Re-upholstering, got any hints?

[Doubt_Incarnate]

Ok, so its been way too long, i've stalled for eternity, and i've said lots and done little. Time to change that. Since i've lost thursdays from work, i'm setting back on the car and gonna get her ready.

I've torn some of the interior apart a while back and now im making patterns to recover panels and stuff with new material, that isnt faded and doesnt smell. I'll be maing new fiberglass door panels since the old cardboard ones are warped and well, they are gross.

Got any hints on how to make this come out right the first time? i'm open to about anything.

[patgizz]

what exactly are you doing?

heat is your friend when working with most fabrics when trying to stretch or contour them.

use a GOOD adhesive for bonding things

i'm going to be making new covers for my Z34 seats and tgp rear buckets to make them match.

[Doubt_Incarnate]

pretty much the entire interior, starting with the easy looking stuff first, front seats will be last, i got a set from a fiero that has speakers and they look rather involved.
right now i'm getting to work on the interior quarter panels. i pulled the old nasty faded nearly see thru used to be blue cloth off and cut the stitches so i have all the parts individually to make patterns from. What kinda glue would be best to use on new foam (neoprene) and vinyl (leather look a like)? i was thinking rubber cement since its supposed to have a soft feel and that other glues might dry hard and not be so nice.
glad you mentioned heat, i found out the iron lets the old adhesive soften enough to let go with out much of a fight.

[patgizz]

3M makes a sprayon contact adhesive specifically for this.

[Doubt_Incarnate]

sweet. do you know if anyone makespods for speakers? more specificaly for doors, i have a monsson 500watt 10 speaker amp from a trans am and i'm trying to wriggle this into the mix. i'd like to put some speaker on the doors and there just insnt room unless there are pods attached to the door panel, then i can cover it all.

[patgizz]

try crutchfield.com?

otherwise you can make them out of a ring of plywood and mold them in with fiberglass, i've done that before.

[Doubt_Incarnate]

thanks, i picked up the speakers today so i know what size holes to make, i think i'll try the later method, it sounds cheaper and i can probly make it look like its not so out of place.

[sil]

hmm something that popped intot he ol noggin while i read the topic

you know the lines inbetween stiching on the fabric, if you have worn out seats most of the time you get the plastic inner lines coming out of the vinyl/material.

cut strips of fabric about 1 inch or so strait, then lay the plastic line in the middle and fold over the matiral, staple the material together to hold them, then if you are good with a sewing machine you can sew it together to make it strong and tight... then when cutting material for the seats you can use pins to hold teh fabric to the lines you jsut made, aligning everything, then when your ready you can fold it inside out and sew it for a proffesional factory look, you can use the old seat matiral for a template when cutting new stuff, just use a razor and cut the sewing threads, you can even mark where the old threads were, on the new material for an exact cut and sew.

[sil]

for a good sound dedaner double up the carpets
super soft feel and the nosie is cut down a whole lot

[Doubt_Incarnate]

cutting the stitches is exactly what i did on the quaterpanels. had to do a lot of ironing to get them to lay flat. for reinforcment i was first going to do the sticthes that join the peices, and when the waste gets folded over the back and stiched down i was going to put a peice of cloth down and then sitch it, that way it looks like a oem job on the outside.

[patgizz]

where in ohio are you anyway? i'm up by cleveland and have a full roll (6' wide and however long 30 yards is) of sound deadener, the woven fiber type stuff, that i'd sell some off of. i did the lumina and it is nice and quiet inside. i went from firewall all the way back to the back of the trunk, did the insides of the 1/4 panels, wheelwells, 2 layers under the carpet, and shot great stuff into the floor supports and b pillars. i sealed the car off too well and my stereo used to push the trunklid up

[Doubt_Incarnate]

i'm on the other end, about 3 hrs. from cleveland.