bad_monkey

I have gained a lot from reading the posts on this board, and thought it time to give back.

These are pics from my last interior re-trim, dug up as I'm about to start the next one.

These show me retrimming the door cards - they were in awful condition due to water damage, so I had to fibreglass them. I used polyester resin and regret it - should have used epoxy. The polyester was too flexible.

I'm going to remove the lower portion of these door cards this time round, and may vacuum form new ones or simply make a sheet of fibreglass in the form of the existing ones.

Also pictured, the 1930's singer sewing machine I rebuilt for this - tough enough to sew vinyl, but unfortunately I had to turn every stitch by hand. Now I'm going to alcantara I'm going to use a regular sewing machine.

So, pics show the doorcards, the shoddy fibreglass work (*hate polyester resin*) the speaker rings I made up for the new pioneers speakers, the sewing machine (retroskool), the process of marking up a template on paper -> turning down the top edge and sewing it -> glueing and stapling taut -> cutting reliefs for the door handle pocket, the speaker, and the door release -> final product.

Now, I've got a dashboard on the bench, stripped of vinyl, ready to retrim.

All the brown parts of the car are going to be retrimmed in grey alcantara/microsuede.

bad_monkey

Hmm, maybe a couple more pics...

sydneyman

Wow nice work! I definitely took the easy route and just bought a used pair... Thanks for posting Pics

Marcquito

Those look great! Can't wait to see more of your work!

V2Rocket

WOW! i have been meaning to do this for years...thanks for showing how its done.

i threw some FG on my panels in a few weak spots a while back and it really stiffened them up, i suppose i should do the whole panel though...please let me know if you can get them made in vacuformed plastic, as i would pay a pretty penny for those...

FRporscheman

Dude... what kind of map pockets are those??? My early 944 has just the pocket under the armrest, and not the extra part that extends forward. And every early 944 I've see is like that. They look like late 944 map pockets - is that what they are? If so, I didn't know they fit on early door panels!

bad_monkey

They are late map pockets - from eBay the last time the exchange rate got good (2009?). You just have to drill a couple more holes for the extended front part. The ones I had were beige and pretty foul, and $12 was a good deal, even with postage to NZ.

With regards to vacuum forming, I've been thinking about doing it myself, but the one stumbling block is not having an oven big enough. I can't really be bothered going to the expense of fabbing up a heating oven to soften a plastic panel big enough just for this project. The rest is easy - just a wooden framed box, and a sturdy shop vac. A thin vac-formed part could have one layer of carbon or

Ironic I post these now as I'm about to re-do the lot. I'm still trying to decide between bondo'ing the dash and then spraying it body colour, or stretching my sewing skills to make a microsuede (alcantara style) dash cover - which seems to get more difficult the more I look at it.

There's lots more in the works too.

Does anyone know if someone has already attempted 996 door handles on a 944? Technically they might work, but they might foul the window mechanism.

V2Rocket

be careful with the ratios of your bondo because if you mix it wrong then it will just crack down the line from heat...ask me how i know

art

I have the late door pockets on my early as well, just happened to notice that they fit so I figured why not gain a bit of space.