Heya,

So a couple of month ago i bought an 84 gs, and since then been restoring it. Well lets just say getting it running which included a new 12a engine, new calipers(used), new paint on almost everything, and other smaller stuff.
I am now planing to reupholster the interior of the car in leather.

However i am not sure if i should restore it to original interior color, black or do a custome color scheme, bage with blue.
The car is blue

So anyone who has done a custome reuplhostry job, can you show me what you did for insparation.

thanks.

p.s. I'm very interesting to see if anyone has reupholstered their seats, as that is the hardest part to do. And i have no extra pairs :/

 

My whole factory interior has been retrimmed, including dash and seats.

I'll post some pictures up for you when I get home from work in about 10 hours or so :O(

My car is also blue, the interior has been redone in a blue/grey scheme.

Cam...

 

i prefer the stock look. you'll be glad you kept it if you decide to.

 

thanks, can't wait to see it.

except for the seats, i will be retriming the interior pieces which i have triple duplicated, 2 in black, one in brown, also have 2 cars, so 1 extra set .

the seets right now are cloth, so even if i don't like the colors, i can change it later on.

 

As promised here are some pics of my car.

If you chasing photo's of anything in particular, just let me know.

Cam...

 

Cam, that looks nice. completely custom with modern tasteful flare. well done sir.

 

Cheers.

It turned out really well...and you have no idea how many times I get " what seats are those"..."oh, they are the factory 1985 rx-7 seats"...."really???!!!!"...."um...yes!".

 

they look like U.S. spec GSL-SE seats with a relining of the center section. really a modern look.

 

Very nice, thanks.

Did you do it yourself or had someone do it for you?
If you did it yourself, what chalanges did you come across?

 

was12a, is that leather or vinyl?

 

It's Vinyl...easier to mould I imagine...

Cam...

 

I picked up this project where someone left off. The dash and all the plastic parts were painted with SEM paint for plastic leather and vinyl. Then I re-did a lot of the factory vinyl with red and black vinyl. I could have used leather but vinyl is just more affordable and easy to work with. Seats would have been a lot harder so I just did RX8 seats.

 

^^^Looks Good!!!

Mine was done by a shop but over the years i've had to do some small repairs as some of the vinyl has come unstuck etc.

It's **** easy to fix, just re-apply some "quick grip" glue, and with the help of a hair dryer or heat gun, heat the vinyl to make it easy to mould into tight shapes...then just re-glue it in place....very easy.

Cam...

 

wow, love the classic red and black look, very sporty.

I been thinking about vinyl as well, atlist for my first try, much cheaper if i screw up then if i use leather

 

+1 on the heat gun. I didn't use one on the headliner and some parts were really hard. I am going to re-do it but right now it isn't a priority.

Practice first with the easy parts then work up to the hard parts. It's all pretty easy though. I used combinations of headliner glue, hot glue, and staples. Just practice and you will find out what works best for you. I guess after a while though I will see which is most durable over time. That will be the real test.

Bye the way, I got the idea to do red and black from the RX8. I got the seats first and everything else spawned from there. It really compliments the classic look of the car.

 

Where'd you get the vinyl? I really like how you did your interior and I think I might steal the color scheme, if in slightly different colors

 

I got the vinyl from an ebay seller named going-the-extra-yard. He has a lot of different colors although he may not post listings for all of them. His auctions have a section with all the different colors and he will mail out free samples of any colors. Only one bad thing. The vinyl he was getting has been discontinued and he can only offer what he has in stock. I don't know if he is planning on getting a different brand or what. I just ordered a lot of extra so later if I have to do any repairs I still have plenty of vinyl. I ordered three yards of red and 5 yards of black. That is more than twice what I actually used. Cost me less around $100 including shipping. Let me know if you have trouble finding him and I'll try to post a link.

 

Oh yeah, also be sure to post plenty of pics with whatever you decide to do so we can all enjoy.

 

Oh I will

I'm going to leave RoXanne Galaxy Grey, and get some gold mesh wheels (Work Equip 03...I wish). So I'm not sure if I want to go with a black/red on the interior like you did (it would match the OEM gauges, harness belts, etc that are in already) or go with another color scheme...maybe Black/Grey? seems a little stark...

OK so I found his site, what color red did you get? It seems to match the red/black RX8 seats really well.

 

Wine and grey synthetic ultrasuede, black vinyl trim, black cloth piping.







Making patterns by disassembling old seats: Carefully remove old stitching, numbering and documenting parts as you go, and watching for the 'V' shape indexing marks clipped into the edges of the cloth, that show how things line up:








Leather can be quite difficult; you need a very strong sewing machine or else it can't keep the stitching even. I did a glove-leather shift boot and e-brake cover, and even that thin leather was almost too much for my machine. Doing seats, there are tight places where you're stitching thru 3 and 4 layers at corners. No way my old Remington would handle that. But at least leather doesn't fray at the edges.

 

I went with candy apple. It isn't a perfect match but it is close enough that no one could tell unless they looked closely. I don't know how much he has left. I purchased three yards but only used about 1 yard. I am keeping the extra for the future.

Nice work divindriver. That interior looks awesome.

 

Thanks! Yours looks terrific, too. I really like those RX8 seats.