Orange T
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 2,320
Likes: 62
From: Auckland, NZ
Interior progress.
The interior is my part of the job to specify and complete. This is a hotrod but not so spartan on the inside. It's a Fine line between gentleman's club and sports purpose when using such materials and colours. The extent of my skills stops short of soft things so I'll get the pro's onto the stitching.
I'm finding the brown theme very difficult to pull off. Singer does it well and keeping close to those colours would see success but chuck in signal orange exterior and it becomes more difficult. Tans and lighter browns get a bit close to the orange and may end up looking like orange on orange. Many times I've nearly chucked it in and gone black / houndstooth which I believe is a spectacular combination but a light and airy cabin has been my focus all along.
So today I finally decided on the leather and have ordered two hides. It is locally tanned here in NZ. By my rough calculations and without any degree of skill, I think I generously need about six and a half square meters for the full interior including all seats and side panels, back bulkhead and shelf area. The hides are about five and a half square meters each so a bit of an over run there. Enough for a few pairs of lederhosen and driving gloves or another project. But for all I know, it might only take one hide.
The chosen leather is in the top left of the picture, right on top of the signal orange swatch. Looks darker there than it really is.
The carpets will be either one of the german squareweave samples just below the signal orange sample.
If it all goes bad - black is the answer.
The interior is my part of the job to specify and complete. This is a hotrod but not so spartan on the inside. It's a Fine line between gentleman's club and sports purpose when using such materials and colours. The extent of my skills stops short of soft things so I'll get the pro's onto the stitching.
I'm finding the brown theme very difficult to pull off. Singer does it well and keeping close to those colours would see success but chuck in signal orange exterior and it becomes more difficult. Tans and lighter browns get a bit close to the orange and may end up looking like orange on orange. Many times I've nearly chucked it in and gone black / houndstooth which I believe is a spectacular combination but a light and airy cabin has been my focus all along.
So today I finally decided on the leather and have ordered two hides. It is locally tanned here in NZ. By my rough calculations and without any degree of skill, I think I generously need about six and a half square meters for the full interior including all seats and side panels, back bulkhead and shelf area. The hides are about five and a half square meters each so a bit of an over run there. Enough for a few pairs of lederhosen and driving gloves or another project. But for all I know, it might only take one hide.
The chosen leather is in the top left of the picture, right on top of the signal orange swatch. Looks darker there than it really is.
The carpets will be either one of the german squareweave samples just below the signal orange sample.
If it all goes bad - black is the answer.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 2,320
Likes: 62
From: Auckland, NZ
A better shot of the chosen samples. Making me nervous now seeing those.......
I'll tell you about the embossing pattern in the next couple of days - a long and crazy story there too.
I'll tell you about the embossing pattern in the next couple of days - a long and crazy story there too.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3,261
Likes: 53
From: Park Ridge, IL (near Chicago)
Those colors look great. My 3.2 is signal orange, and the interior is pretty nice black leather. I had to replace the old black carpet, and I went with gray square weave. It really lightened up the interior, and I really like the look of the carpet. I went with Quietride Solutions sound dampening/sound insulation kit. It is a well made and lightweight way to cut down on transmitted noise, vibrations and panel resonance. I was very pleased with it.Good luck,
Dave
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 2,320
Likes: 62
From: Auckland, NZ
Thanks Dave, I think I will do the sound deadening too. Is that a kit ready made that can be bought from Quietride for 911's? I can get Dynamat locally but a kit would be better.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 2,320
Likes: 62
From: Auckland, NZ
So, i'm a bit worried about the sea of plain leather. Particularly the door and side panels being a large expanse, could be a bit ordinary. On selected panels and seat faces, I believe it needs some texture. Perforations or embossing. The Leather supplier doesn't offer perforated leather and I understand that there is no perforating machines in NZ. I could send it out for processing but I have been following up on a leather work shop who has an embossing press. I had no idea about the process but there is this massive edwardian press that works with heat and pressure and very large plates that press a permanent pattern in the face of the leather over a few seconds and many tonnes of force. I visited and they showed me the embossing plates they had. Ostrich, crocodile, snakeskin and others for the garment industry but nothing that I was interested in. The plates are large, maybe 1.2m x 0.8m made of magnesium or aluminium and have had the pattern electrolicly (?) eroded into the surface to create the reverse pattern. The guys at the shop were very helpful and pointed me to the shop that can make plates to a pattern of my design. They typically make smaller units for embossing logo's into key rings and other Leather promotional products. So that's good except the price was $500 for a plate size of 300mm x 200mm. I need a plate about 1100 x 500 which is door panel size. It is not possible to move the plates in the press and match the pattern over a large area with small plates. Not accurate enough. Random patterns can be done like this but not an exact geometrical pattern which is what I am looking at.
Had a talk with my mates who have a CNC to get a trial embossing plate machined up.
Here is the press, looks like it came over on the first boat from England.
Had a talk with my mates who have a CNC to get a trial embossing plate machined up.
Here is the press, looks like it came over on the first boat from England.
