Build Thread for La Bambina Azzura.

[darwoodious]

In regards to the door pulls, I learned a long time ago to reach across with my right hand (when in the drivers seat though I don't think I have ever ridden in anyones late model X).

Hey Karl, that's call a "dutch reach" where you use your right hand across your body to open the door forcing your body to twist and easily see out the window behind the car for oncoming bicycles.

@Bobkat is in Calgary where there are probably not that many bicyclists in the winter months but looks like it's pretty popular in the spring and summer.

 

[Bobkat]

I wish I took more before picks but the difference is big when you see them together. And I know it is the small things but I am so glad I covered the dash in a good quality vinyl. It was a huge pain but feels and looks way better.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

that's call a "dutch reach"

Hey Darin, is that the same as a "reach around"?

 

[Dr.Jeff]

so glad I covered the dash

Just getting rid of all the baby poop brown is a huge improvement. I've never been a fan of most brown interiors in general, but the particular stock color of brown in all of these cars (X1/9) is especially unsightly to me. Tans are fine, I don't consider them as a 'brown' in the case of interiors. Your interior job looks great. well done.

 

[kmead]

Porsche Cork Tan

Ok so now you have a kick ass interior. Any chance you can clue us in to how you achieved some of these lovely effects?

Where do you get the dye you use from?
Prep?
Clues to the scene of the crime?


It all looks great. I have never seen dyes that were so solid and opaque. Any chance of some more information? My car has a boring brown interior which is generally ugly and needs a serious level of refinishing.

Thanks

Karl

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I'd have to go back and re-read, but wasn't most of it recovered - not dyed?

 

[kmead]

I'd have to go back and re-read, but wasn't most of it recovered - not dyed?

Some of one and some of the other.

The dash was recovered but many other areas were dyed. Nicely too.

 

[Bobkat]

Put the old seats back in temporarily but kind of like how they look in the new interior. May have to rethink the seats.

 

[Bobkat]

Ok so now you have a kick ass interior. Any chance you can clue us in to how you achieved some of these lovely effects?

Where do you get the dye you use from?
Prep?
Clues to the scene of the crime?

It all looks great. I have never seen dyes that were so solid and opaque. Any chance of some more information? My car has a boring brown interior which is generally ugly and needs a serious level of refinishing.

Thanks

Karl

Some of things are redone in new vinyl, the new pieces are new vinyl but died the Porsche Cork. Some of the plastic parts were fixed re-textured and painted with trim black. For example the brown sun visors were dyed Audi Black and the pivots were painted with SEMs trim paint.

The dyes are from Leatherique Canada http://www.leatheriquecanada.com. They are proper Leather dyes made for automotive upholstery that is why they are so opaque. I have used them on leather but they also work on vinyl. The process for leather is more involve as you need to strip most of the original dye off first. For vinyl you need to clean really well then sand to scuff the surface then clean again with the Leatherique Prepping agent. I spray the dye but it can be brushed.

There are two different vinyls for the new parts. The center console and the rear deck were a tan that matched the grain of the door cards. I then dyed them Cork. The dash and the footwell speaker boxes were done in a really good quality 360 stretch black vinyl. I bought it from a local car upholstery company out of their stock so I have no idea what brand it is. I will use it again so I will find out. It is the most realistic looking and feeling I have ever seen.

The plastic parts or what ever that plastic they used for the center console and the Instrument housing was cleaned with prepping agent then I used a good quality automotive adhesion promoter then dyed. The dye is a latex rubber based product so it should on that weird plastic. Smells like candy when you cut it??

The SEM products are

https://www.semproducts.com/product/trim-black/black
https://www.semproducts.com/product/texture-coating/coating

 

[Bia]

Wow, looks great! Also if you don’t mind sharing what brand of dye did you used, and on a scale of 1-10 how hard was it to re-do you dash? Looks awesome!

 

[Bobkat]

Wow, looks great! Also if you don’t mind sharing what brand of dye did you used, and on a scale of 1-10 how hard was it to re-do you dash? Looks awesome!

Look above for the dyes. Robert Langdon Leatherique Canada. The are in the Niagara area.

solid 11

 

[Bia]

Look above for the dyes. Robert Langdon Leatherique Canada. The are in the Niagara area.

solid 11

Cheers.
I will definitely look into the dye, and there pretty close to me.

I figured it would be hard. If this social distancing keeps up, I might just give it a try!

 

[nichol01]

Put the old seats back in temporarily but kind of like how they look in the new interior. May have to rethink the seats.

Just my opinion, but I really like the original seats. And they look great in your interior.

 

[lookforjoe]

Just my opinion, but I really like the original seats. And they look great in your interior.

I agree. They look very good. The thing that I find distracting/busy are the buttons(?) on the other seats.

 

[Bobkat]

Just my opinion, but I really like the original seats. And they look great in your interior.

I do like the old seats with the new material. I may have to look for other options.

 

[Bobkat]

I do like the old seats with the new material. I may have to look for other options.

I like the look of the old seats also. They are very comfortable and fit the car well. The reason I was changing the seats was the car handles and stops so much better now( and eventually will be much faster) and the original seats really have very little support for spirited driving. I may take a run at designing my own seats to specifically fit the X in looks and offer better planted feel.

 

[kmead]

Thank you for sharing the materials and general process you have used. This is very helpful to all of us who have an interest in making something different from what was provided.

I also really like the OE seats. They could use some redefinition of multiple panels in the seats who tie them to the rest of the interior. If i get a chance I will do a fast image of what it might look like.

I am a bit smaller person so the seats hold me quite well, I know I am an outlier in this respect.

Thank you again.

 

[lookforjoe]

I really like the interior as you have it - very, very nicely finished.

What you haven't informed us about in any way is the install of your touch screen infotainment system

 

[Bobkat]

Thank you for sharing the materials and general process you have used. This is very helpful to all of us who have an interest in making something different from what was provided.

I also really like the OE seats. They could use some redefinition of multiple panels in the seats who tie them to the rest of the interior. If i get a chance I will do a fast image of what it might look like.

I am a bit smaller person so the seats hold me quite well, I know I am an outlier in this respect.

Thank you again.

I like the look of the older x seats. I may look for some older seat covers to see if they can be fitted with some alterations. I think i really need to come up with a new solution for X seats.

 

[Bobkat]

I really like the interior as you have it - very, very nicely finished.

What you haven't informed us about in any way is the install of your touch screen infotainment system

This will have a stand alone ECU. It is handy to have some sort of way of loging and tuning on the fly in real time without having a laptop sliding around on the pass seat. I also have found that i have come to rely on CarPlay. I have done android and CarPlay head units in other cars but was looking for one that had full standard Android for loging, tuning and gauges. I found this brand "Joying" that has full android, CarPlay and GoogleCar. It has a detachable screen that is on a ribbon cable so you could mount it anywhere. The have a huge selection of screen sizes from this small 6.2 right up to tesla style vertical 12". It is a single DIN so the main unit fits the X but the screen can clip into the unit at any height. I opted to mount it low and fit it as well as I could between the heater controls and the lower dash vents. I cut it into the instrument cluster housing. They unit has dual sim cards and an esim. I hid the 5G antenna in the drivers A pillar and the 4 G antenna in the pass A pilar. It also has a wireless remote that can be installed or just put into a cup holder for all of the modern CAN bus style controls. I still have to clean up the edges but will most likely rework the heater control panels along with the digital clock and make the whole thing one panel. I needed to get it all back in to see what needs to be done. I will most likely remove the clock and put in another small multi-function screen.