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@sobeIPL Great job on tackling a behemoth of a project! Progress pics definitely worth the hassle. When it cools down a bit, I feel like i may just go ahead and do the same...
@sobeIPL Great job on tackling a behemoth of a project! Progress pics definitely worth the hassle. When it cools down a bit, I feel like i may just go ahead and do the same...
Thanks! It’s been a grind for sure but you should be able to learn from a lot of my mistakes which will make things a little more straight forward. At least I’ve had something to keep me busy during these otherwise boring times.
What are you considering doing when it cools off? You going go to full psycho like I did with sound deadening and upholster entire car?
Holy smokes guys the front of my car is starting to look real nice. Dash is done, glove box is done, speedo housing is done, dash side covers are done, lower panel around glove box is done.
Here is are some unflattering pics...
Leather gauge housing lid wrapped without removing, came out flawless. Test fit of the leather glove box. Opens and closes like money. The side panel looks great too.
@G37sPhoton I think you asked me that housing, there you go
@ILM-NC G37S I sanded the glove more on the top per the pics you uploaded and have a razor thin gap all the way down now. Those definitely helped. Thanks.
I painted half of my trim already but scratched the piece over the glove like it dummy before the clear harden so I gotta sand it down and spray again. Once I do I can put that in and bolt up for glove for good.
I painted the housing of the Phoenix Tesla screen too and it looks dope. Still having issues with wiring tho which is why I’m riding with the oem radio in those pics.
I ordered 2 more 1/2 hides of the same leather to finish the doors, rear quarter panels and rear deck. I think I finally found the leather I’m going to use for headliner (the leather I’m using doesn’t come big enough for roof so I’ve been scouring the world looking for a close match). That should be here in about 2 weeks so I’m knocking out all the small stuff in the meantime.
I got my brakes installed and now my brake light and traction lights are on and they feel a little off. What a shame. It’s going to back to the shop anyway Monday for the Nismo exhaust now that I have the extenders so hopefully when I pick it up the exhaust and brakes are perfect. My IPL exhaust is rusted to **** so it’ll be nice having a fresh oem replacement. Note I’m going for quiet and like the sound of the nismo/IPL which is why I didn’t just throw an aftermarket on there.
Finish line is in sight...
wow! @sobeIPL that looks better than i thought it could, especially the cluster section...looks like a biatch...so im guessing part of the trick is to lower steering wheel all the way down and then? used a credit card to tuck it? cool if you wouldn't mind sharing as im definitely going this route..Also just for $hit and giggles...well maybe not giggles lol...but im thinking on doing a deep burgundy leather for dash...yeah i know..i checked your link out and they had a deep burgundy and im getting a sample sent...at one point i was thinking red black interior, but deeep red/burgundy, so the seats would be two tone(the vinyl would get the burgundy), so when the sample comes in, will see if i can visualize it...if not, then same as yours....but props man, the car looks great, but the dash, wow!, that looks really good and i think it will just smooth out all the imperfections..so win win for me..if i get mine close to that , will be very happy with my interior again...
@G37sPhoton So I admit a did sort of cheat a little bit. I had bought a cluster housing going for cheap on eBay with the intention of wrapping it so that way when I did the swap, I would have the wrapped one ready to go. However, what I did was use that one to get the base cut out to size it and then wrapped it in the car. It’s definitely just as doable without having a spare housing to use but it helped a little bit. I still had to do a December amount of trimming right there in the car. I just used a tiny flat head screwdriver to tuck into the edges. Same for the underside where it lips down into the gauges.
Burgundy seems pretty bold, but could be cool. I’d really have to see it as it’s hard to envision. I guess it also depends on what other parts you intend to wrap. I’m going all out and wrapping EVERYTHING.
If you go w/ something exotic Like burgundy, I would suggest also wrapping the center console as the dash runs right into it. It wasn’t That hard to wrap. I haven’t installed mine yet just b/ it’ll make putting the roof in a little harder so I’m being patient (although I’m dying to get it in b/ it looks sick).
I’ll sell you the other lid I have if you want it to do the same thing. Just give me whatever I paid plus shipping. If your interested, I’ll dig it up my receipt.
LOL...that's not cheating...improvising, outside the box etc.. definitely, esp with a new project; thanks on the offer and once i get my sample(s), will see how to proceed and may just take you up on that. There is a leather place - Tandy leather- somewhat near me and the one of the shop guys said to come by and will provide a bigger sample size of some of their burgundy's, so may go out this weekend...and yes, ultimately, will wrap it all, as leaving console black and/or diff texture just wont do if im going to put the effort to make it look better as the burgundy is just a "i think it will look good' idea..plan on keeping the car till it self implodes, so figured why not at this point, may as well enjoy something different..anyway, thanks for the posts on how you did this, i have the 3m and cement supplies, so now just going to decide on color and go for it..thanks again man!
@G37sPhoton For whatever it’s worth, I would probably wrap the A-B-C pillars first to get a feel for working with the material. Also, there wasn’t a lot of great tutorials / videos on how to wrap leather wrap hard objects with complex curves. My advice is watch videos on how to vinyl wrap a car. It’s pretty much the same principle with the leather. When you are working out slack you need to stretch the leather the same way they do when wrapping a car. Leather stretches a lot if your patient with it and slowly mold it to form. Also and most important, make sure the leather you decide on comes in a big enough hide to do the headliner. You def don’t want to run into the issue that I did where you are trying to find a match.