Addict
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 37,754
Likes: 15
From: Alta Loma Alone
No issues at all. I used a hot glue gun from my wife's craft closet to hold down the hide on the back side. Made very quick work of it.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 3,261
Likes: 53
From: Park Ridge, IL (near Chicago)
Good luck,
Dave
Rennlist Stories
The Best Porsche Posts for Porsche Enthusiasts
9 Vehicles Porsche Helped Engineer that Aren't Porsches
Verdad Gallardo
9 Features and Characteristics That Only Porsche People Understand
Verdad Gallardo
I've Written 500 Rennlist Articles: Here's How Porsche Has Changed Along the Way
Joe Kucinski
10 Most Unnecessary Porsches Ever Built (And Why We Love Them)
Verdad Gallardo
Porsche 911 GT3 S/C vs 718 Spyder RS: 10 Categories, One Winner
Joe Kucinski
This Builder Is Turning Heads With Its Slantnose 911 Creation
Verdad Gallardo
Porsche 911 GT3 Artisan Edition Pays Homage to Japanese Culture
Verdad Gallardo
Porsche Reveals Coupe Variant of the Electric Cayenne With a Fresh Look
Verdad Gallardo
10 Porsche Colors That Have More Personality Than Most People
Verdad Gallardo
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 2,320
Likes: 62
From: Auckland, NZ
Anything is possible when you start to look at doing your own embossing pattern. What I have decided to do is have a small plate machined up and get the leather guys to have a crack at it in their press to test the outcome and then make a decision about the large plate that would be needed. I want a simple geometric pattern, something that looks in period and not too over the top. Thoughts of the PORSCHE script and crest came and went pretty quickly because that's not what Porsche would have done in the early 70's (they did later on though) The two final patterns I settled on are dots and ellipses in a linear layout.
I got hold of a piece of 10mm aluminium plate for my mates to machine it up, half and half. The dots are 3mm diameter and the ellipses 6x3. The pattern stands 3mm high and the tops have a 0.3mm radius so as not to make the pins so much like punches that drive right through the leather.
I got hold of a piece of 10mm aluminium plate for my mates to machine it up, half and half. The dots are 3mm diameter and the ellipses 6x3. The pattern stands 3mm high and the tops have a 0.3mm radius so as not to make the pins so much like punches that drive right through the leather.
Last edited by Maxem; Dec 13, 2014 at 02:53 AM.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 2,320
Likes: 62
From: Auckland, NZ
Big night on the seats. Finished the glassing and now the final finishing. I ended up doing a few layers at the rolled edges and a couple of full width wraps front and back so the thickness at the edges matches what it was and overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The leather will lap the rolled edge well and cover it up so I'm not going to get too involved in the finish in those areas. A rough shape and sand finish will do there. Lots of sanding to get the shape of the post guides nice. I found that laying up a glass sheet then sanding around the posts to shape would take a lot of it off which is not the really the objective so in the end I decided to skim the arrangement with filller to mainly fill up the glass cloth weave pattern and blend the final layer with the main seat shell body on the sides and the bottom. I will do a spray primer filler coat next and work that surface ready for paint. Not far to go now. More work than I expected though.
Minor problem: I had the head rests in the guides when I was fixing these to the seat shell. But they were not pushed right down to give me working room. What appears to have happened is the bottom stainless steel wire has tweaked the guide in at the bottom during tensioning so the posts only go in so far before they come up against the bent bore. I ran the 10mm drill down there which fixed it but will need to go deeper to get the full head rest travel. Will need a long drill bit but the more I stick a drill down there the more the bore will open up and lose a bit of friction.
I managed to shape the side wings and remove the bumps though so It looks pretty good now.
Minor problem: I had the head rests in the guides when I was fixing these to the seat shell. But they were not pushed right down to give me working room. What appears to have happened is the bottom stainless steel wire has tweaked the guide in at the bottom during tensioning so the posts only go in so far before they come up against the bent bore. I ran the 10mm drill down there which fixed it but will need to go deeper to get the full head rest travel. Will need a long drill bit but the more I stick a drill down there the more the bore will open up and lose a bit of friction.
I managed to shape the side wings and remove the bumps though so It looks pretty good now.
Last edited by Maxem; Oct 31, 2014 at 01:24 AM.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 2,320
Likes: 62
From: Auckland, NZ
Leather:
The trial plates came up well and the guys at the leather shop loaded it up and gave it a go. The plates are double sided taped to the head of the press and the hide sits on the bed. The bed comes up on the massive ram and squashes the hide against the plate. They don't seem to have much control over pressure so it's a bit hit and miss. Out of the two patterns, I prefer the dots. The ellipses are quite neat but the dots are more classic. The dots in places almost punched through so if I pursue this gambit I'll make the machined posts a bit shorter and more blunt.
The trial plates came up well and the guys at the leather shop loaded it up and gave it a go. The plates are double sided taped to the head of the press and the hide sits on the bed. The bed comes up on the massive ram and squashes the hide against the plate. They don't seem to have much control over pressure so it's a bit hit and miss. Out of the two patterns, I prefer the dots. The ellipses are quite neat but the dots are more classic. The dots in places almost punched through so if I pursue this gambit I'll make the machined posts a bit shorter and more blunt.