Tom in Austin

Hey Rob, what product did you spray on the door panels (i.e. the upper part)? Same thing you used to re-color the leather?

Rob Edwards

Tom-

Anything that was recolored in Cobalt blue or Light gray was done with Surflex from Colorplus. The Cobalt blue formula Joanne used is from a batch she made for Bertrand a few years ago. Since his Cobalt '91 S4 and Mark's Cobalt '91 came off the line within a couple of weeks of one another, I made the leap of faith the formula would be a good match. The light gray is from a vinyl sample I sent her.

Truthfully, if Mark had had a piece of seatback from a light gray car, I would have just cleaned the hell out of the seat and had the bolster repair done and left them. They had a bit of patina and wrinkles in the cushions but mostly they were just dirty.

The recoloring process (like every last frickin' thing that ever gets painted) depends on surface prep- I'm a little nervous as to the durability of this recoloring. The guy that recolored my GTS' seats about 4 years ago did what seemed like a thorough job at the time (took about 4 hours...) but they have not held up well at all. So I have tried to take it slow and follow the Colorplus instructions and be thorough. After 24 hours I am going to buff them out with a wool bonnet on the Porter Cable, and then I'm going hit them with a light coat of clear, hopefully that'll help protect them a bit better.

The scariest bit is that I will have redone the carpets, seats, door cards, and arm rests. I am worried now that I'm going to end up pulling and refinishing the dash, pod, and center console so that everything will match.....

BC

Funny how we are doing similar work, but on separate ends of the spectrum of miles. But its the same work.

Did the carpets in the low mile red car this weekend. Cleaned up well. Gotta soften the seats.

Rob Edwards

Clean the hell out of the seats before you soften, getting whatever dirt and oils out of the surface 1st helps the softener penetrate better. Either Colorplus's soffener is 'better' than Leatherique, or I just did a better job really cleaning first.

Rob Edwards

Slowly getting there- still need to re-stitch and recolor the steering wheel. I started buttoning up mechanical bits from the engine R&R so it can run again.


After spraying the seats, the finish felt too much like paint- you could feel little 'nubs' in the surface. Experimented with various buffing and polishing things, and the thing that seemed to knock down the roughness the best was rubbing with a paper towel- the paper would catch and tear a little on the rough surface but then would smooth out.

After that smoothing, I hit each seat with a light overcoat of clear coat, and then reassembled:

Mrmerlin

Wow what a transformation, excellent workmanship,
thanks for taking the time to document all of your work

Hilton

Does the interior still have that "old 928" smell"? Or has all the carpet washing etc. got rid of it?

namasgt

Just saw this thread, great looking car and great deal.
I always heard of a 89 GT cobalt blue that was here in DFW area but it got totaled in a front collision. Didn't know there was another cobalt blue GT in the states.

Rob,

You are the perfect person to give this car the attention and care it deserves.

Awesome deal.

Chuck Schreiber

Wow Rob!!!

JPTL

It will be easy to look at this car in the Spring and say to yourself "I should have bought that car! Look at how nice it is!"
But you have to take a look at the before and after pictures and the hours and effort required to get from before to after, and you'll have to say:

+928

Bertrand Daoust

I experienced the same thing when I did mine.

But buffing it with a microfiber rag did a good job.
It came out with a good neutral/natural look. Not too shinny. Just good.

Good job Rob.
Keep up the good work.

Rob Edwards

She's a runner, again:

Hilton

Question - how'd you plate the top of the air pump diverter valve? Did you dismantle it? If so, pics!

I plated mine by carefully suspending it with just the top in the electrolyte, but it was fiddly and didn't come out looking as good as Mark's. If there's a way to disassemble it without destroying anything, would be good to know!

Presumably you'll be using GTS-style fuel rail covers?

Rob Edwards

Hi Hilton-

Didn't dismantle it, just plugged all orifices with silicone plugs and hoped for the best. The plunger in it still plunges and the diaphragm holds vacuum, so I think it's all good on the inside.

Yes on the fuel rail covers, just left them off so I could make sure there were no leaks from the injectors or any of the fuel hose connections.

Mrmerlin

A Most Excellent job Rob