My interior is nearly flawless except for a couple of things now. The door panels show their age some, the door handle chrome caps (1980), and the chrome striping along the dash and doors was worn so I painted it black. What are some of your solutions to these common problems? For the door panel I planned on finding and retro fitting some 81-85 door panels, but it seems hard to find them in manual window configuration. For the bad chrome handle caps I figure Ill just find some 79 capless arm rests. For the chrome striping... I dont know... I like the chromeless 81-83 lower dash pieces, but the left most piece wont work due to the extra square shaped buttons near the choke slot, and the center console wont work because the shifter area is different, right?

 

okee doke....
feel yor payne re chromed bits my friend.
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Is your chrome original? Do you have pictures of your seat rails?

 

This is what I'm working with. Definitely not shabby by any means, but I'm picky. The Chrome and door panels is my main dislike.







Was originally Wine...



I found a black interior donor car and swapped to black. I got all new rear carpet, Mazdatrix floor mats, Miata cup holder, Redline Goods leather shift, ebrake, and arm rest (retro fitted from my old FC), Blue LED cluster bulbs, 83 black low back seats, RAZO shift ****. I eventually want to convert to 81-83 black door panels, re chrome the chrome, switch to 79 black shifter/radio bezels.

 

Not restored but in pretty good shape. The shift bezel has now been restored to the chrome
version (thanks rwatson!). I have RB seat covers ordered and should be on before end of
summer.



Oh and just a nit, restored to me means taken back to the factory fit and finish at the time the car was released. I see a lot of
customization in most of these pics, not that its not great work. Its amazing how some folks make a statement with the changes but thats
not restoration. A restoration will look like it does in the brochures or as close to it as possible.

Now lets see those restorations/customizations to SA interiors. I know one we haven't seen yet and he's won a lot of prizes in vegas with
it 3 years running.

 

I hope he chimes in with chrome advice

 

I bet u speak of dd-- yeah man he's got one of the nicest I've ever seen. And is a perfectionist. He doesn't half a_s anything man. Incredible talent and has the patience of jobe.

Sent from my iPad using RX7Club. how bout that!

 

My ears are burning...

I'll expand on some info when I get home tonight & have easy access to my photo library, but keep in mind - my interior is intentionally done as a resto-mod.

It's not an attempt to put it back to factory, but instead an attempt to upgrade it to how I want the car to be while staying true to the original design & the period.

I've found workable solutions for the arm rest trim chrome & the handle caps. I have a plan in place for the dash chrome line but haven't done it yet as my original is still pretty OK. Never have found a solution for the shift surround chrome ring because I was able to source a near-perfect one from our buddy Stu a couple or three years back & it's still in fine shape.

On the door panels, I have a good solution for adding a closely-matched chrome stripe to newly-made upholstery, but have no solution for restoring original panels due to their construction - - the chrome trim is heat-fused to the paper-thin original vinyl so it can't be 'replaced. It would have to be refinished in-place.

Some pix I can get to from work, here:




Most of the rest are on FB & my hard drive at home.

 

If I remember right, you used door molding / fender chrome strip? I would absolutely buy a pair of reproduced chrome arm rest pieces... Hint hint...

 

Yes on the first; This chrome trim:


Supported on a scaffolding of miniature i-beam girders (for model railroading) cut to match the shape of the original trim retainers:





& Ends wrapped around:


On the caps; last quote I had for plating them was $60 each in lots of 10. This was from a guy who took several weeks & several contact to get him to return the first sample set I prepaid for.

 

Casting the handle trim with a urethane block mold


Vacuum metallizion plating; OK, but not great - porosity in the surface.


Those were about $45 cost each to plate. Not counting making the actual part.

 

Chrome is original. Door strips not perfect - no surprise. Most everything else is NOS stuff. "Replaced" I guess, rather than DDs route of "restored". Kudos to him, of course.

Seat rail pix? sure. We can PM so I don't break the flow of your thread...

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Post it all in here. Its all good. Just trying to gather a catalog of common DIY interior resto mods. RX8 / FD seats is something I have seen a time or two. Retro fitting something from another Mazda (or even non Mazda) is worth adding. Ill get pictures of the Miata cup holder.

 

Looking good.

I was very fortunate with my FB to get a very clean original interior. Other than a small tear in my drivers seat everything is in near mint condition.

I am missing a few of the screw hole/trim covers. 1982 FB with Black interior...

--> Screw cover (looks like a button) for one of the dash screws by the defrost vents.
--> Some of the small screw covers for the rear trim around the side windows.
--> One of the screw plugs for the arm rest.

Anyone know of a good source for these items? Maybe I will figure out exactly what I need in pictures and put a Wanted thread up.

All I have found is that Black Dragon has some of the Door Panel plugs...

 

Good Question tommy. I could use a lil plug for the stick shift plastic.

Sent from my iPad using RX7Club. how bout that!

 

Any of you SA guys want this new front console moulding?
Make me on offer.

 

thats what i did to restore my sun burned interior. didn't have time to put them back in the car :/

 

Is this vinyl?

 

I've got before pics

 

Hey you guys - if you need the chrome trim replaced you can use a product called "Bare-Metal Foil". We use it a lot in the hobby world and you can usually order it online or maybe find it at some of your better Hobby shops.

There are tutorials on Youtube on how to use it and it comes in different flavors to include chrome.
Its easy to apply and can be put on curved surfaces without any problem. Self-adhesive also.
Should do the trick for all you guys that have the chrome interior trim.

 

I Check these out. Brilliant idea - thx

Stu Aull
80GS (with some fading chrome trim)
Alaska

 

Seems easy enuf. Good deal man.

Sent from my iPad using RX7Club. how bout that!

 

No thats paint. Search hydro tranfer print

 

I'm going to try this on the armrest covers and see how it works out. If it does I
sense a write up in the works.

 

My arm rest covers are cracked. I'm just going to source out some 79 arm rests or convert to 81-83 panels.