$7 custom leather interior?!?!

[RawleyD]

That's awesome man, well done!

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I would do a black glossy vinyl wrap on middle part of the center console. Or maybe 3M Di-Noc carbon wrap.
It will bring out the white more.

Great minds think alike
I'd like to do either the cf or gloss black wrap at some point. It seems cheap and easy enough.

Progress may be slow because I have several pots on the fire right now, but I'll update with pics as I go

[newob]

LOVE IT~!!! good job! seriously... I love a good leather interior

[particlewave]

Thanks for the compliments and encouragement.
I honestly wasn't sure if it looked ok or not. Sometimes you can get so wrapped up in a project that's it's difficult to step back for a new perspective.

Originally Posted by Johnny Danger

PW,

Geppetto has nothing in you !

I sure hope not! He can tell Pinocchio to keep his nose to himself, too!

[j.fro]

Nice work. I did something similar with my console lid, armrests, and shifter boot. All of it came from a long leather jacket I thrift-store sourced for <$10. When I redid everything in carbon, it was a similar process.

[jdlmodelt]

Originally Posted by Porsche Chick

HOLY MOLY!

That is seriously impressive, excellent work. As someone who has tangled with a sewing machine before, that's amazing.

Wow . . . :dance:

I'm with Porsche Chick. I've done a lot of sewing too. Outstanding work!

[particlewave]

Thanks again

I experimented with test pieces for a while before setting out to do this project, which helped a lot. I made this new e-brake piece in about 45 min this afternoon

I still need to trim, skive and tuck in the end, but I think I like it

Sorry for the bad pictures. I'll get some better shots in the daylight tomorrow.

[particlewave]

I still need to smooth out the material and batting, but it's looking pretty good

[Bobiam]

Darn good work. Never realized there was so much good leather available at a thrift store.
I had to replace my gray leather dashboard due to sun damage so I pulled the leather off the old downward facing sections and applied it to my armrest inserts. It finally was successful, but I thought I'd be buying new ones it was so darn difficult. Maybe the leather was to husky or inflexible. But it really looks good and is a bit softer than black plastic.

[particlewave]

Fin...

I'm so sick of leather.

[particlewave]

Got it installed this evening. I'll get some pictures in the light tomorrow. Until then, here's another before installation

[RawleyD]

Seriously awesome

[Nine8Six]

wooooo, missed this big time. Was in Beijing visiting friends for the last few holidays of Chinese New year

NICE NICE NICE work

Would you do custom job for others' Boxster interior if asked?

[BruceH]

Great result! That's going to look even better installed

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by RawleyD

Seriously awesome

Originally Posted by Nine8Six

wooooo, missed this big time. Was in Beijing visiting friends for the last few holidays of Chinese New year

NICE NICE NICE work

Originally Posted by BruceH

Great result! That's going to look even better installed

Thanks again guys

Here are a couple of quick shots. Unfortunately, the seats hide a lot of the work. Though, as a driver or passenger, you can see most of it

[BruceH]

I like it! Now it's time for you to start on some seat inserts

[Uncle Brad]

Originally Posted by particlewave

Shifter and leather stretching/molding.

Nice work!

I think you may have just save me a lot of pain with an issue i have with a used replacement shifter i bought.

Can you elaborate on the leather molding/stretching and just how you got the white portion applied to the shifter?



I'm also curious as to how hard the silver portion of the shifter was to remove.

Cheers!

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by Uncle Brad

Nice work!

I think you may have just save me a lot of pain with an issue i have with a used replacement shifter i bought.

Can you elaborate on the leather molding/stretching and just how you got the white portion applied to the shifter?

I'm also curious as to how hard the silver portion of the shifter was to remove.

Cheers!

The silver piece is a bit snug at first, but it's just a press fit, so comes off easy enough. You want to pull it out on a 45 degree angle, not straight up or back.

To mold leather around curved pieces, I first get a dish sponge and run it under hot water, then ring it out and hold it against the raw side of the leather for about 1 minute. The heat and moisture softes the leather slightly. Then I just gently pull and stretch the leather with my thumbs to stretch it out where needed to achieve the proper curve. You can also pull and stretch it over the piece, though I find stretching it by hand is quicker and more effective.

Edit: a little more detail...
Once the piece of leather was stretched over the silver piece, I traced a line around the perimeter of the silver piece onto the back raw face of the leather to mark where the leather would wrap around the edge. I then used a Dremel with drum sander to thin or "skive" that perimeter line until the leather was only about half of it original thickness there. This makes it much easier to wrap around the edge of the silver insert. The leather was then trimmed to size (1 cm overlap) and the overlap was feathered and tacked to the backside with contact cement, similar to this:

[Uncle Brad]

Great reply, i appreciate the detail.

You're a talented lad!...and thanks for the metric measurement for this Canuck

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by Uncle Brad

Great reply, i appreciate the detail.

You're a talented lad!...and thanks for the metric measurement for this Canuck

No problem and thanks for the compliment
I always use metric and only occasionally convert to imperial for the sake of others.

It was all pretty simple except for the e-brake, but the e-brake is also what got me started on this whole thing. The top plastic insert was cracked and looked horrible.