308/328 Original Interior "Survivor" Methods

Hey Gator, the last photo is most definitely 'before'! There are a few other earlier photos showing the door panel in their 'during clean up/pre colorant stage'. And today was the 'after' of the door panels.

 

Probably last installment until I finish installing the redyed carpet and leather.

Here are a few photo updates -

PHOTO 1: Last set showed the 'during' of the small bits, now recolored.

PHOTO 2: Shows detail of the redye on driver's seat. 'Reclaimed' stitching as best I could.

PHOTO 3: Vastly different color, finish, sheen of 'before' passenger seat vs. 'after' driver's seat. Great care takent to recreate the leather graining, topcoat 'dullness' like original.

PHOTO 4: Ugh. The console was a joke, worse than the rest. Putrid, spotty application. Much to do here. My next project, then on to the passenger seat to repeat the above.
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Thanks Branko! It's been mildly therapeutic as well. The fun result will come from the leather not only looking better, breathing better, lasting longer, but in all the 'little stuff' behaving correctly. The elastic was worn out, piping gone astray, lock for glovebox all gunked up, door pocket springs 'painted' over, cleaning every switch, replacing every bulb, de-gunking all the seat slides/recliner mechanism... all that stuff. All this should add up to a vastly improved "interior experience"! Or so I hope.

It's hard to stain the deck but not the nail heads.

The 'previous' job was done all as one unit. No disassembly. So the stitching was already clumpy and covered mightily. A less heavy handed 're do' job might yield different results.

However, this job was done with everything that could be taken apart, taken apart. Every lever, switch, spring, clasp, even the elastic out of the map pockets. Was unwilling to pull the threads though! I guess unless you wanted to do that, 'clean' stitching remains an impossibility. I know what you're saying, but in a black car, this'd be - to me - fairly moot. In my tan car, a hopefullly forgiveable detail.

Improving the suppleness and look of the leather was/is my goal. We'll see how it all comes together. Is yours in bad shape now? Are you shopping for replacements?

 

Thanks Bird Dude.

I decided to include this tedious part today: the console. Figured some of you may want to view before/after here. All switches pulled, showing the (again) nasty and heavy-handed treatment of the previous work.

JAYF, you may consider if your interior has not been redyed, then your 'recolor' will not only match better than mine, but you'll have WAY less cleaning/stripping to do.

Reiterating, 'thin is good' in the recoating process. I found 'pushing' the colorant to the seam instead of blindly washing color on top of it kept the clumpy look to a minimum. Plus, let's remember, these photos are 2-3 inches from the surface, greatly enlarged, so unless you plan on snorting your console, unlikely you'll see this view again.

The 'overall' look of the previous job was plasticky, trashed with imperfections galore, but the leather was well worth saving. Piece by piece, the leather is being stripped of old color, rejuvinated with liberal amounts of ph balanced conditioners, allowed to dry, surface oil stripped (with Leatherique's "Prepping agent") allowed to redry THEN recoating. I'm only showing you the highlights.

Enjoy, comment, whatever.
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My next little bundle of joy...

The controls area. Old color up and around switchgear, plus the nicety of an alarm light punched right through the center. It'll all be gone, repaired, 'erased', and cleaner than ever.
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Hey Michael! I finished the console and all the switchgear last night. 'Erased' that alarm light once and for all! Turned out nicely.

I left that stereo IN after the guys at the shop asked, and I quote: "Are you flippin' nuts?" Fine enough.

I NEED THOSE PARTS WHATEVER THEY ARE! I just like having the 'complete' deal, even if they're old or replaced. Let me know. Happy to pay for shipping (unless you found a transaxle with a hole in the side).

A 512TR is a fabulous, fabulous piece of work. You'll love it. Power is remarkable, take a 328 and ADD 160 more horsepower. Plus, the 92+ cars benefitted greatly, dropping 300 pounds, adding reliability. The 94s have the updated diff, plus revised steering rack. I'm crazy about mine - can't say enough good things about the driving dynamics. Bring it to Alabama for a visit and I think we'll have the state's entire collection of 512TRs!

