Aprilia Diary

[simonandjuliet]

Tim
I spoke to Paul this evening who said he will see you there ! Hope OVS behaves - bonne route
 

[lancialulu]

Merci bien!!

[lancialulu]

Well you will have seen OVS pictured on the SPR elsewhere on the forum, and she ran faultlessly if you ignore a broken window winder (anyone got a spare - preferable the articulated sort??), the Speedo/ODOmeter breaking (luckily I could translate the Tulips onto some handy ordanance survey maps), and the Dynamo deciding it did not like on of the brushes (so stopped charging). They say things happen in 3's.

Great time, and on the way home drove through a flooded road without missing a beat.

[simonandjuliet]

Been a bit pre-occupied with other things recently so a couple of trips out and little else. Slight problem last time in that the original petrol pump had a major leak and so bypassed it, leaving just the new electric one. I wonder if the pressure coming from the new pump is too great for the original seals.

New carpets have arrived as well, so looking forward to fitting those in the next few days and will then post photos

Hope all of your cars are behaving with the constant deluge !

[simonandjuliet]

At last, some Aprilia time - I saw from my last update that I was going to fit the new carpets in the 'next few days' well nearly 3 months later I have done so .......

As we know, none of this is straight forward because there are a lot of things to do first. The aluminium trim holding down the sill rubbers needed renovating, as did the door spigot covers and the rubber section , then the floors needed rubbing down and painting etc etc etc.

The carpets look really good and fit well. I have kept the original rubber mats at the front, but have made carpets to go over the top to protect them

Next is a retrim for the front seats and door cards. I am going to keep the rear seats as they are and just do the fronts - I cannot bring myself to destroy the original rear covers, they are just a 'bit tired'. I will buy some extra material in case I change my mind.

[Scarpia]

very neat, who made the carpets. the cut out around the door pin plate is just right.?
My carpets and seats are too good to want to replace them but living with the delicate interieur, wayward springs in the front seats and smusty smell of all those years makes the prospect of everything new rather attractive. the lower trims in the bottom of the doors are rotted though and need replacing.Same colour approximately as your back seat. What material is it?

[simonandjuliet]

My carpets were made by Brian Cates (member of LMC) using the original scraps I sent to him ! It took a little time to fit the new ones because he replicated perfectly the bits I sent him, but the bits were distorted with age so I had to make a couple of nips and tucks to get them right. I found some nice slotted and domed stainless self-tappers with cup washers to complete the look.

Regards the material, I am awaiting samples from Brian before we embark on the door cards and front seats, because like you, I am reluctant to replace the original backseats when they are still so good !

I am going to post progress as I go, so please ask for additional pictures/points if I don't cover it in enough detail

[simonandjuliet]

All the door panels removed and dismantled - what a mess !

I dismantled everything so I can work out how to remake the frames, central cards, bottom panel and pockets. The frames are made of 1cm thick wood which have a curved profile, are biscuit jointed at the corners and routed on the back so the central card fits flush. These are going to be difficult to reproduce, but I should be able to do it with a bit of time.

The front pockets are a work of art - separate silk lined "purse" set into a hole on the door card. The shape of the pocket is formed by a rubber section attached to the back panel and an elasticated cord keeping the shape of the pocket lip

The door card itself is given that extra luxury look and feel by the addition of nearly 1/2" of felt under the fabric.

All very time consuming and expensive !

I am not sure if the bottom of the door panels were originally carpeted because there is nothing original here. What is definite is that there was a separate panel at the bottom of the door because the cloth on the central panel stopped above the bottom edge.

Can anyone confirm whether or not the bottom of the door was carpet/cloth/vinyl etc ?

[simonandjuliet]

After a day's fiddling I have made the first of the panels - the rest will be much easier now I have all the methods in place !

For the straight sides of the frame I made up a 47x4 mm moulding with rounded edges to which I glued a 5x20mm baton to give the rebate and the corners were reinforced with 5mm ply

The curved side was made of 2 pieces of molding glued side by side to a piece of ply and then filled. The shape was cut and then the piece was routed to give the rebate

Once glued together it is all quite strong,  not Mathilda-proof, but not bad .The back board is cut from 5mm ply with a 7 mm gap when screwed into the frame.

If anyone wants a template for the door panels, now would be a good time to ask !!

[fay66]

Lovely Job Simon

Brian
8227

[davidwheeler]

My first series has original door cards, made of c.5mm. "composition"  (sort of semi hardboard or compressed fibreboard) covered with leather (UK spec.) with little wooden pads to fill out the rounded bits.  The bottoms have fallen off where the leather was stitched at the bottom and the composition has torn along the dotted line but the bottom was indeed carpet.   It looks to me as if your door panels may have been a luxury non standard bit of coach building?  Very nice anyway!

[the.cern]

Very very nice and the method may well cross over to the Gussie when I get round to that !!!!

An excellent job.

                           Andy

[chugga boom]

Very nice job! templates would be usefull if you have any spare as all my panels are shot!

[simonandjuliet]

James, once I have finished all 4 I will make up some paper templates and cross sections and will send you a set. if you send me an email with your address I will post them to you

[chugga boom]

pm sent, thanks alot