cameraobsess Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 ok why is there no forum for interior? anyways my car needs a face lift and me and my friend were brain storming. i just thought i would see what everyone here thought and if anyone had some cool ideas to add to the effect. the plan basicly is to go with a shiny metal and nice wood mix. my dash is cracked and we were thinking of covering it with a few peices of very thin aluminum moulded around the form of the dash with some type of texturing. where the peices come together i was going to use some type of nice wood to cover the seams. to replace the sterio i was going to take that strange shaped hole and make a wood finish for it. the doors would most probably match the dash, but thats from lack of any other ideas. the center armrest thing we were thinking of carving something out of a block of wood. other than that we are still kinda brainstorming. i dont know what im going to do with the seats mabie keep the origional color. my car is difficult to match since both the exterior and interior are a burgundy. any cool ideas that wont cost me up the wasoo? im not turning the car into a race car so waight isnt that big of an issue. im more looking for the effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Mostly because there aren't enough posts on interior to warrent a single forum for it. For the time being, this is probably the best place to put such posts. I've often thought about updating my interior. I'd be wary about putting anything shiny on the dash though, the first time you hit direct sunlight you'll blind yourself. There is a reason why all dashes are textured and matte finish. In my opinion, wood could look good if used sparingly. I'd be careful about building a "wooden car". Some light accents in the door panels and dash could look tasteful, combined with a wood steering wheel and shifter knob. As far as the center console goes, I'd stay away from making it out of a block of wood... Fiberglass, aluminum, or steel upholstered afterwards would be my suggestion. I'd like to make a center console for the Z that was more modern in appearance, swept back from the dash and was angled towards the driver slightly. I'd likely design a shifter linkage to move the shifter up and back a little as well as reducing the throw. Its a big undertaking! My only suggestion for such things is mock it up with cardboard, duct tape, whatever the first time and see how you like it. Once you have it how you want, then take that template and build the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Custom fiberglass peieces would be cool. I want to make a custom fitted fiberglass speaker box for show and function in my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameraobsess Posted November 8, 2003 Author Share Posted November 8, 2003 yea i was thinking about the glare issue with the aluminum. im not sure exactly how i would deal with that but i figure i can find someway to tone it down. im starting to get an image in my head of what i want it to look like but im still working it out. i think what i might do is mabie do the aluminum wood mix and then pit a custom dash mat down on the very top to let the shiny part show about where the curve would start. ither that or some type of light over coat that might take some of the shine out. I thought about fiberglass. i have worked with it before, doing boat hulls, but its a lot of work when you get into big parts. plus im looking more for a rustic, older look with a hint of moderness. i might do a few small parts just to get some shapes but other than that im going to wourk with something that will fit in with the theme. seems like the more i think about it the more things i want to do, i guess the trick is to filter the ones you can do and cant do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe017 Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 ok well this is my interior idea and im in the middle of doing it. im smothing out the whole dash and in going to paint it to match the color of my car. im also going to blen to dash down to the center consol so it looks like its 1 item. if u know what i mean. and the center cosol would be the same color as the dash. i have gone over this idea with a couple of people and everyone seems to really like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguy95135 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 heres a 280ZX dash idea i got off of cardomain.com http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/314876/3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonzer12 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 A while back I spent a ton of time fixing up the interior of my other car. I wet sanded and painted my entire front facia of my dash as well as the shifter console, with duplicolor silver (paint is actually for rims). Lots of sanding and clear coat and to this day people still freak when they get in it. I remember being scared that it would look terrible painted but its great, I will try and take a few pics if you are interested. You can do cheap things to really change the character of your interior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe017 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 i would be very interested in some pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonzer12 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 My car is pretty filthy right now but nonetheless sometime tommorow I will snap a few pics and put em up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluex_v1 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 http://www.georgiazclub.com/members/henry280z.htm (4th pic on the right) I think this looks great...don't want to even know the hours/money put into it though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguy95135 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 whoa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonzer12 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 K here are the pics