Automedia.com - Restoration - Interior Articles

Child Seat Cleat Install

We’re not sure why—perhaps it was a difference between design year for the vehicle and implementation year for the law—but the ’98 Toyota Rav4 didn’t come equipped with the rear safety cleat necessary to properly install a child seat in its back seat. Hmmm...

Adding Legroom

Let's say you're a good 6-feet tall and you love the First Generation F-Body. You know, then, that driving one for any length of time will give you serious leg cramps. When the General first designed the early Camaro/Firebird, more than 90 percent of the male population stood less than six feet. Fortunately, John DeLorean is part of the 10 percent who stand taller than 6 feet...

Armrest Restoration

Someone came up with the process around the late '50s of applying chrome-like plating to plastic parts. (Most likely it was a vendor manufacturing parts for the Big Three car manufacturers.) The use of plastic over metal was increasing in various vehicles at this time, and chrome plating was a way to make simple parts look good at a reasonable cost. The use of plastic also removed weight from already very heavy vehicles...

Auto Vinyl Interior Dyeing

If your vinyl interior is in good or excellent condition, but stained or faded from the sun, there is an inexpensive fix you can do at home. Most large automotive paint suppliers carry a full line of professional vinyl re-coloring products that are both easy to use and will match your original factory color. For example, you have a 1965 GTO with a Teal Turquoise interior like the example shown here. Simply specify the correct year and color, if possible, and the dye can be mixed on the spot. The dye requires no thinning, but a compressor and spray gun should be used for best results. Both of these items can be rented for a day or weekend at your local rental yard. The results are incredible, and you'll save a bundle over buying a complete reproduction interior kit...

Automotive Sound Dampening

One of the most satisfying achievements for any car or truck owner is the act of finding and silencing the rattles, squeaks, drones and clunks that seem to emanate from the auto around you. They permeate the entirety of your motoring experience. We have a simple trick for you, one that requires minimal time and is capable of not only killing those annoyances (and handing you a satisfying accomplishment), but also deadening road noise, exhaust drone and that general state of in-cabin buzz that can send a driver off the proverbial cliff. What we're talking about is the installation of sound-deadening dampening matting, and it's just one step beyond kindergarten-simple...

Budget Interior Restoration

So you were driving your old classic the other day, when your cell phone slips right through the giant gash in the seat and off into some netherworld. The next 30 minutes are spent digging through what seems like a spider-infested hay bale (German car owners, you know what I mean) to retrieve your communication link with the world. Hey, maybe it's time to invest in a new interior...

Classic Car Clock Update

Time. It seems lately that's all anyone ever talks about. The world is moving at triple-digit pace and everything is light years faster than it was even last week. And because time is such a precious commodity, every car should have a properly functioning quartz clock. Older collector cars can particularly benefit from a quartz-clock update to replace those whose small second-hands quit working within minutes of when the car was driven off the dealer's lot. Many vehicles' clocks probably haven't indicated the correct time for years. The fix is simple. Requiring no special tools, the repairs can be done in an afternoon; although, we recommend allowing a full day in order to clean behind the dash area and to spiff up the instrument cluster...

Dash Pad Restoration

Most people are familiar with the cracked-dash crisis caused by an older-generation formulation of a popular car-care product. People who prided themselves in their vehicles' appearances were disappointed to discover that this leather-vinyl-rubber spray didn't allow the vinyl to "breathe," and temperature fluctuations caused dash skins treated with this product to crack...

Dash-Knob Detailing

Many restorers concentrate on the large picture, but the smaller items are just as important. Intricately detailed dash knobs were used during the Sixties and Seventies, and they deserve restoration as well. Most were finished in chrome plastic and can be easily saved with a little gentle attention. Nicotine and dirt, accumulated from years of use, settle into the design of the knob, eventually turning your bright chrome to dirty gray...

