Dashmat
07-03-2015, 01:42 PM
#16
Ballpark cost? Leather?
How hard was it to remove the whole dashboard from the car? That might be actually less work, with better results.
BTW, if somebody wanted to try this in leather, from scratch, Craigslist or the local Goodwill store often have used leather chairs and sofas with enough good leather to do the job, for cheap. Lots of fairly large pieces of usable leather to be re-purposed.
Fr'ex, the local Goodwill store recently had a whole 7' long sofa with good natural tan leather on the seats, seat pad bottoms, armrests, sides, and back, for $12. This would have been enough to easily do an entire car interior, including seatcovers, door cards, dashboard, headliner, etc. Most of it (sides, back, pad bottoms) was in virtually new condition. Being natural tan leather, it can easily and inexpensively be re-dyed with Leatherique or Leather Magic. SEM reportedly makes a good spray paint for leather.
To stretch and conform leather, wet with rubbing alcohol, which instantly relaxes the leather fibers, then dries quickly. This may be actually easier to work with than vinyl, because the cloth reinforcement backing on vinyl typically does not stretch equally in all directions, whereas leather pretty much does. Might be worth a shot.
And, it could be that limiting use of glue to just the perimeter tuck-ins would allow the vinyl or leather to sorta "float" without stress concentrations which may cause cracking over time. Maybe use UV block treatment to preserve the stuff so it won't fade so quickly.
How hard was it to remove the whole dashboard from the car? That might be actually less work, with better results.
BTW, if somebody wanted to try this in leather, from scratch, Craigslist or the local Goodwill store often have used leather chairs and sofas with enough good leather to do the job, for cheap. Lots of fairly large pieces of usable leather to be re-purposed.
Fr'ex, the local Goodwill store recently had a whole 7' long sofa with good natural tan leather on the seats, seat pad bottoms, armrests, sides, and back, for $12. This would have been enough to easily do an entire car interior, including seatcovers, door cards, dashboard, headliner, etc. Most of it (sides, back, pad bottoms) was in virtually new condition. Being natural tan leather, it can easily and inexpensively be re-dyed with Leatherique or Leather Magic. SEM reportedly makes a good spray paint for leather.
To stretch and conform leather, wet with rubbing alcohol, which instantly relaxes the leather fibers, then dries quickly. This may be actually easier to work with than vinyl, because the cloth reinforcement backing on vinyl typically does not stretch equally in all directions, whereas leather pretty much does. Might be worth a shot.
And, it could be that limiting use of glue to just the perimeter tuck-ins would allow the vinyl or leather to sorta "float" without stress concentrations which may cause cracking over time. Maybe use UV block treatment to preserve the stuff so it won't fade so quickly.
Classic 9 isn't cheap, the pre sewn cover with the french seam is $410, $50 less if you don't have an air bag. $280 for vinyl. That said the fit is already there in the tough spots, i just need to be very very careful about how i trim it as i lay this down on the dash.
Pulling the dash is pretty easy, I took my time and still had it out in about 3 hours. That said, i've been almost this far into a late 944 dash before so i know how everything interconnects. Clarks has a good write up on removal.
07-03-2015, 03:10 PM
#17
Burning Brakes
Arominus, from your picture, it looks like you might even have enough good leather left over after trimming to maybe cover the window sills, elbow glove box cover, etc.
FWIW, I've used Superglue on leather, which works well because it penetrates the fibers and spreads the stress over a much wider area than stitching or sewing. Quick, easy, cheap, and durable fix for, say, a small cut in a seat cover.
Just insert a small leather patch to the back side of the cut leather, inject the glue, hold in place until glue cures. But, Superglue makes it somewhat stiff, so is not so good on a piece that needs to flex a lot. WalMart sells 4 little tubes for $1.
Sometimes you can find on CL a structurally good set of Porsche seats, with good frames, motors, foam pads, but torn or missing leather covers, for cheap. Typically the bad part is the driver's outer bolster pad. I've not tried this yet, but am pretty sure that good used sofa leather would be ductile enough (when wetted with rubbing alcohol) to stretch and conform to the bolster shape, so one piece of leather could be used with no need for fancy and expensive stitching. Wet and draw it down over the bolster pad, then secure in the lower, hidden area with lacing, glue, velcro, etc., so the seam or joint is invisible.
Re-dye with new color is an option, per my communications with Leatherique and Leather Magic, which I'm told is essentially the same stuff, and both good. They both say you can go from factory black to light tan or anything in between, with enough coats. They also have putty to fill cracks. I've seen before and after pics of seats so treated, and the results can be spectacular. Worth knowing if you love old cars like ours.
FWIW, I've used Superglue on leather, which works well because it penetrates the fibers and spreads the stress over a much wider area than stitching or sewing. Quick, easy, cheap, and durable fix for, say, a small cut in a seat cover.
Just insert a small leather patch to the back side of the cut leather, inject the glue, hold in place until glue cures. But, Superglue makes it somewhat stiff, so is not so good on a piece that needs to flex a lot. WalMart sells 4 little tubes for $1.
Sometimes you can find on CL a structurally good set of Porsche seats, with good frames, motors, foam pads, but torn or missing leather covers, for cheap. Typically the bad part is the driver's outer bolster pad. I've not tried this yet, but am pretty sure that good used sofa leather would be ductile enough (when wetted with rubbing alcohol) to stretch and conform to the bolster shape, so one piece of leather could be used with no need for fancy and expensive stitching. Wet and draw it down over the bolster pad, then secure in the lower, hidden area with lacing, glue, velcro, etc., so the seam or joint is invisible.
Re-dye with new color is an option, per my communications with Leatherique and Leather Magic, which I'm told is essentially the same stuff, and both good. They both say you can go from factory black to light tan or anything in between, with enough coats. They also have putty to fill cracks. I've seen before and after pics of seats so treated, and the results can be spectacular. Worth knowing if you love old cars like ours.