Getting the car back together at last.....

[celicauk]

Wasn't too sure where to put this as its interior and audio.....

http://www.celica-club.co.uk/images/dash_rebuild/thread8.jpg


http://www.celica-club.co.uk/images/dash_rebuild/thread9.jpg


http://www.celica-club.co.uk/images/dash_rebuild/thread10.jpg


http://www.celica-club.co.uk/images/dash_rebuild/thread11.jpg

Its been a while since my car even had an interior :D

[Byron]

are the seats painted or is it new fabric?

[yota_racer]

I have been wanting to do the same thing to my interior. Could you e-mail me with any suggestions on getting this done with the least amount of hassle?? I would greatly appreciate it. I want to get it done before I start showing my car in May.

[J3adSeed]

WOW. i can't believe it looks good! seriously i was thinking it'd be ugly. but i think i like it 100 times better. can't tell too much from the pics though.

[00CericaRuss]

good job once again simon! your car is nice!

[vodox]

are ure vents glowing! ???

[Tony01Gts]

NICE lets get some close ups!

[DaksGT]

Don't tease with such small pics :)

[Personafied]

yeah. more pics, more pics.....its tight...i didnt think it was gonna turn out that good.

[MilinGTS]

i love it. wow.
i want my seats exactly like that but darker blue suede.
mmmm.

[larryd]

very nice man..came out good

[MR2 Quik]

Wow, that looks great. How about some pix in the day to really show it off :D

[celicauk]

No the seats aren't painted, they have been retrimmed with a blue alcanterra type material.

If you want to do this yourselves, I have to warn you, its a BIG job. You will need to remove every panel from the car including the dash. Strip the door trims down, get the seats trimmed, paint the panel work and refit everything. Its not the hardest job to do on this car but its not to be taken lightly either. The biggest problem I have had was not waiting long enough before refitting everything, this meant that the paint was still a bit soft, and during refit I have managed to damage some of it. Its not too bad and can be repaired in situ, but its still a pain in the a$$. I would liked to have had a bit more time and a low bake oven for the paintwork.

The centre vents are indeed glowing, I have converted these into speaker pods which now house a pair of Infinity Kappa 3.5" speakers for the centre channel of the Dolby system. I fitted three high intensity LEDs inside the pods, the effect is damned good. I have done the same to the door speakers and the rear quarters.

I'll take more pictures of the car once I have finished the boot install, then I'll take it somewhere nice and do some decent pictures as I haven't done any for quite a long time, about six months really, and the car has changed a lot since then.

[jotan82]

damn VERY impressive...

how's the S/C coming along?

[celicauk]

Still waiting on M&W to get the ignition system to me, its overdue now and I've had to cancel Doncaster show, which is a total barsteward as its the first show of the season and one of the best :(

[coOOlcelica]

dayam that looks so nice..........

come on give show us more pix

[celicauk]

I'll be completing the boot install with the neons etc and possibly the underbodies, I don't really want to do any more pics until its all finished and working then I can figure things from there.

BTW - I just ordered some brushed aluminium gas struts for the rear which should arrive tomorrow, they are of a VW beetle so they should work well and look good :D No real point to telling you that yet, just thought I'd add it on.

[Stephen G]

And about time too because holding that damn boot lid up (while you show me your install) is just a bit too heavy!

[RUSHIIII]

So where did you get the paint and the primer from? the Dealer or what? need to know

Thanks
Chris

[LEDmod]

Originally posted by celicauk
No the seats aren't painted, they have been retrimmed with a blue alcanterra type material.

If you want to do this yourselves, I have to warn you, its a BIG job. You will need to remove every panel from the car including the dash. Strip the door trims down, get the seats trimmed, paint the panel work and refit everything. Its not the hardest job to do on this car but its not to be taken lightly either. The biggest problem I have had was not waiting long enough before refitting everything, this meant that the paint was still a bit soft, and during refit I have managed to damage some of it. Its not too bad and can be repaired in situ, but its still a pain in the a$$. I would liked to have had a bit more time and a low bake oven for the paintwork.

The centre vents are indeed glowing, I have converted these into speaker pods which now house a pair of Infinity Kappa 3.5" speakers for the centre channel of the Dolby system. I fitted three high intensity LEDs inside the pods, the effect is damned good. I have done the same to the door speakers and the rear quarters.

I'll take more pictures of the car once I have finished the boot install, then I'll take it somewhere nice and do some decent pictures as I haven't done any for quite a long time, about six months really, and the car has changed a lot since then.

I'm into doing my self.... handyman.. I guess...
Stuff you did are proffesional level... like you said.. it's not hard hard to do it my self.. so tell us some tricks and trade of the install and show some pcitures of installation and stuff we should watch out for and some opinions/facts of doing these out selves...
Thank.. great great install...!!! :thumbup:

[celicauk]

The paint came from a company called Autopaint here in the UK. I guess in the US you will have similar places that will make up any colour for you from the make up charts the manufacturer issues.

You will need:

- Plastic Primer, it looks like water and appears to evaporate rather than set, I guess it eats into the plastic a bit to give a good key surface.

- Base Coat, get this in the colour you want, bear in mind that if you are using as two pack paint, then flat colours are poisonous whereas metallics aren't.

- Clear lacquer, this is obviously the top coat, it is clear and is the protective top coat for the paint, it also lifts out the colour more in the base coat.

- Thinners, get a fast thinner, it will help the paint to dry faster without bloom or orange peel effect. How much you put in will depend on the spray rig you use, the paint needs to be quite thin for HVLP. I did it by eye rather than any precise measuring. This will need to be added to the base colour and the lacquer but not the primer.

- Elasticiser, this makes the paint, well, elastic. This is required as without it the paint will crack apart with the expansion and contraction of the plastic panelling. This will be particularly bad on the dash which is more exposed to the sunlight. Again this is not required for the primer but should be added to the base and lacquer. I measured this by eye again, its supposed to be a 20% elasticiser to paint, I think I put a bit more in.

Thats pretty much it for the paint. I didn't bother with any sanding down, just made sure the panels to be painted were clean and dry. I also didn't bother to sand down between paint coats, the surface of the panels isn't even so why bother, your not going to get a smooth as glass finish whatever you do.

As I previously stated I used a HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) spray system, this is basically a high speed fan/turbine in a box, with large diameter air hose to gun. These things are a lot easier to use than a compressoras you don't have to worry about compressed air volume being constant and setting up regulators and the likes.If you already have a compressor and know how to use it then fair enough, but if you are going to be renting a spray rig go for the HVLP, it can be carried in one hand whereas most compressors require a small van to shift them.

Make sure you have a mask, charcoal filter mouth and nose is the bare minimum, if you are using a poisonous two pack base coat then you will need breathing apparatus.

Only other tip is to leave the panels to harden for a week or so, then you won't have to go and patch and rework them like I am going to.

[Sups]

looks great, but i dont have the HVLP to do it with... how much is that

[celicauk]

I rented mine, it cost