Interior Styling

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:32 pm

Well, I've been playing around a bit with my interior. Not finished yet, but I'd like some input from the ppl who really count (apart from the mrs lol)

What do you think so far ?

Oh, and I got my new leatherette seats in too... A few sore fingers, but no blood

And incase your wondering about the light in the door, I put that there too, and its a pain in the butt trying to get wires through the door grommet !!!

All interior lighting is now blue LED, and the dash lights are slowly being replaced... done the centre console, but having problems finding the right LED's for the instruments.

Oh, and can anyone enlighten me as to how to get these air vents out ?

Post by **Bennoz** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:02 pm

Looks great mate

Although the blue may not quite be to my tastes, its looks really good. Not to much bling, just right.

I can imagine your fingers are sore.... you've done a great job on the covers. Those last few wrinkles will come out before you know it, just park in the sun on a hot day! You did better than me not cutting yourself, I bled like a stuck pig after a number of needle nose plier stabs

Those vents just pop out. Just grab a small flat blade & carefully lever - it'll come.

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 9:47 pm

Bennoz wrote:Those vents just pop out. Just grab a small flat blade & carefully lever - it'll come.

Yeah, I wasnt sure. I tried levering them out but they seemed a bit reluctant and I didnt want to break anything. The workshop manual is a bit hard to read when it comes to pulling the dash apart. Thanx, I'll give it another go.

Bennoz wrote:I can imagine your fingers are sore.... you've done a great job on the covers. Those last few wrinkles will come out before you know it, just park in the sun on a hot day! You did better than me not cutting yourself, I bled like a stuck pig after a number of needle nose plier stabs

I took my time and enlisted a car nut at work to give me a hand with the first ones. (I started on the back seat just incase I didnt do too well, it wouldnt be too obvious) The front ones I did myself, one a day, so as not to get too frustrated. Had to ad lib a bit with fixing the cable ties to the bottom of the front seats, but I'm really pleased how they turned out. The car looks so much classier with the leather look

I saw your photo's of how you fixed under the front seats after I had finished, so I have done mine a little different, but worked fine all the same

I think I still want to get the door liners done in blue leatherette as well, and then I'll be finished I think.

Post by **Bennoz** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:03 pm

Yeah, Im keen to do the doors too. Did you get any extra material?

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:18 pm

Bennoz wrote:Yeah, Im keen to do the doors too. Did you get any extra material?

Unfortunately, no. I bought the covers from mxysxy as leftovers from the group buy. If I had got in for the original buy, i definately would have asked for the extra material.

Im still looking for a good upholsterer north of Adelaide, cos I think it'd be worth paying to get that done. I think it would be difficult to get the material to sit in the hollow properly. I saw some red ones on the forums here somewhere that were professionally done, and they look great.

Grue · Post by **Grue** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:23 pm

Looking good Sparhawk... Maybe a blue handbrake cover to top it all off?

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:27 pm

Grue wrote:Looking good Sparhawk... Maybe a blue handbrake cover to top it all off?

Hmmm.... good thinkin 99

We'll see. I'll think about that one

Post by **dstocks** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:21 am

Vents wont just pop out. 2 screws in back. have to remove the dash im afraid. I did this guide when I pulled mine out to be done:

http://www.completefto.com.au/FTO_showcontent.asp?aid=344

Post by **Bennoz** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:38 am

dstocks wrote:Vents wont just pop out. 2 screws in back. have to remove the dash im afraid. I did this guide when I pulled mine out to be done:

http://www.completefto.com.au/FTO_showcontent.asp?aid=344

Hmmm, was wondering why mine fit like throwing a cocktail frankfurt down a marble hallway

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:47 am

Umm, OK, maybe not. Way too much trouble. Think I'll pass.

One more question though, the finish I have is a matt, and not as smooth as the original. Is there a way I can give it a little shine, and maybe make it smoother ? Some sort of laquer coating or something ? Would armourall affect the vinyl paint in any way ?

Yeah I know, should have asked these questions before hand.... LOL

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:04 am

Nice touch, & i like blue as well, so its a big thumb up for me

shue · Post by **shue** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:09 am

looks great. im gettin mine done in silver . paint the seat belt guides too.

