EF Interior modifications (Pics and guide inside)

[DjAshman]

Hey all,

I was going to go all out leather for the interior of my weapon.... $3000 quote, forget it, guess I would do it myself. In this post, I will only describe the fabricating of the doors.

Here are some pics of my works....ignore the flaky paint and splotchy areas.... I will fix them up soon enough



What you'll need:
• Phillips head and flat head screwdriver
• Vinyl spray (Can get from AutoBarn for $15 a can
• Plastic protector spray (Hardware store, don't trust stuff from an auto shop)
• Patients
• Vinyl, should only need about a meter, colour of your choice
• Pliers
• More patients
• Turps, sugar soap or soft grain sandpaper - whatever
• Staple gun with either 4mm or 6mm staples (I used 6mm)

Doin' tha doors:
Okay, we will start with the doors. Using your flat head screwdriver, pop out the cap in the door handle. Unscrew golden screw. Gently remove the door handle, tilting it to an angle so you can slide the door pull out. On the arm rest is two caps, pop them out but be careful to get the pincher thingy's that reside within. Unscrew screws in the holes.

If you are doing the drivers side door, with electric mirrors, pop the control out and unplug. Go around the door frame, and unscrew all the screws on the edges. Now this part, you really gotta be careful so you don't snap anything. Put a small cloth over the popup lock and using the pliers, pull the lock upwards. I say use a cloth here as pliers will leave pinch marks in the plastic.... yuck.

Gently but firmly yank the door interior off of the window gap. Now that you have the door part off, flip over and unscrew the 5 small screws holding the arm rest in place... 4 visible, 1 hiding up and under the valley.

Clean up the arm rest with whatever you want, I prefer turps cos it smells good :

Whilst looking at the back of the door, straighten all the pins that hold the cloth board in and remove that. Chuck it aside.

Okay, put the arm rest aside. If you want to do the top part of the door a differant colour, clean the vinyl. I suggest masking up all the areas that you don't want sprayed. Be careful removing the badge, I've screwed up the removal process so many times. Meh, Ford spare parts just gets a visit from me then.

Lets say you have masked it up, pick an end to begin with. Always spray side to side and not length ways. Hold the can about 25 - 30cm away from the surface.

Technique when spraying:
Stop start method. You hold down the nozzle, make one spray from left to right then release the nozzle. Line up above the last spray and then spray right to left. You will get quicker and more effeciant at this as time passes by. I still suck tho.

Apply one pass over, doesn't matter if there are gaps... you will have to do a few more passes. Allow to dry. Whilst drying, move onto something else.

Now that the paint has dried to touch, apply another pass of paint until and repeat above until you are satisfied with the appearance. Allow to dry for a good 20 mins then apply the plastic protector... same process. Allow to dry and go over again. I try to apply the plastic protector 3 - 4 times to give a nice gloss, and so the paint doesnt scratch off.

If you want to put vinyl in the carpeted area down the bottom of the door, do this: Get a paint scraper and gently lift the carpet out off of the surface of the door. You will need to keep this in tact so you can draw a template to cut out. Worry about this later, for now.... spray the rest of the door the colour of your choice.

If you have sprayed the top part of the door a differant colour, cover it up with something. Now, spray the rest of the door the colour of your choice, remembering that this is carpet/fabric, and not as reliable to paint on. You are going to need to spray this part evenly and thoroughly. La la la done. Okay cool, trace around the carpet thing you ripped outta the bottom of the door onto the vinyl. Carefully cut the tracing out and check sizing against the door. Use some sort of glue (I used liquid nails cos I am lazy) and spread it all over the region. Stick the vinyl down. Yay.

Now to vinylize that other thingy that I don't know the name of.... fabric board thing. Okay, that in hand... riiiiiiiip the fabric off of it....carefully. You will probably get foam still stuck to it, just scratch it off. Okay, place the board on the non vinyl side of the vinyl. Using a stanley knife, cut about 3 cm over the shape of the board. This part gets tedious, hence the patience.

Face down both the vinyl and the board, so that the bend pins are facing up. Start from the end and fold a section of the vinyl over the board. Staple down. If your stables bend, doesn't matter, as long as it holds. Keep doing this all the way around, stapling every 3 or so cm's. Make sure its tight. Now to do the corners, you are going to need to be girly and crafty. Fold the edges in, you may have to trim a bit off. Fold over, staple down... simple.

Okay, now that you have gone all the way around, you need to cut into the area where the door handle holder thingy sits. This time, trim the inside area of this gap leaving 1.5cm overhang. Cut diagonally all the way around as you cannot fold all that vinyl in in one go. Staple, move on, staple etc. That part is now done..... Now for the biggest of them all.... the door handle itself.

