Has anybody upholstered rear quarter panels below the sail panels. I am thinking about covering them with leather or vinyl, as they are pretty scratched and painting them look like only temporary solution. Any pics?

 

There was a guy here who used grey tweed, look nice... I tried to find some tan tweed, but it was either too light or too dark... SEM DYE works really good to, it's not paint, but dye...

Raf

 

In the early years (82-86?) the factory carpeted some. I've see a few, but they are not very common. to see these days

 

Any pics ?

 

My 82 T/A has the RPO B48 "luggage compartment trim" option which included carpet on the interior side panels and a lockable panel over the trunk well. The carpet peices are reproduced now but I forget exactly where I saw them. I think it was Hawks 3rd-Gen Parts.

 

What about that armrest piece? It seems that convertibles have them padded. Those trunk trim pieces are not the worst pieces to recover as they are pretty straight. I can't figure out that armrest piece - not sure how to take accurate cuts down as I need to sew them and then glue the cover down.

 

Paddock used to carry both the material and pre-cut pieces.

JamesC

 

Ideas, anyone?

 

I found this from internet, but that guy used some woven fabric to cover these panels. I really like the idea to cover these vinyl/leather, as that fabric doesn't look good IMHO.

 

You could have all of those pieces Flocked...just an idea do nto know if you would like that look.

 

Flocked?

 

I had mine all covered in Katzkin vinyl/leather material. The place I had do it was www.jaxseatcover.com and they did an amazing job. I took the panels to 6 different trim shops and heard either a ridiculous price like $2K, or the guys telling me it was impossible. Jax said no problem, and the price was a quarter of what other wanted.

I tried doing it myself and it was beyond my ability. Way too many curves and indentations. I tried it on a spare tire cover and was not not happy with the results.

Couple pics, you really almost can't even tell they were covered. But my panels were beat up and scratched.

 

Looks great! I just imagine boxing up my interior & shipping it all up there to get done.....Couple of those panels are HUGE, so the box would be big, even if light.

 

Thanks Karps TA,

Could you take a close up picture from the armrest? They seem to be one piece?

 

I'm impressed to the nether regions! Very nice.

JamesC

 

The armrest's are still 2 pieces.

One nice thing about when the pieces are covered, is they fit really tight. A little bit of a PITA to reassemble then, but really takes care of a lot of rattles. Plus gives the pieces that new car soft plastic kinda feel.

I had them do the arm rest pieces, the big side pieces, the top roof piece, the underneath of the hatch, and the back piece. Thankfully they are pretty close to my house so I didn't have to deal with any shipping. But if you can't find someone local to you, it's an option. They themselves own like 10 different Firebirds, so they really know the cars.

 

They really look good. It seems that the vinyl stretches pretty well, if heated up. I think the real problem would be finding good adhesive to glue the covering down as the temperatures and humidity in the car can be pretty extreme. I covered some smaller trim pieces with vinyl and the ordinary spray glue worked, but the bond wasn't that strong I assumed it to be.

 

If you have the seats with a headrest you will notice that the plastic cover on the side near the recline handle is fuzzy that is flocking. I have no idea what this is from, but the fuzzy part is flocked. It feels nice.

 

KarpsTA, could you take few pics from the door edge/door sill area too, I tried to cover the panel - and the only place, where I couldn't stretch the vinyl out, was that edge close to door sill.

 

Karps, I would love to see some more detailed pics of the interior pieces, that looks amazing. I would like to do something similar to my car. I managed to piece together an all black interior years ago out two cars, and while the plastics are in great shape, they don't match. The ones out of the 85 donor car are shiny, and the ones out of the 91 donor are more of a satin, rougher plastic. Anyway, covering them would do the trick. Any help would be appreciated.

Will

Sorry to highjack the thread BTW

 

I'm sure the Katzskin stuff is expensive, looks tight... I've been dealing with this company for supplies... I was leaning towards tweed for my interior, but coudn't find a suitable color... After seeing your vinyl, I may go that route, just ordered some samples to match the beechwood headliner I got from them tooo (ACME stuff doesn't match...)

http://www.yourautotrim.com/

They got good prices and big selection...

Rafael

 

I'll try to take some better pics this weekend, it's suppossed to warm up a bit. Car's under a cover and a bunch of other stuff in the garage for the winter.

 

Heres a couple pics. Car's filthy sorry.

I think Katzkin's material is thinner and more pliable then say the material you'd find at a fabric store.

 

that looks really nice