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Atom's Amazon Wagon Project Update Thread

Carpet stuff

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I two toned the door caps to line up with the dash. Originally I was going to just have a small portion be black. To about where the wing window chrome is. I decided I liked the two tone, so I’m going to make a “halo” of black. Here’s the steps. First I marked the alignment with the chrome strip on the dash

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Then I used masking tape to “sketch” the contour I wanted. Next I cut some strips of HDPE (solvent RESISTANT plastic) 3/8” wide. Which after vinyl wrap in both ends will leave about 1/4” opening. Vinyl is about .045”-.05” thick usually. It’s fastened with a combo of double back tape and some small screws from the back

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Now, this process is really only for smaller trim panels. This is a heavy process. On a larger panel I’d probably make a mold and pull a fiberglass replacement part before final install. The first bulk (ugly) layer is out of Duraglas. It’s a fiber reinforced filler. This goes on thick and just gets knocked down.

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The next steps are with the lightweight filler of your choice. I use this stuff from Wesco. Start with a bulk rough-in layer, then a lighter fill in the low spots coat. 40grit for the rough-in and finish with 80grit. I like to leave it pretty rough to add a “tooth”. Use a sanding block that is as long as is reasonable and use it as often as possible. The final product will turn out way better

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Once it’s shaped nicely, pop out the HDPE strip and finish up the edges

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Because I’m two toning these, I needed a cut that would allow the two colors to tuck through the panels

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Then comes upholstery. Same as before. Mask off the areas you’re not currently covering to keep glue off (if you don’t, you wind up fighting it while wrapping). Spray both part and vinyl, let it dry completely and spray one or the other again

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The next part I didn’t go over last time. When you’re looking at a panel to cover, you need to identify potential problem areas. Like this curved area that drops off pretty sharply

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If you just laid the vinyl straight on there it would be stretched/stressed pretty good and could potentially lift later

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What I do is trim where possible and pre-curve the vinyl that will allow the excess material to be ready to wrap the problem spots. You can see how there’s extra material bunched up now

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Then it’s a matter of heat when necessary and tuck and glue and tuck and etc

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For the chrome I’m using door edge guard (for the time being) that I grind some off the “back” and stuff in the channel

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I still haven’t figured out 100% what I’m going to do where the dash/door meet. And at the end of the door caps at the rear edge of the door, but they’re on there

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I’m sure you’ve heard it, but man you really do phenomenal work. That interior is beautifully done.

Did you have a rendering of what you wanted or shooting from the hip?
 
I?m sure you?ve heard it, but man you really do phenomenal work. That interior is beautifully done.

Did you have a rendering of what you wanted or shooting from the hip?

As far as the interior goes, 100% from the hip. Which is why some stuff winds up getting rebuilt later. I never know what the next panel will look like until I finish the last one. As far as the exterior, we did a few photoshops, but I just have a general theme.
 
Ok, headliner time. I don’t want to do the suspended factory style, so I headed to Pick n Pull with my tape measure and learned a few things. A) sunroofs in wagons are far more common than I expected, 2) modern cars narrow at the top more than an Amazon does and D) a lot of long roof cars have extra “junk” on the headliners (overhead consoles, vents, stuff). I found one candidate though. A Saturn (I thought it said S200 on it, but I don’t remember exactly). It needs a little “work”. It’s short in the back, but I have a plan for that (more later), it tapers towards the back (easy fix) and it has a shallow contour in the front.

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I moved the mirror mount down to the windshield as opposed to on a bracket on the header, slid the headliner forward more, creased it a little (that I’ll fix in place with fiberglass after I peel the cloth) and then added an aluminum flange to hold the headliner up and create a straight line in the headliner.

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Now I’m working on pillar covers that will run the length on the sides and cover the aluminum, the A & B pillars and trim around the front gaps around the windshield. I’m going to cover everything in black suedeliner (I NEVER do black headliners) as an homage to the European sport BMW option headliners.
 
...but how?

Kid driving a company truck backs straight into it as I?m driving by. He says, ?sorry, I totally didn?t see you?, chick with him says, ?he wasn?t looking?. They give me the business owner?s phone number (his dad). I call a few minutes later. He apologizes and tells me to get an estimate and email it to him so he can save his deductible. I go see Rich at BelRed to get a quote and as I?m leaving I get another call from the dad, ?I JUST LOOKED AT THE PICTURES AND WE?RE NOT TAKING ANY RESPONSIBILITY, **** YOU, YOU TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!? So I directly hang up on him and go back to the shop. Call the police (Won?t come of course since it?s in a parking lot. Private property) and now it?s on my insurance and they?ll go after him.
 
Look at the bright side:

Crash test, side impact: PASS/Rating: ***** :-D

From here it looks like most o' that'll pull with a spotter, thanks to your good work on the original job.

Two seconds earlier and he might have took out the front end... for all good things give thanks, f'k the rest.

You're OK, and it can be fixed. :cheers:
 
Look at the bright side:

Crash test, side impact: PASS/Rating: ***** :-D

From here it looks like most o' that'll pull with a spotter, thanks to your good work on the original job.

Two seconds earlier and he might have took out the front end... for all good things give thanks, f'k the rest.

You're OK, and it can be fixed. :cheers:

I did have that takeaway. I?m fairly certain that the convertible bulkhead that I left in actually really helped. No broken glass.
 
I tried pouring hot water on it this morning, but the dent didn’t pop out. Anyone know where to get metric suction cups for my dent puller? The one that came with it are for American cars I’m pretty sure.
 
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