If you want two colours, one color for the door lever handle thing itself and another for the holder, flip the handle onto its side.... you need to push this gold pin out the other side. This is what holds the handle in place against the holder. Now you gotta use your flathead screwydriva to pop the clear/white slot off the end of the door handle.... GENTLE DAMMIT!!!

Seperate the handle from the holder.... yehh there is a spring in there :O

Spray each, using the technique from above, making sure to get all areas evenly. Yep good, all dry and glossy.... now this part is the tricky (and annoying) part. Sit the spring in the place where it goes, with the non-bent part of the spring horizontal.... in other words, the bent part of the end of the spring has to be verticle to the holder as this is the "lever" as such. Okay, GENTLY GENTLY GENTLY but forcefully put the handle back in place. There is soft plastic where the spring sits.... hopefully that hasnt snapped, else you are gunna have a hard time... right, its all sitting well now yes? Good, put the gold bar back through the slot. yay. Put the plastic clear/white cap back on and repeat "UNSCREWING PROCESS" in reverse to put the door back together..... I am tired now.


I hope this has helped. Yes its a dodgy way to do things, but do it right and you can come up with some really nice results. The pics I have posted are nothing to compare against, they were trial and error. Hopefully as I get more time, I will improve the look of my interior and write up more guides if people find this one helpful.....


Best of luck and lemme know how you go

Ash

[EFFalcon]

you put seat covers on the pretty velour?
i assume the doors match now?
one of those pics its black, the other the top is red?

[CruizinEB]

nice interior mate, looking good

[DjAshman]

Yeh, I did that passenger door today.... ran out of red spray and time. Will fix it up.... will fix it all up soon enough

Originally the interior was blue on black, but i got bored of it.... I go through colours like I do girlfriends.

[NZ]

Originally Posted by DjAshman

Yeh, I did that passenger door today.... ran out of red spray and time. Will fix it up.... will fix it all up soon enough

Originally the interior was blue on black, but i got bored of it.... I go through colours like I do girlfriends.

You change the colour of your interior every 10 yrs?

[InitialD]

"not my cup of tea" but still good for you giving it a go ;)

[Supa R00]

Black looks awesome with the red but wayyyyyy too much red by painting the top of the dash in Red... shoulda been black but it somewhat reminds me of the look of an AU with the black dash and what not.

[Rmyers]

Originally Posted by Supa R00

Black looks awesome with the red but wayyyyyy too much red by painting the top of the dash in Red... shoulda been black but it somewhat reminds me of the look of an AU with the black dash and what not.

Agreed about the red dash, would have looked alot nicer if it were black. The door trims look great though as does the dash facia's

[TURBO_GHIA]

awsome job ,but im not to fond of the colours mate sorry

[MrQuan]

I've done a similar thing to my interior - except it's black on grey, not red on black. Yours came up looking very 'out there' ish - it's a bit much for my liking, but it looks like you've done a good job.

Oh, I reckon you should ditch the blue and get some new floor mats and seat covers. ;)

Thanks for the photos! (that was fast)

[DjAshman]

The shots came out alot brighter cos I took them at night and the flash stuffed em around a bit. During the day, the colours look nice and soft against each other.

I am still experimenting with colours. The dash board itself was a pain to do as I did it in the car and taped up all the windows and frames I didnt want sprayed.... got a bit lazy though hehe.

[MrQuan]

Originally Posted by DjAshman

The shots came out alot brighter cos I took them at night and the flash stuffed em around a bit. During the day, the colours look nice and soft against each other.

I am still experimenting with colours. The dash board itself was a pain to do as I did it in the car and taped up all the windows and frames I didnt want sprayed.... got a bit lazy though hehe.

haha I bet you were high for a week from the fumes :P

[mcflux]

That's a lot of red!

Thinking of getting red seat covers to match?

[DjAshman]

Yeh, red racing seats getting fitted next week. As for the fume inhilation.... weeeee Mum thought I was sniffing paint rather than spraying the dash lol..... :

Anyways, I pulled the passenger door off today, gave the top a lick of red.... the good thing about having the red over the black is that is maroons the colour a tad.

[MrQuan]

Sounds like it's coming along very nicely. What racing seat are you getting out of interest? Are they full-on buckets with harness belts and stuff?

My bro used to have those full harness things in his cortina - to make it legit he had to bolt the seat belts for the harness on the rear parcel or somewhere back there... but he never used the back seats anyways ;)

Cortinas... ahhhh, oneday when a beauty comes up for the right price...

[FPVWEPN]

woulda looked nicer if u put suede on the dash instead of painting it

[CruizinEB]

there is a guy (Cominthru) on this forums that did his red like that except the doors and the top of the dash

PS: His car looks sweet as