of my Daily driver car, I did what you are planing, sanding the surfaces and painting them although I only did the front facia and few other things around the cabin. Sanding is the key here, I have seen some painted interiors at our tiny little car shows here that are brutal. Wet sand everything use adhesion promotor and good solid base coats. I clear coated the entire thing and then used rubbing compound to finish it off. Its a few years old now but still looks good. Pictures are kind of dim, its already winter here so I snapped em in the garage. [/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe017 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 240hybrid Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 I know this doesn't apply to modifying the dash or centerconsole, but there is one great way to give a old faded gray plastic and very nice new black look. I got a great condition (no cracks/scratches) center console from the junk yard, but it was faded from the sun and gray looking. So, since I used lacquer thinner to clean everything just about, even though I very seldom use it on plastics, I used a rag with some on it to clean some gunk out of the coin area at the back of the console. Some of you may think I'm crazy, but I don't pass up a idea/chance to do something very cheap and VERY effective. To my surprise the thing looked great in that area, so I wiped the entire console down with a rag with the thinner on it and to my surprise that sucker looked like new. It took the faded look right away without destroying the texture at all and restored it to a semi-gloss black which is like new. Now it doesn't look funny where the console meets the dash anymore. Just thought I'd throw the idea out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akeizm Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 I like that white interior. But the modified dash just doesn't look right.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameraobsess Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 ok first of all that walnut dash......wow is all i can say. that inspires me to do bigger better things. not gona try anything like that though. little to much. the yellow dash is nice but not really my style. looks like it was done nice though. the silver dash is very nicely done as well and gives me some hope for my dash idea. i love the photos guys. thanks a bunch for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RCNSC Posted November 12, 2003 Share Posted November 12, 2003 I would LOVE to see a 350Z Dash in a 240Z. Would look great and really modernize the car. Otherwise, autometer gauges and an aluminum cover over the HVAC and radio with maybe boost and toggles in there looks much better than any other ZX dash up until the 350Z. Just MY idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cowboy6280 Posted November 12, 2003 Share Posted November 12, 2003 I seen on tv last sunday, dont remember what show, but they were making some custom interior parts. Looked kinda simple and easy. Was some kind of felt type material that you can stretch/lay over an old part or some kind of form you made. Can staple the material to hold it in place, and then you paint in/over this resin material over the felt material and once its cured its suppose to be kinda like a plastic. Can be sanded and painted. Maybe someone else here seen the show and know what I'm talking about... similar I guess to fiberglass but they said it wasnt fiberglass and this is suppose to be alot easier to work with. but looked like if you had any imagination you could come up with some really cool stuff. dang, wish I had took some notes what this stuff was... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameraobsess Posted November 12, 2003 Author Share Posted November 12, 2003 i wish i had seen the show but what your talking about sounds a lot like epoxy resin. that stuff is fun to work with and very simple. you can use it on almost anything if you mix it right. i made a kayak once with a wood frame some canvas streached over it and then just painted it with the epoxy. worked really well. any other ideas what he is talking about? felt might work really well with the epoxy because it would absorb it, causing the hole thing to harden not just the top layer. thats a great idea, i might have to look into it some more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 240hybrid Posted November 12, 2003 Share Posted November 12, 2003 I remember hearing my friend talk about using fiberglass in a very similiar way as to what you guys are talking about witht the felt. He said make the size and shape out of plywood/MDF and then using a old sweat shirt, strech it around the form you made and staple it off. Then start laying your glass, or expoxy resin, worked with felt, should work with sweater material. Let it set up, then you can pull the glass away from the mold leaving the sweater material and wood, sand, paint, and you have a custom piece. I was lucky enough to get my had on some aluminum that was coated with a black texture that is very close to what the texture is of the interior of my Z. I was working construction and redid an enclosure for a ATM and I snagged the aluminum that we cut out, I used it and made a small toggle switch board where the radio was, and did a couple other things with it. Look pretty slick. I'm not completely done with the toggle board, but will post some pics when I finish. Also, would it be possible to use a vinear (I think thats the spelling) with a wood pattern like they use on these PT cruisers nowadays and for furniture. Its only about 1/16" and using a heat gun I think you can make it bend a corner really tight. There would be no way to get it to curve in around the edges of the gauges though, but maybe just using it over a Dash Cap to ritz things up a bit. Just a thought if your going for some wood interior/accent. Put a gloss coat on it and your good to go. Chase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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