Eastep's Interior makeover (Pic intensive)

Eastep

Eastep

True Classic
As some of you may know I hate the dingy whitish interior on my car. The plan always has and still is, to buy a 'saddle' colored Interior. Seeing how funds are tight at the moment and I absolutely can not live with the cars interior any longer so a DIY ensued. Needless to say I've been busy today and I'm only half finished. WARNING NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!!

Below is just a warm up for the real job
As you can see its ugly (no it wont just scrub clean :cool:)
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First task was the door cards
After carefully removing all the hardware associated with the door panels. Being very careful not to destroy any mounting tabs, the panels were free :) FYI be careful not to let the retaining clip for the window winder fly into the great unknown:doh:

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Next came masking for the kick trim:

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Using Dupli-color vinyl paint. The kick trim was sprayed and then masked so the panels could be painted:

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Time to paint the door cards:

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Unmask and reinstall. Looks infinitely better:

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Now its time for the main course. SEATS
I must warn that this part is ALL about detail and patience. It took me literally 5-5.5 hours just to mask the seat properly (and the results speak for them self) The tools employed were 3M scotch masking tape, a new razor blade, and a thin flexible artists knife (without which the results wouldn't have turned out as nicely)

After 2 hours I was 1/4 the through my first (and only for today) seat. The reason for the excessive time prepping was getting the tape tucked evenly into the seems so that the finished product looks right.


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And yet a few hours more and the seat was ready to be painted:

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After a very brief (in comparison) painting, the seat was unmasked and installed:woot::dance:

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Side by side with the unfinished seat
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:nod:

Tomorrow I will attempt the other seat. I am having difficulty with determining a plan of attack for the rear bulk head n shelf and the knee pads on the center console (they are factor riveted on). I'll post pics of the completed interior once finished. Thanks for reading
 
I used this on my old 924's arm rest/door pull and it never wore off. The paint bonds at a molecular level with the pores in vinyl and has a flex agent so a solid bond and non cracking finish can be had. BTW on the Porsche I used custom seat covers (was originally the same color as this one) After using this paint for that project and seeing the results I felt confident enough in the product that I chose it to refinish my X1/9 seats. Thanks for the compliments
 
Looks Great - I have the same ugly seats only the rest of my interior has been redone or replaced w/ brown and black. So I have some cheap black seat covers that I can't stand, I was going to replace the seats this winter but I think I might try the painting rought. Could save me a few hundred thanks for sharing your tips.

I'll be doing mine in black so the details should be easier to hide.
 
Looks Great mike,

i might have to add that to my project list this winter. Let me know how you deal with that rear panel.
 
What did you use to clean the surface(s) before painting? Just soap/water?

Looks nice and the color/finish looks factory!
 
Just tape off the rear section...

...and spray it. I did this with my ugly brown X, changing my off white interior to caramel. Will be changing it again to black in a couple months. Easy peasy!
 
Really nice work!

Looks good. I've used SEM vinyl paints on dashes, door panels, etc. Seats I've not tried.

Hope it holds up for you!
 
thanks everyone. There was minimal cleaning involved for preparation for painting the seat. Really the only thing I did and didn't do was: I did
vacuum the seats really well and I didn't armoral the seats for a couple weeks so no oily residue would cause adhesion issues. Beyond that and the masking no other prep was involved.
Also today I managed to refinish a salvaged ashtray by spraying "non-skid" paint to its face, and regular black for the rest (it was kinds rusty looking) & I also think I fixed the hole in the header by using some type of grey muffler paste I had laying around, then pressing some fine metal mesh into the filled hole, covred it with another layer of grey paste and finished if off by wrapping it all in tiger muffler tape. I hope it hold for a while till I can weld it.
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Your exhaust job 'looks' good... but be advised every exhaust patch I've tried lasted a painfully short amount of time. The heat of a primary tube will be intense for sure.
 
yeah, Im just trying to bandaid it until I can get access to a welder so I can fix it properly (well until I get a new stainless system :nod:)
 
Mike... Great work... But its NOT paint... it's really..

... some sort of DYE!

That's why it works so well, and wears so well.

As for prepping and spraying the seats themselves... I think it might be easier to unbolt the backs from the bottoms.

I sprayed mine all black (no masking involved...) and still found it much easier this way.

BUT... I am really IMPRESSED with how well the TAN dye covered all the discoloration and stuff on yours... Again... great work and what a BIG difference. Congrats!

OH, and BTW... that stuff works GREAT on carpeting as well! (Hint!)
 
Very well done Mike

I really like the color change. Looks like new now. :)
 
For some things, the patience of a Saint is required. The results say it was worth the effort, 'cause it looks super! Only time will tell if this specific product holds up on FIAT's materials, but so-far, so-good:)

I love the pic of your bucket seat on a, um, bucket. :laugh:
 
I'm happy withe results so far. I just picked up a couple more rolls of tape, so you know what my plans are this afternoon :help:

Tony: your rite, it is a type of dye. I'm leery about trying it on the carpet bec I tried spraying the fabric inserts on one of my Porsches seat and it turned out horrible, looked like spay painted fabric. any tips on doing the carpet? I might try it in black
 
Comment from ex white interior veteran.....

Right on!

I could never, ever get/keep the white interior of my '79 X clean. The only way to keep the white interior clean is never use it.

Good job.

Ciao,
 
Nothing special involved with dying the carpet...

...just be certain you are using the dye and not just paint. This stuff works great. I use an aerosol product from World Upholstery (www.worlduph.com) The have a very wide selection of dye colors, and you can even pick them out by vehicle make. I tend to go for some of the BMW shades they have. I re-dyed my entire Zagato interior in black, as mine was a bit faded. Looks like new. The dye works for leather, vinyl, plastics and carpet. Doesn't make the carpet crunchy like I assumed it would. I have done a few of my X's with this product, as well. Never chips, cracks, bleeds or gets tacky (even after sitting in the hot sun).
 
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