BuCkEt · Post by **BuCkEt** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:12 am

I don't quite get the reasoning behind the lights in the door pods?

However it's a nice idea....maybe stick them in the lame excuse for map holders in the doors. Give the door panel an ambient light as opposed to a directly visible LED.

Just trying some constructive criticism here, but if you were to leatherette the door cards there'd be too much blue in my eyes. The fact that the door handle cup thingies are also blue would probably be overkill. If however you changed those cups for aluminium ones than it'd be very suave.

As for the mat finish, personally I prefer this kind of finish as it makes it look stock, as if the parts came that colour (which is what I'm aiming for with my interior).

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:24 pm

BuCkEt wrote:I don't quite get the reasoning behind the lights in the door pods?

Well, my 15yo son bought me these LED's which have doublesided tape on the back. They were designed to be for under car lighting, but i figured that was a bit TOO ricey for an old fella like me, so I was trying to think of alternatives. What I ended up with was two of them mounted in the back to give some light in the back seat when the door opened. (the blue lights in the mirror really did nothing for that far back) and then I thought, well there are no courtesy lights in the doors like so many cars have nowadays, so i installed them there for that purpose. They all only come on when the door is open, and believe me, at night you can see that my door is open from some distance. Hope it will save my door getting ripped off by some idiot driver maybe.

BuCkEt wrote:Just trying some constructive criticism here, but if you were to leatherette the door cards there'd be too much blue in my eyes. The fact that the door handle cup thingies are also blue would probably be overkill. If however you changed those cups for aluminium ones than it'd be very suave.

Yeah, I was thinking that, and because the blue paint isnt an exact match for the leatherette, it would look odd. So my two options as I see it are 1. do the door cards, then change the handle cup coulour to silver painted or like you said aluminium, and 2. leave the door cards stock, and maybe colour the speaker cover... again I dont want too much blue.

BuCkEt wrote:As for the mat finish, personally I prefer this kind of finish as it makes it look stock, as if the parts came that colour (which is what I'm aiming for with my interior).

True. Dont get me wrong, I think it looks quite good. Do you know if armour-all will affect vinyl paint ?

shue wrote:looks great. im gettin mine done in silver . paint the seat belt guides too.

Hmm. another good idea. I think if i get the aluminium handle cups, then id get aluminium guides too... but i can paint them blue in the mean time

TimmyD · Post by **TimmyD** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:35 pm

how did you go about in printing the top half of the surround?

sorry if youve answered this already, but i cannot find a straight answer

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:38 am

TimmyD wrote:how did you go about in printing the top half of the surround?

sorry if youve answered this already, but i cannot find a straight answer

I dont completely understand your question.

I pulled the top surround out, and removed guages, aircon, vents etc, till I couldnt pull anything else off it, then painted it. The vinyl paint is an aerosol, so it covers very evenly. The raised vent symbols are still easy to read if thats what you mean...

BuCkEt · Post by **BuCkEt** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:16 am

That's what he's asking, it's just a lot of people have had trouble painting that section of the console due to the type of material it is made out of, the paint ends up cracking as the material expands/contracts with temperature levels. If I recall correctly you need to use some sought of dye or something as opposed to your run of the mill paint.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

Dr_Jones · Post by **Dr_Jones** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:45 am

Mine was painted with run of the mill paint. Only problem is my run of the mill painting skill.

Sparhawk · Post by **Sparhawk** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:06 am

Dr_Jones wrote:Mine was painted with run of the mill paint. Only problem is my run of the mill painting skill.

LOL

Well, I used Vinyl Paint (bought from an auto shop) which can be used on carpet too apparently (so the can tells me...) , so I assume its a bit flexible. I dont expect it will crack. My car has sat in the sun at work a few times, with and without a sunshade, and the interior temp has been quite high. There is no sign yet of any cracking or deteriation of any sort, but it has only been a week...

I'll keep my eye on it and post if there are any problems. The paint is designed for upholstery etc, and aimed at the auto market, so I assume it can handle being on the dash... after all, it shouldnt be subjected to much movement, just sun and heat.

Ill take some close up photo's if you like to show the finish a bit better.

FTO AUSTRALIA

Interior Styling

Interior Styling

Vents

Re: Vents