Last night, Friday night, I was sat on the sofa having a chilled discussion with my wife when this email came through from Richard at Tudor wheels to say that my wheels were read and was accompanied with this photo.  How damn cool so they look, I am totally over excited.

Today I went to the garage to continue on the seat cover.  I followed the photos on the Boras Motor Corporation website, they have been so helpful that I emailed the company and the owner emailed me back to thank me for my feedback.  It was nerve wracking cutting the leather all the same.

And it wasn't easy, so much so that I sliced a little piece of my finger off in the process, donut.

I don't think the finished product is very photogenic.  In real life the creases shown in the photos hardly stand out.  I am very happy with it.  My only frustration is that the job can't be finished because I don't have the curved needles required to stick up the very last section.  I have ordered some but they are taking months to arrive, damn.

Yesterday I drove to Southampton, well nearby, to Tudor Wheels and met the owner, Richard.  He was fabulous and went into great detail about the wheels, their history and their condition.  I took the seven wheels I had and as luck would have it two were good for the front, two for the rear and one for a spare, perfect.  The two that were fit only for the bin were not the two I would have predicted so I felt pleased that I went to see him.  It was also a lovely drive there and back in our new(ish) car with the roof down.

Today I started back on the seat back with renewed vigour.  I started by cutting a wider centre channel into the seat foam which was surprisingly tricky to do.

Having got the channel wide enough I started tithing about how the wiring would work so I fitted the bolts to the frame and then added the seat back to work out the best way.  I am not yet convinced but I do have a route in mind that I think will work.  It was quite nice to see the back on the base with the base cushion in place.

I decided I needed to extend the wires for the seat heating element.

I glued the rear of the seat back and added the laver of felt, well padding that I had bought for the job.  I feel very conscious that I don't really know what I am doing and that if I had this time again I would have bought a more study type of material, oh well.

Once attached to the back I pulled it round and covered the edges of the foam for the seat back.

I then glued the heater element in place.








































I then fitted the seat cover and pushed and pulled it around until I was reasonably happy with it before gluing the centre section of the cover.

I also stapled the rear of the seat cover using my newly acquired 6mm staples; this felt very scary.

So, half glued and partially stapled.  It looks good to me though.  Given my time again I may have preferred not to have the gather clearly visible on the right hand corner of the fluted section, oh well.  It looks better than it did last week.

There are some things in life that one should not know about and this is one of them.  I successfully trimmed and glued the heated seat element on the base cushion.







































I then glued the centre section of the cover and stuck it to the cushion.








































I then had the devils own job of getting the cover over the cushion and base, but I managed in the end.

Once done it was stapled fairly easily.

The picture below shows the cushion and in looks a little unflattering but in real life it looks great.

The second seat base was much quicker to make than the first.

 

I then moved on to the seat backs and started by riveting the plywood sections even though they are glued and stuck firm.

 

When I sat the seat back cushion in it was clear that it didn't fit well.

I started by gluing the very top section and then I glued a line down the middle before gluing the edges.  It came out well.

When I put the cover on it looked a bit dreary which was concerning.  However, once I got the only original one I had out I realised that they were quite similar.

I think they need a lot of pondering before I go any further.

I turned my attention to the wheels.  I had the tyres removed this week and the car is up on axel stands as a result.  I checked the state of the wheels by putting them on the car and spinning them.  I have 7 wheels and:

3 seem good.
3 seem out of true.
1 was awful.

I had planned for the local chap in Tottenham to do the wheels but it was clear that the wheels really needed specialist treatment.  I called Tudor Wheels today and Richard, the owner, said he would do the wheels including any truing for just £9 a wheel more than I was due to pay which seemed a complete result and I am now taking them in on Saturday.

Continuing with the base coverings I trimmed the material above the seat supports then glued and folded it over.

I then turned it around and started on the other side.  I thought this might be harder because of the compound curves at the corners but I think the practice had helped me as it went well without a fuss.

I am very pleased with the finished item.

Having completed the bases I turned my attention to the seats.  Naturally the covers didn't fit and required some modification to the foam.

I am pleased that the heated element fits in-between the two ridges on the outside of the flat inner section.  Getting closer.