Pics of my mods progress

[xxxalexxxx]

all the mods look good to me, i did the leather on the back as well and it looks soooo much better as it does in ur car. i would say that the boxster on the door handle is cool but it looks a lil crooked...maybe its just the picture? all in all i like the mods.
now all u need to do is get rid of all of that amber and your car will be great! :-)

[gmboxster]

I guess everyone has their own opinions but I think all the mods look good. I especially like the 'boxster' on the door handles. I would have left the 'boxster' emblem on the back and put the 986 underneath it, but looks GREAT man. Nice Job !!

[RandallNeighbour]

Tim, I'd appreciate a pictorial write-up on how to take off carpet and put on leather; and where you purchased the leather.

I would really like to clad all the faded black vinyl in my boxster with leather and do it myself to save money and have the satisfaction of doing it myself. Dash, doors, front and rear parts of the center console, console lid, etc.

Any help you could provide would be great. Sheesh. You're only 2 hours away. I should drive over and watch you do the next leather application and learn from the master first-hand!

[boxs2000]

Nice job, I like the leather doors. It really puts a new look to it. I'm curious about the painting that you did, did the paint you purchase match your color well also did it require the traditional process with paint gun and compressor or was it in a spray can?

[Franco]

Hi, I really like the leather on the lower door panels looks great, was always wanting to do that mod, can you give a brief explanation of how it's done.

Thanks

[porsche986spyder]

Wow, nice mods! I like everything except for the Boxster logo on the door handles. I just think it's overkill. Maybe would have looked better on the center "batwing" piece. Don't paint your 986 logo. Keep it black. Nice to have it set off from the color underneath. Position looks fine to me.

[TimAustinW]

Originally Posted by Franco

Hi, I really like the leather on the lower door panels looks great, was always wanting to do that mod, can you give a brief explanation of how it's done.

Thanks

I've only done one door so far. When I do the other door I'll take the time to document the process. It's actually fairly simple to do. The door panel was the first part of the car I did with leather and I had never done anything like that before. So if I can do it anyone can.

Getting the door panel off was a little tricky but there are plenty of write ups on how to do that. Getting the carpet off was the biggest pain. When you pull the carpet off (at least on mine) most of what comes off is the carpet mesh leaving the majority of the fibers still glued onto the door. I wasted an hour or so plucking the fibers from the door panel before breaking out a spoon and was able to simply scrape them off. The leather I got off of Ebay. Just do a search for Upholstery Leather. I bought 6 sq feet for about $100. If you are only doing your door panels you could get away with buying less. It's probably safer to get more because if you run out and have to buy more there's no guarantee that it will match the first batch. I bought a can of 3M spray adhesive from Lowes to adhere it and took my time starting from the center out.

It might be a few weeks before I get to the other panel but when I do I'll take photos and post a DIY.

[TimAustinW]

Originally Posted by boxs2000

Nice job, I like the leather doors. It really puts a new look to it. I'm curious about the painting that you did, did the paint you purchase match your color well also did it require the traditional process with paint gun and compressor or was it in a spray can?

Per suggestions from members of this site I bought my seal grey paint, primer, clear coat in spray cans from expresspaint.com. The Seal Grey I got from them in my opinion is a tad shade darker than the factory paint. I don't know if it might be due to the fact that my paint job is now 6 years old and possibly faded a bit. You can see the difference most apparently on the bumperettes. For the interior trim you don't notice because nothing butts up to the exterior paint. For the inside it's close enough.

For the trim the process was to clean the pieces well. Some pieces, like the pocket lids have a thin rubber coating that will need to be removed. Some people suggested that you put them in the dish washer and it will peel right off. I just soaked mine in really hot water and scrubbed it off with a dish sponge. Then wet sanded them down. A few light coats of primer covering the surface, a few light coats of the seal grey and then three or four coats of clear coat. I wanted my stuff glossy!

The most important thing is to BE PATIENT!!!!! Let each layer dry before the next coat and before you apply the next coat make sure to wipe each piece off with a tack cloth (get it from expresspaint) to remove dust or dirt that may have settled onto the trim. I screwed up my pocket lids this way. Ended up doing them three times.

Things I learned the hard way...

1. Be patient! You'll want to see how each piece looks against your interior and if you don't wait until they are completely dry (especially the clear coat stage) you risk finger prints, scratching, or dropping the pieces and chipping them.
2. You can't spray the paint on top of clear coat (part of my screw up phase) it beads up and leaves you with little cracks. Gotta sand it back a bit.
3. Use the tack cloth religiously so you don't end up painting over dust and dirt.
4. Find the cleanest area possible to do this with good ventilation and good light. Get some shop lights if you can.
5.When removing your panels and trim place all related screws and bolts into plastic baggies and label them. If you do all your trim at once including the center console it's quite the challenge figuring out what each screw goes to when it comes to putting it all back together. Humpty dumpty had a better chance at being put back together again.


This was all a learning process for me. I chose to do this myself for the satisfaction of saying I did it myself but also for financial reasons. If I were to buy all the pieces prepainted from a place like bumper plugs it would have cost me over $2000. To get it professionally painted at a body shop I was looking at around $1000. By doing it myself I spent about $300 altogether for the paint and supplies. Some pieces could be better.


There are more detailed write ups if you search for them.

[RandallNeighbour]

Thanks, Tim! Great info in this thread. During the dog days of summer, and finances permitting, I'll swath my entire interior with black leather.

Then I'll finally have a name for my car... "The Dominatrix"

[rzucchet]

Hey All,

I've wanted to swap the Boxster emblem with a "986", but I don't think the black emblem would look good on my dark blue paint (sorry I don't know the technical name for my factory color).

Anyway, I found a silver 986 emblem at www.stuttgartperformance.com and was wondering if anyone had any pictures before I bought one sight unseen?

Thanks,
-Roger

[TimAustinW]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Thanks, Tim! Great info in this thread. During the dog days of summer, and finances permitting, I'll swath my entire interior with black leather.

Then I'll finally have a name for my car... "The Dominatrix"

Haha, you could complete that Dominatrix look by swapping out the steering wheel and door handles with that made from chromed chain links, then put leather tassels hanging off the side mirrors