John Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 (edited) I've had my '75 280Z for almost exactly a year now, and have been driving it daily for about 7 of those months. I've found the interior to have great potential to be awesome. Seeing some of the amazing work that members here have done to their interiors has brought me to be dissatisfied with mine, which is mostly plain and stock. Don't get me wrong, I love the raw experience, being drenched in fumes, and the smell of the 70's. There's nothing else like it. But it's time to upgrade to a more modern, updated, and comfortable interior that's more pleasing to the eyes. It's also time for it to be cold down here in Texas, so the Z won't spend too much time awake these days. A great time to redo interior! I have completely stripped it down to bare metal, of course finding rusty floor pans in the process. I want to do it one time, and I want to do it right. So through my research I have compiled an estimate of the ballpark cost of restoring an interior. I know this is a very broad project and different people will have different opinions and put different products in their interior, so this is based on my own personal project. For anyone wondering how much it might cost... Zedd Findings floor pans - $300. Baddog frame rails - $170 Speedhut 5-Gauge kit - approximately $700 (Speedhut) Interior vinyl replacement - $130 (MSA) Sound deadening material - $180 (Summit Racing) Molded carpet kit - $220 (MSA) Interior door hardware - $80 (MSA) Center console - $180 (MSA) Corbeau Forza II seats - $600 for both (Corbeau) Seat brackets for Z (unless you fabricate your own.) - $200 Already $2760. This list was compiled off of the top of my head without a whole lot of thought. Not to mention door panels, kick panels, stereo equipment, pedal pads, steering wheel, dash recovery, rear view mirrors, windsheild mirrors, POR-15, and whether or not you do the labor yourself. And everything else that I'm forgetting to mention. So remind me that when I can't find my wallet, it's because it ran away. It must have heard me talking to a friend about the next plan; the SBC swap. Edited December 7, 2010 by John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 If you don't have a metal brake the floor pans and frame rails are worth every penny in your build. Off the top of my head you can save quite a bit on the following from what's on your list without sacrificing quality, IMO: Sound Deadening - Search around and find out which brands are good and what are not. Lots of quality knock offs on eBay for a significant savings over name-brand. Interior vinyl - There are molded carpet kits that replace the vinyl if you don't mind ditching it. It's also pretty common to be able to find used sets in good shape. I went with a carpet kit that covers the trans tunnel, but leaves the vinyl at the rear wheels. Carpet Kit - search around for experience with eBay kits. Some of the vendors there seem to be pretty good. Center Console - Unless you're looking for NOS quality here it's pretty easy to find a good conditioned used one for about half of the price. I could see saving $300 if you kept the quality there and went with non name brand/NOS parts. Possibly more if you're able to replace the door hardware with used, and making your own sliders is easy money to save if you can weld. And you can obviously save on the gauges or seats, but then you're sacrificing on quality in my opinion. However, some of the no-name racing seats aren't all that bad, but the Forza II's are priced pretty well. Even if you do save a few hundred bucks, interiors are still expensive to do nicely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayaapp2 Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 If you don't have a metal brake the floor pans and frame rails are worth every penny in your build. ... Wish someone would buy my set of pans for $275... list for $250 paid $320 for them to my door. They are superb parts! Its a darn shame I dont need them anymore. I used the bad dog full length rails... They are also superb parts! Worth every penny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 (edited) ^^^^ rayaapp2, I know exactly why no one will buy your pans. You want more than list price. The thread does not really cover the costs of restoring the interior like the title says. I was interested in more info. Those are basic parts. I know that many of the small parts are going to highly inflate that cost. Edited December 8, 2010 by bjhines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Hey yall, Im using RAAM mat (RAAM audio) the owner LOVES z cars, cut a hell of a good deal for being a new Z owner. i's pretty close to dynamat, id recommend following his instructions. It cut down the cabin substantially in my belly dumped 383 chevy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruez Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I used the RAAM mat on my wagon build... stuff works great IMO. Hey yall, Im using RAAM mat (RAAM audio) the owner LOVES z cars, cut a hell of a good deal for being a new Z owner. i's pretty close to dynamat, id recommend following his instructions. It cut down the cabin substantially in my belly dumped 383 chevy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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