Early GM Dash Bezel Restoration

The early GTO dash bezels were painted-over chrome-plated plastic. The entire bezel was plated and then painted to match the interior color scheme. Certain areas were left chrome as decorative accents, but original factory plastic plating turns black with age. The early GTO's had a removable plastic instrument bezel, which also contained the heater/defroster controls. Normally, the surround areas of these were painted with a flattening agent added to the lacquer to provide a non-reflective surface. Replacement woodgrain inserts, and in some cases new gauge lenses, are available from most aftermarket suppliers and the instruments can be cleaned at home. Here is an overview of removing the original bezel with blackened plastic chrome and the installation of a new re-chromed and re-painted bezel shown above...

GTO Upholstery Resto

We've already covered several aspects of the "restification" of this particular '65 Pontiac GTO, from suspension mods to bodywork; but, before we get into the interior (literally), we should step back a bit and explain what that term means, relative to this particular project vehicle...

Headliner Replacement

Tired of your original headliner disintegrating into your hair? Are exploded seams and dusty residue constantly fouling your interior? Too embarrassed to give people rides in your rig? Replacing the headliner in your driver is far simpler than you think, and you can do it at home. Follow along to see how to save money on do-it-yourself installation and have the satisfaction of accomplishing the task on your own...

Interior Upholstery Developments

Have you ever checked out your car's reflection in a storefront window as you're driving by? You're probably like most people and like to see how your ride looks on you, like a new suit or a pair of jeans. Taking that car-as-clothing analogy one step further, the interior can reflect your fashion statement as well. There's a whole new range of products to make your upholstery reflect your personal taste so it's more stylish, enjoyable, and captivating. So what are the latest wrinkles in upholstery? Like that famous line from "The Graduate," it can be summed up in one word: "plastics."..

Musclecar Ashtray Restoration

Whether you're a cigarette smoker or not, chances are you wouldn't smoke in your classic musclecar. The idea of lighting up and placing a cigarette anywhere near those new seats or carpet is more than an alarming thought. However, that old ashtray probably got plenty of use back in the '60s and '70s when looking cool at street races meant having a cigarette hanging out of your mouth. Years of nicotine stains, ashes and the dreaded wad of gum can leave an ashtray looking like, well, an ashtray. Here's how to get a factory fresh look from the oft overlooked part of your dash...

Re-Carpeting Classics

Carpet is literally at the bottom of the resto-priorities list, probably because it involves the most un-doing. The optimal time to re-carpet is in conjunction with re-upholstering the seats and/or re-covering the rear quarter panels because these components must be removed anyway. However, no single interior revival pays off with such immediate gratification...

Saving Seatbelts

For many collectible vehicles, the restoration aftermarket offers almost every imaginable soft part to make interiors look factory-new. Carpet kits, OE-fabric upholstery and various interior panels abound. But after a complete interior resto, one particular loose end can be a glaring eyesore: dirty seatbelts...

Speedometer Replacement

Until the introduction of electronic instrumentation, most auto speedometers were cable driven. The drive cable has a square end and threaded bezel that simply inserts into a fitting in the back of the speedo and then travels directly to the transmission. After years of use, the square end of the cable occasionally rounds out and the cable spins noisily in the speedometer housing. Needless to say the needle just moves in a jerky, bouncing fashion. To replace the speedo the instrument cluster must come out of the vehicle...

Steering Wheel Install

Here is a great way to update an older car's interior for a small amount of money in a short amount of time. A new steering wheel is fairly easy to install and doesn't require a lot of expensive tools to get the job done. And it doesn't take a lot of time to do the change. There are several steering wheel styles to choose from, everything from the old Banjo wire steering wheels to the more modern spoke and woodgrain wheels...

Upholstery Restoration and Trends

In days gone by, one would only consider a re-upholstery of one's vehicle if the fabric were truly beyond repair (or reproach). Car seats, regrettably, are not like one's denim pants that can withstand a bit of patchwork or ironed-on covering. Typically, once a vehicle's interior began to show signs of extreme wear, slipcovers were the order of the day...