Do you have a coupe? Once you do the C-pillar with that big curve you are ready to tackle anything. The most skill intensive piece to wrap was definitely this thing...
I slowly molded the leather into shape over the course of a couple days while sitting on the couch watching TV. Don’t be afraid to use water, it’s almost necessary to get these complex curves. I used a little squirt bottle and would mist the leather as I stretched it to the shape.
+1 on using water. You can wet your entire hide to help mold the leather - I even use that with thick (3/16") chrome-tanned hides to make holsters that form-fit the intended firearm. When it dries, it will be nicely shaped and rigid. Well, rigid-er considering you are using thin leather in the first place.
I wouldn’t wet any part of the hide you aren’t actively working with, but I’m glad I’m not crazy by using water, which most would say is a no no on leather.
@G37sPhoton For whatever it’s worth, I would probably wrap the A-B-C pillars first to get a feel for working with the material. Also, there wasn’t a lot of great tutorials / videos on how to wrap leather wrap hard objects with complex curves. My advice is watch videos on how to vinyl wrap a car. It’s pretty much the same principle with the leather. When you are working out slack you need to stretch the leather the same way they do when wrapping a car. Leather stretches a lot if your patient with it and slowly mold it to form. Also and most important, make sure the leather you decide on comes in a big enough hide to do the headliner. You def don’t want to run into the issue that I did where you are trying to find a match.
Do you have a coupe? Once you do the C-pillar with that big curve you are ready to tackle anything. The most skill intensive piece to wrap was definitely this thing...
I slowly molded the leather into shape over the course of a couple days while sitting on the couch watching TV. Don’t be afraid to use water, it’s almost necessary to get these complex curves. I used a little squirt bottle and would mist the leather as I stretched it to the shape.
Hey @sobeIPL , im on a sedan and thanks on advice. So yeah, i was looking at your pics, especially the speedo housing and your edges look perfect, no clumping or overlap lines, creases etc and that is my goal ...i have worked with vinyl before, but its a mostly forgiving material...once heat is applied lol; so leather will definitely be different. I'm pretty sure I'll pickup some larger sample sizes this weekend and once i have it on hand, will really get a good feel and test for how it adheres to curves and edges and see what i can do...honestly, i may just go black as i think more on it, just because of getting it done in burgundy and then matching other pieces...if i go with the black color and at least if i get the dash looking good...i may call it quit and be frigging happy if it looks like or even close to yours...seriously
Just had a Nismo exhaust put on my car to replace my rusted IPL exhaust. This thing sucks ***. Don’t really like it. The tail pipes are too tucked in, it doesn’t sound as good. Has some rasp. Surprised it sounds so much different than IPL exhaust. It’ll do for now but I’m gonna replace it again. I just want a quiet exhaust that sounds throaty when I go WOT. Wish our cars didn’t sound so annoying with high flow cats and CBE.
I have the full IPL exhaust paired with Fast Intentions' RHFC's and love the setup. Still itching for Fast Intentions' CBE, but have other projects to complete, first.
I have the full IPL exhaust paired with Fast Intentions' RHFC's and love the setup. Still itching for Fast Intentions' CBE, but have other projects to complete, first.
There is soooo many threads on exhaust and so many different opinions. I went with this Nismo cbe b/ it was cheap and I wanted to maintain the stock IPL note. I don’t want my car loud. I’ve been looking at the HKS, it seems like it’s the closest thing to the IPL exhaust. Like it’s not trying to do too much.
In other news, this really loud exhaust leak I thought I had turned out to be not an exhaust leak since it’s still there. I now think it’s my fuel pump(s)?. It sounds like a computer mining bitcoin. Noise is hard to describe but it’s pretty loud and is coming from where the fuel pumps are.
There is soooo many threads on exhaust and so many different opinions. I went with this Nismo cbe b/ it was cheap and I wanted to maintain the stock IPL note. I don’t want my car loud. I’ve been looking at the HKS, it seems like it’s the closest thing to the IPL exhaust. Like it’s not trying to do too much.
In other news, this really loud exhaust leak I thought I had turned out to be not an exhaust leak since it’s still there. I now think it’s my fuel pump(s)?. It sounds like a computer mining bitcoin. Noise is hard to describe but it’s pretty loud and is coming from where the fuel pumps are.
I believe I know what you mean, possibly evap. Issues. Hissing.
i believe once you find an exhaust that pleases you I'll probably copy since I'm picky as hell.
Even worried about changing the cats because I learned already with my G35 and pipes.
I believe I know what you mean, possibly evap. Issues. Hissing.
i believe once you find an exhaust that pleases you I'll probably copy since I'm picky as hell.
Even worried about changing the cats because I learned already with my G35 and pipes.
Can you expand on what you mean by “possibly evap”? Yea it’s a hissing sort of noise and drives me nuts. I must eliminate it.
Noted on exhaust. Our cars sound so bad with aftermarket cats. Sounds like rattlesnakes.
I need to sand down the boomerang shaped piece to snug better to the dash. Also, the radio fits like crap. With the bottom forced to be snugged down it pops the top out. So I’m going to try and peel the leather up around the top. Add some material to extend it so that it fills the gap made by radio. I think I can pull it off
