Noob with a new mx5 Saturn build.

[Rosco]

looking cracking mate, some nice ideas in there

one thing, i found useing the normal black bolts they go rusty very quick, i sand blasted the heads and painted them black

[norton]

Thanks Rosco, I'll give them a spray for sure. Your p section rubber trim idea has worked out perfectly and wasn't too difficult to complete either.

I'm hoping to wrap up a few of the last remaining jobs I have before more parts are required to move forward. My fuel lines need tidying at the tank end and my handbrake cables look more like an open autopsy than anything resembling an iva pass...

Does anyone know where I can have my chassis number milled into a piece of steel?

[garyt]

Hi lovely build and great to see you cracking on
Re bin number I used a guy on eBay who stamped it on a piece of flat bar then I seam welded it to the chassis
Will see if I can dig his details out but it's been a while or any local engineering works should be able to stamp it

[norton]

Thanks Gary that'd be really helpful thank you!

Some odd bits sorted today. The fuel lines are now finished and the last few needed tweaks to the tunnel panels. I also made a bracket to attach the Toyota ignition could to the engine.

I was quite pleased with this one.

Before paint mock up.



And painted!





They don't budge even a millimetre now!

[norton]

I'm gonna have a punt at stitching together my own boot cover I think. Has anyone tried this themselves here before? I'm hoping there's a reasonably priced sewing machine local to me that's capable of stitching heavier fabrics like vinyl or the mohair types.

[vmax1974]

Not sure how true it is but someone once told me that the old singers were good for that kind of thing

[norton]

I was hoping that was the case. I read somewhere that a heavier duty machine is needed plus a 'walking foot' type machine is very helpful too. Annoyingly I took a big heavy duty one apart recently to make a new table

[Bonzo]

I recently bought an old Singer sewing machine to fabricate some vinyl covers for my boat seats.
Works a treat with the right size needle & correct thread.
Stitches perfectly through 2 layers of vinyl + the pvc piping.

unless the fabric is very grippy you could probably get away with just using a Teflon foot.
Walking foot attachments are available at reasonable cost, bought one but never needed to use it.

Just look out for any cheap metal bodied domestic sewing machine, Singer Brother ect.

I did think about buying an industrial walking foot machine but simply can't justify the cost.
Another thing about industrial machines is the stitching speed, way too fast for a novice like me to control.

There are some great sewing tutorials on youtube

Never touched a sewing machine in my life before but I am more than happy with the seat covers I made.

[Bonzo]

Here's a poor photo of my first crack at sewing.



Quite therapeutic once you get the hang of things.

[norton]

You are a star thank you! That's the reassurance I needed to push on with it. Can you tell me which model Singer you have please?