Today started out great.
At 8:30 I get the call. I start work at BMW on Monday.
The wife, (who's on a girls trip to some casino's on the coast) calls, and tells me she won 500.00 yesterday.
From there though,....I..I...I...just don't know what to say.
On second thought,...I do. Lets just consolidate it into one word.
i·ro·ny1
ˈīrənē/
noun
a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.
plural noun: ironies
"the irony is that I thought he could help me"
synonyms: paradox, incongruity, incongruousness
"the irony of the situation."
As usual, I go down to the garage all set to go to work. Today's focus was gonna be on getting the door panel itself upholstered. First I wanted to make sure that the panel clips I bought 50 of on Monday were gonna work. I bought different ones than are typically found on a Fox door panel,...Since this is a home made unit, I didn't want to cut all of the little hour glasses into the door panel to allow the stock ones to slip in. (Because that junk always breaks) The ones I got twist in through one hole instead.
They didn't fit. The panel was too thick, and it was bowing the head of the fastener. I figured that you'd be able to see that distortion under the upholstery.
So I put the boxes in my Ranger, and close up the garage. Somewhere between the Ranger and closing the garage door, I decide to take the Wrangler instead. I get the two boxes out of the Ranger, and head for town.
When I get to the upholstery shop, I look for the panel fasteners.
No where to be found.
Must've left the damn things sitting somewhere back at the house.
I go into the shop, dude tells me that there is a 20% restocking fee on all returns. (means I'm gonna lose 4 bucks) Oh well,...15 dollars is better than nothing. I don't have them with me anyway, but I need different ones that'll work.
I buy these things called auveco clips.....old school panel fasteners made out of steel.
They only come in a box of 100. I need maybe 30.
$20 bucks. I buy them. (What am I gonna do, I need the stupid things?) I head back for home.
When I get back home, I start looking for the other clips. I look all over.
Where the hell did I leave those clips? I check every inch of the house, and both trucks......nothing.
I think..." Did I put those things on the roof of the Jeep?" and walk out to the street....
There they are. Scattered and smashed all over the street. Not a single one managed to escape getting ran over.
Now I ain't getting back Jack.
I trudge back to the garage with a handful of bent assed plastic junk. I throw it in the trash.
Ironic circumstance #1.
I take the new clips, and see if they'll slide onto the panel. They do, but they're mega tight. I slide one in the hole on the panel that would be dead center over the hole in the door.
Won't work. The clip is offset, The hole that used to line up, now locates the clip 1/2" away.
I drill new holes 1/2" away from the old holes.
I slide the clip on, fidget and fuss around with getting all 15 or so aligned, and do a trial fit. It'll work
Ironic situation #2. I didn't want to have to drill the panel to use the correct factory clips.....now I have, and they're not even the right ones.
I remove them all so I can upholster the panel. I'm concerned now because there is a little less than 3/8" left between the holes,...a sure fire guarantee that one of those small spaces will tear, or break, the very first time I try and remove the panel.
If I have to remove the thing, I'll just have to be mega careful that's all.
So, I get to cutting and glueing.
** The big hole, and the one above it are intentional....the other one was there in the hide. Poor old Elsie must've got jabbed in the ass.
I added a layer of 1/8" foam to allow me to create recesses. The recesses in the panel will accommodate the center trim piece, and the speaker box, while adding some dimension to the thing.
And that looks like this:
* You're seeing the stain all over the grille mesh. I took this pic before I washed all of that stuff off.
So,...I got it basically finished. all that remains is to slide the clips into place, and that one will be done.
The clip is visible. There is a huge bulge apparent where the thing is attached to the door. I can't use them.
Ironic situation #3. Even after ALL of that,....I am still gonna have to screw the panel to the door. And now I gotta return the new stuff, and lose another 4 bucks and one hour tommorrow.
I'm just gonna run panel screws through the thing at the very back. I think the door bar will do a good job of holding it in place in the middle, and the speaker box will hold the bottom half,...If I need a screw or two beyond that,.....what the hell.
That said,..the goal for tomorrow is to get the door bar finished, and prepped for paint. I still need to make a small arm rest pad and integrate it into the bar, and bend the backer pieces and trim pieces that will sandwich the mesh at the fork on the bar......In other words,...a full day. For today, I'm done.
But like I always do,.....I get almost everything thrown back into the garage, and start doing something else. I look at the speaker box, and think "What's stopping me from permanently mounting the woofer in the hole?"
Nothing.
So I do it.
NOW I'm done.
That means all tolled,...the custom door panel takes a full week to build including the door bar. My days of being able to dick off in the middle of the week end officially on Saturday. From there, I'll have a job, and have to actually...........go to work. It's an auto dealership, open Monday-Saturday. I'll have to work every Saturday.
But,....I will have Sunday off, and some day during the week off as well. (I don't know which one yet).
So, In hindsight,.....I guess my days of dicking off in the middle of the week aren't over after all.....But the car,.....It's gonna take forever now. Think about it...It took 7 days to build one door panel. I still have another one to build......For.....freakin....ever.
lol. I bet you have some power door lock actuators stashed.you know you wanna put a button on your door bars
