Re-trimming DIY
Discussion
I did earlier this year, I've only done a few odd bits and pieces of upholstery before. So long as you take your time over it you can do a good job at home. Even the seats!
Leather/vinyl : around 4.5 hides for full retrim of my 2+2(dash to do) The flat panels are easy enough, the other require more time, but even leather can be done easily enough with a cheap domestic sewing machine.
Carpets - DIY store or carpet shop, find a remnant of your choice to suit. Can be edged with offcuts from your panel+seat retrimming, again with domestic sewing machine. I'd use your own old ones as templates.
Veneer - Again take your time and it's quite possible, there's a couple of articles on this already, inc one on Wedgepages.
Hope that helps
Dave
Leather/vinyl : around 4.5 hides for full retrim of my 2+2(dash to do) The flat panels are easy enough, the other require more time, but even leather can be done easily enough with a cheap domestic sewing machine.
Carpets - DIY store or carpet shop, find a remnant of your choice to suit. Can be edged with offcuts from your panel+seat retrimming, again with domestic sewing machine. I'd use your own old ones as templates.
Veneer - Again take your time and it's quite possible, there's a couple of articles on this already, inc one on Wedgepages.
Hope that helps
Dave
I'm on that route at the moment - but what I can tell you from experience and knowledge that to sew your own stuff on a machine is not easy and is best left to someone who knows what they are doing. I decided after one attempt to give up as the finish was poor and decided to go down the trimmers route for my vinyl and leather. Unless you get the stitching right in terms of tension and straightness the job will look pants.
As for the carpets, that's straight forward enough provided you make sure you pair up your items before cutting so that grain of the carpet matches both sides of the interior.
As for the carpets, that's straight forward enough provided you make sure you pair up your items before cutting so that grain of the carpet matches both sides of the interior.
cuneus said:
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=200554
Yeah...take a close look at the job and you'll see its rather naff IMO. No double stitching on dash or anywhere else by the looks of it. Covering the bit that needs trimming is the easy bit. But like I said before, its all in the stitching....
GV said:
Yeah...take a close look at the job and you'll see its rather naff IMO. No double stitching on dash or anywhere else by the looks of it. Covering the bit that needs trimming is the easy bit. But like I said before, its all in the stitching....
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I have no problems if people don't like the job I've done, however I thought I should just mention that all the stitching is in fact exactly like the original was. All double stitched using a colour matched thread. All the old interior panels were de-stitched by the people who made up the new coverings, templates were made from them using new materials and the stitching was replicated perfectly. Perhaps the pictures don't show that too well though. They were also taken 3/4 of the way through the rebuild hence some of the wires are hanging from the dashboard etc. Considering it cost hundreds rather than thousands I'm not really too worried if its not mm perfect. Its also really satisfying to sit back, look at it and think "I did that!"
Anyway, I also stripped out all the old rotton foam and added a layer of soundproofing. This really did make a difference to the car. Nice and quiet now. And yes, make sure you use a hugh temperature glue. I used evo stick on a couple of the early panels and it came unstuck overnight in a hot garage, so I can only imagine what would happen in the hot cabin of the car. I got mine from the retrimmer.
Carpets were a lot more difficult, but still only took a couple of days. I wanted a thicker, piled carpet which meant re-designing some of the "patterns" to cater for the limited about of curve they would take. When I looked closely at the original TVR effort, it didnt take long to find many faults. There were lots of rough edges and even bare foam on show if you looked deep enough into the footwells. I made my own patterns up so that every inch was covered. Because I wasn't in a position to bind each and every edge of the carpet to stop it fraying, I simply made sure that all the cuts finished in a corner. Its eacy on a Wedge because there are lots of corners. Finally, I made up some templates for the footwell carpets which I wanted contrasted binding on and the retrimmer edged then with grey vinyl.
Matty, I see you live in the South East. I'm from the Ipswich area, so if you ever want to have a look at my car in detail then youre more than welcome to. My retrimmer is also from Ipswich and has said he would be pleased to make up another set of Wedge panels if you supply your old coverings, but he doesn't want the job of fitting them!
I got my hood and carpets done at West Country Trimmers who do all of Penninsula's work for them. They also do full leather re-trims. The outfit is basically a father and son job complete with brown overcoats with pencils sticking out of the pockets and flat caps!
The job they done on my car was excellent and cost around £400 per item (carpets / hood). This included re-trimming the boot and all of the messing around with removing the seats etc.
Top blokes to.
MikeB
The job they done on my car was excellent and cost around £400 per item (carpets / hood). This included re-trimming the boot and all of the messing around with removing the seats etc.
Top blokes to.
MikeB
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