it dogged down the street, and made me wonder why it lost power? Then I remembered it wont shift itself, and ratcheted it down to 1st gear. Duh!

[1946Austin]

Going to try my hand at something new. Considering the prices of upholstery work these days I decided to look around at used commercial sewing machines. I found a guy on Craigslist who overhauls them and he told me he didn't have one done yet, but would by this weekend. He called me yesterday and I went over this morning and looked at what he had.
It's an older 1950's Japanese copy of the Singer Commercial machine, and it beautiful condition. I took along my naugahyde and diamond pattern remnants and had him stitch them together to ensure the machine would handle them. He laughed when I showed them to him, but ran them right through the machine without any issue. Then he grabbed two pieces of heavy leather belt, and laid them on top of each other and stitched those together with no problem either.
I was impressed, and at a fraction of the cost of upholstering my seats, I figure I'll give it a try. He gave me extra bobbins, and assortment of needles. He also asked me if I had a stand, and when I said I'd make a table, he told me to take the stand it was sitting on too! It's got a side table, 4 drawers, and a foot and knee switch too!

So now I just have to strip the upholstery off my seats to make patterns, and sew up the diamond pattern, with some smooth black naugahyde for the bolsters. And then get it all back on without making a bunch of wrinkles!