Let me know on the parts AND the 512. I'll share whatever I can to help.

UPDATE on the ORIGINAL THREAD - I stripped the 'final frontier' on Saturday. Took 6 solid hours, but the passenger seat is now 'naked' being devoid of its former coat of rather unsightly leather 'paint'. Will condition for 3 days, begin redye on Thursday or Friday.

 

Console area completed. Again, thin coats, scotch-brited between coats, using 'wiping' technique to rid stitching of clumping.

Photo 1: Console "after" showing all dye cleaned from switchgear. Switches cleaned, retightened. Rotary knobs had gotten sloppy, now tight and crisp.

Photo 2: "Before" console tunnel.

Photo 3: "After" console tunnel.
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Funny you should ask. It seems like roughly 8 years, but I can actually estimate I spend about 2-3 hours per visit to this project, and I've got about 8 visits in, so call that 20 hours. In addition, I've had three rather 'marathon' days (Saturdays) where I've spent 6 hours. HOWEVER, during those, I had other things going on while waiting on this or that to dry and to admittedly relieve tedium. I always have a few other things to attend to.

Probably 2 thumbs on things like this and 4 thumbs on techno-electro-mechanical. I can 'swap parts' pretty well, but don't do laborious settings, nor do I play well with highly flammable items under pressure, nor do I get giddy at the prospect of electrocution. All in all, I'm a very good detailer.

Removing is easy. Taking the seats apart also easy. Sliders are kind of a pain to clean, plus they've a tendency to want to pinch your fingers when you're not looking. Switch removal is straightfoward - TAKE PHOTOS unless you want your heater to be controlled by the cigarette lighter though. You need a 1.5mm allen wrench for the rotary switches, and watch for breaking the succeptible tabs on the square bodied switches. I broke one, epoxied it back, all's well.

The map pockets were interesting. I removed both seat backs and the one on the passenger side was different. The elastic was way too tight, the gathered leather harder to die (like ironing a Chinese fan). The little pocket on the console was also kind of tricky, but that again due to having to 'refeed' the elastic to put it all back together.

The rule is IF you must remove the dye, get ready to be patient. I've refinished lots of wood furniture, and it is extremely similar.

Thanks for your interest. There's no doubt you could do it; rest assured you'll also do it way better than 95% of the people you could pay to do it since it's your car and you have to live with the outcome.

 

Today, went and put the first coat on the passenger seat. While it was drying, decided to do an exploded view of the interior before it remates with the car next week.

Some have questioned spending this much time, or why not just replace the leather and carpet. Sure, I could've paid to get new leather and all, but it was less a question of funds than resisting the 'throwaway' nature. I've redone a few old houses, and to me, replacing perfectly good but poorly surfaced leather would be like replacing hardwood floors that were scratched.

I also enjoyed doing this, which makes this more of a hobby for me. I made my son help me a little today, a nice side benefit.
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I pulled all the cloth covered pieces and it was amazing - the stains seemed 'cleanable' 'til you loolked at them closely. Lots of pecks and pips and little tears, plus the dirt, so I had them recovered in German grain black vinyl. Pebble and graining matches the dash, so it seemed a natural fit. Now too, they will be less succeptible to future staining; honestly shoulda been done in the beginning. They'd ALL taken on water over the years.

Hey, I wish you'd have helped too! It's only a 10 hour drive. Lazy bum!

Can't wait to hear about your project. Will try to call this week, or just give a call whenever you feel like it.

The clutch, fuel lines, window accelerators, should be done this week (!) then sound/heat insulation by me, interior reinstall to follow. Whew. Can't wait to drive it again.

 

Today I got all the formerly nasty cloth covered pieces back, redone in tight, black German vinyl. Excellent match for dash top. They look unreal. STAGE 1 of this project is complete. Reinstallation next weekend. Can't wait!

 

Hi, I'm not with my car but this thread was my inspiration. Better photos than I'd take any way...

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228730&highlight=shelf

Enjoy.