DIY Interior

[denisb]

Anybody done their own interior here (covering the dash and doors, headlining and carpet)?

I was going to take it to a pro but they don't seem that interested because the dirty great welded roll cage stopping the dash being moved etc.

How hard is it to do a reasonable job?

Any handy hints and tips?

Anybody know someone who might take it on and do a good job (I am around the Essex/Hertfordshire area).

[RazMan]

Unfortunately a lot of trimmer turn their noses up at kit cars and hike the price up accordingly. They have to do everything from scratch and can't rely on existing patterns to make their job easier.

I decided to have a go myself (apart from the seats) and bought some of the same material to trim the dash & centre console. Carpet shouldn't be a problem as it is mostly flat panels.

[Ren32]

I'm in the process of making my own interior at the moment.

I suppose a lot depends on the standard you're looking for. Luckily the standard of my car interior wasn't exactly LUX when it was new.

I'm working with vinyl for my interior and thats pretty easy to work with. Door cards can be cut to whatever shape you need, stick a sheet of thin foam onto it and stretch the vinyl over the top with either glue or staples in the back.

Covering my dash (which is 10mm plywood) I'm using a layer of 3mm neoprene type foam stuck to the surface, with stretched vinyl over the top stapled on the rear and pulled through the clock apertures.

There is a Haynes type book available on restoring classic car interiors which cover how to fabricate new door cards, headlinings etc if you fancy giving it a go but just not sure of how to tackle it.

If you're a bit handy with a pot of glue and a pair of scissors, I recommend giving it a try.

Ren.

[CorseChris]

I trimmed my CAE Corse myself. That has a cage to worry about so was a bit more work but not that bad. Did everything but the seats. Dash, doors, tunnel, console in Alcantara, all the carpets trimmed with edging as required, headlining and rear screen surround in 'holy' vinyl (but have to re-do headlining again as it's gone 'wrinkly' - bad reaction to the glue I used). Bought a cheap sewing machine and got stuck in. Had lots of nice comments about it from people I don't know (as well as some I do) so it can't be that bad. Quite a few have asked where I had it trimmed.

Go for it. Absolute worst case, you waste some time and maybe a couple of hundred quid in materials. Best case, you do a decent job, people say nice things about it and you save a fortune. I know people who had the dash for their Strat replicas trimmed for around £250-£300...but that's about the easiest bit!

A mate sent me an article on how to stitch a French seam..and that's about all you need for a simple trim job. You'll need scrim foam to go underneath your top layer (to give it depth and feel) but it's cheap stuff. Don't underestimate how much material to buy either.

M&MD are good for materials and advice.

HTH

[Paul Drawmer]

I've done my own as well. Not very pleased with result, and will probably re-do it at some stage, but too busy driving it and enjoying it to take it off the road :-)

I've learnt that there are lots of different vinyls about, some stretch in two directions, some in only one. The more stretch, the esaier to apply. Igather that Alncantara doesn't stretch, and is v.difficult to use because of that.

The other thing I found :-( was that not all glues are the same. Some of the spray glue will not work well with vinyl.It appears to work, but in time the vinyl expands and then the glue lets go. Real shame.

I am confident that I could re-do it much better, and I saved a lot by not paying a trimmer to do it all. Having said that, I DID pay for the dash board and instrument binnacle, since I didn't want to look at a crap job all the time!

There are a few interior shots here:
www.drawmer.net/libra/librabuild.h

[gingerprince]

Am in the process of trimming my MK Indy at the moment. Am using vinyl. Basically going for kinda black with blue inserts. Wish I'd known how hard it was to get hold of blue before I started!

This is how far it is so far: -



(more pics here of work in progress www.stuffandting.com/galleria//photos/mycars/mk-indyblade/dash//

The inserts will be blue. I'll be trimming the centre console in blue/black with contrasting gaitors for the handbrake/gearstick.

Not doing too bad at the moment, but probably won't be a professional top-quality job.

Now this is an interior to aspire to: -



:O

This is user "zetec" on www.locostbuilders.co.uk. Stunning work.

[Roman]

For my car I used MDF panels (easier to get a neat edge than ply & hardboard warps) with 3mm foam used as underlay for laminate flooring glued (using hobby electric heated glue gun) & covered by leather/vinyl which was stretched over & stapled behind each panel.

I fixed panels using stainles posidrive nuts & bolts & stainless coach trimming raised washers - B&Q

Givng each edge a nice radius will help to disguise any unevennes and help keep the SVA man happy.

For cockpit edging you can use extruded foam pipe insulation covered in leather/vinyl.

I actually cut some leather from an old brief case and an old leather jacket. You could always cut up an old leather sofa which should be enough to trim a car - If you are building a replica you can have a proper leather interior complete with authentic patina for very little money!

>> Edited by Roman on Wednesday 17th May 18:46

[Paul Drawmer]

Roman said:

I actually cut some leather from an old brief case and an old leather jacket. You could always cut up an old leather sofa which should be enough to trim a car - If you are building a replica you can have a proper leather interior complete with authentic patina for very little money!

Ace tip!!

[Davi]

while its not an easy job, it's only really down to practice - advise you buy too much of whatever material and do several attempts at covering small complex parts - that way the big simple shaped parts will seem a doddle

Also - buy a large roll of thin paper (like tracing paper) and make templates - will take twice as long, but look twice as good!

[mr clive]

Are there any (good) books on this subject that are worth buying?

I have no sewing skills and the like what so ever, so would like a book that goes through the basics as well as the more advanced stuff.

>> Edited by mr clive on Saturday 20th May 00:12

[dougc]

Not sure how much use it'll be but someone posted a link to these guys on the S forum the other day...

www.nfauto.co.uk

An Aladins cave of useful bits and pieces. Good luck

>> Edited by dougc on Saturday 20th May 00:14