hi there

thought i would share with you what im doing to my baby named black betty...well this is my third attempt first attempt just painted all the plastics and died carpets
second attempt bought vinyl material wraped some peices and spray painted others
last attempt after myso called trial runs wrapped all dash peices and all plastics including the trim in real leather and painted all vents buttons and lil interior peices harley davidson orange bought new carpets and sound deadening material ans sunk two subs into the compartments

figured if you all were interested i have pics of the process and my trial and errors in it all and what i found worked best...and offer help if someone else wanted to give it a try

 

need to post pics

 

n more pics

 

question


anyoine interested inb having their plastic redone in leather like this i was thinking this would make a cool side job people could ship their plastics to me andi would do em in leather and paint of thei choice n ship em back

 

more pics

 

The leather might be ok, but just in my opinion, the orange painted parts should have stayed black. Orange=ricey

 

I would think so too
Why would the op want to do that?

 

The orange is just me to match the outside car vents and whatnot could be any color

 

I like the leather covers - nice touch

Care to explain in more detail how you covered your plastic trim with leather?

 

 

ok break down

buy a hide upholstry leather got my at tandy leather they are on the web abnd haver several shops in canada and us. I got mine blackleather upholstry for 130 canadian for 55 sq feet of leather. this is enough to do the dash peices and all the plastics that go up the winshield and the piller across and the side plastics that the belts go into on a 85.

heres what youll needs

sand paper 220 grit and 600 grit
contact cement and a bristle brush
contact cement thinner if you leave the cover off for too long or to soften up your brush that has cement on it
primer high built perferable a self etching just seems to give a better adheision for the parts you want to paint.
step 1

remove all the pastic trim you want to cover and get a two part epoxy for plastics to repair any cracks or what not

step 2
take the 220 sand paper and scuff up all your parts you want to cover with the leather. This helps with adheision if you have shiny and wont stick paint or cement real important to sand your pieces and clean um first .

next cut out your leather peices using your trim as a guide cut a lil extra to wrap over the side n trim off later

next using a brush apply the cemtn to both leather and trim let sit 15 min the cement has to dry take a peice of paper if it sticks its not ready real important to wait for the cemtn to dry

hint if its a peice such as the sides where its not just a flat surface do it in parts only cemtn to flat face part first once you get that on straight and nice3 do the sides and other contours in stages.

after wrap the leather behind the trim and use crazy glue normal kind works best not the skin safe or the ultra hold just normal.

if you go to photo bucket under icemaidenz youll see more photos of the process

now seal the leather witha sealing agent in satin or gloss leather shop to protect it and give it a shine




for plastics you want to paint such as vents
break down the components first as much as you can

repair with the epoxy
sand with the 600
prime with a high build self etching primer
let dry an hour and the sand again withthe 600 grit
apply first coat of your paint
\hint use a fast dry less chance of dust n stuff getting on it and messin it up

recoat within a hour
i put on three coats remener do all your coats within an hour
if you want to put a varnish on top of your color wait 24 hours after your color has dried.

hint do not put another coat on without sanding if it has dried more than a few hours it will crackle
if you got pulled away and need to put on another coat of color then lightly sand it first

also withthe clear coat wait 24 to 48 before putting it on and let it dry a day before installing or youll be sorry

 

where did you get carpet dye?

 

Ooh Black Betty!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IousTfdD-Uo

 

 

yep thats her song gotta love it if ya see a vet with flames drivin by n ya hear that song that was me!!

 

i got mine at a grocery store but also any fabric store also dont forget boil the water and add a ounch of salt

 

Specialized products are made for this purpose for a reason : 1) you can not use cloth based dye to redye your carpets it won't stay on synthetic carpet fibers very long and will fade or just be a waste of time . 2)there is a product called BULLDOG that is made as a adhesion promoter for dying plastic interior parts of your car it works great and stops the newly dyed part from scratching and flaking off .3) leather is skin and needs to be able to breath you can not seal it as that would close all the pores and drastically shorten the life , there is a vinyl called Allante and has great stretch the correct grain costs about $9.00 for a piece 36 x 54 inches and will not shrink or require constant maintenance leather would ( condensation in your car alone will make all these pieces shrink and dry out ) look at what happens to leather seats all the time 4) most local auto parts stores are now selling plastic vinyl dye for your car (it has a flex agent built into it and will last longer and if prepped right will not come off , do your home work on line before you trash all you're interior parts and have to keep redoing a relatively easy job.

 

I've been thinking of doing my door panels with leather. Have you attempted them yet or just the dash and console pieces?

 

Nice work. I'd like to se a pic of the outside of the car, to see how it goes with the interior theme.

 

what paint did you use on the plastic??????