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So happy to see you picking up this thread - it’s been an inspiration. Maybe I missed it, but I haven’t seen anything on gluing down sound-proofing or carpeting yet. Have you done any of that?
I actually did that before I decided to go off the deep end and drop the motor/trans and completely strip the car for a color change. Installed a Lakewell carpet kit to replace the hodge-podge of three different carpets that came in the car (mix of some factory black carpet, some cheap-o carpet and an RS carpet kit in rear). I re-installed brand new factory underlayment in the rear and the rear seats. When I did the paint I removed all the seats and all panels but did not tear out the brand new carpet. I also redid all of the interior and covered many bits in Alcantara.
I'll dig up some old photos and post them.
Some of the interior will change now (as hinted at above). With the new color on the outside, I have a few things I want to change on the inside.
Last edited by boomboomthump; 01-27-2024 at 10:11 AM.
I actually did that before I decided to go off the deep end and drop the motor/trans and completely strip the car for a color change. Installed a Lakewell carpet kit to replace the hodge-podge of three different carpets that came in the car (mix of some factory black carpet, some cheap-o carpet and an RS carpet kit in rear). I re-installed brand new factory underlayment in the rear and the rear seats. When I did the paint I removed all the seats and all panels but did not tear out the brand new carpet. I also redid all of the interior and covered many bits in Alcantara.
I'll dig up some old photos and post them.
Some of the interior will change now (as hinted at above). With the new color on the outside, I have a few things I want to change on the inside.
Ah, cool! That pretty much answers my next question which was going to be did you use the factory style soundproofing, or did you do something else. There have been some threads in past couple of years of folks opting to do dynamat + closed cell foam in place of the factory stuff. These cars are so noisy in general that I don't know if it matters much and I would be anxious about the carpet fit with non-stock underlayments.
I've just started the process of ripping out my carpets and it's brutal separating the carpet from the foam and leaving the foam behind... though I've yet to try a steamer or micro-size heat gun with a small nozzle ... which is the "big trick" I've heard people recommend. I have a feeling I'll end up with a hodge-podge of places with old foam left and old foam torn out and I'll end up patching in big sections of new foam. I'm glad I have new back seats (someone threw them in for free when I bought my front seats) because it seems nearly impossible to get the ***-pad part of the back seats out without destroying them! Again, maybe the steamer will help. I plan on sending it out for the carpet install, but who knows... maybe I'll give it a go.
Would love to hear more about your current sewing machines, or if you decided to buy an industrial machine what you go with. Recently I did some marine upholstery for my boat, and it would have been great to have a proper industrial walking foot or needle feed machine. I don't do enough to justify getting one though. In all the research I did it seemed like Juki was the best.
In addition to being able to pierce through anything and handle any size of thread, the big advantage of these machines is the uniformity of the stitch spacing you get with the feed mechanism - very important for top stitching.
1) The seat back pieces and bottoms were dropped off for paint this week. Not even sure I mentioned above that I was color matching them to the body. Think I intended to surprise you (surprise!!)
2) I've been ordering tons of thread colors (trial and error) trying to get a decent match with the body color. Will be used on the stitching for the steering wheel. Once I've got that locked down, I'll recover the wheel. Not planning to use the contrast stitching anywhere else (don't want to go overboard on the color-matching)
3) I had two hours of spare time tonight and started pulling apart one of the seat covers so I can begin making my patterns for the new covers.
Last edited by boomboomthump; 02-02-2024 at 01:37 AM.
Just a minor update to say that things have been slow for the last week as I was waiting on some supplies to arrive for the steering wheel and seats...
- Have one seat back/bottom fully apart and every piece of thread removed (yeeeesh that was tedious and messy) for all my patterns (left the other seat covers in tact for now so I can refer to a live reference vs pictures)
- Got the Alcantara in that I need for the steering wheel and seats
- Finally settled on a thread color for the contrast stitch I'm going to do on the steering wheel (lots of trial/error with different colors and thicknesses)
- Waiting on a tartan sample from a different mill in Europe. Once it's here and I confirm it's a go, I'll finally order the 3yds of tartan I need. Going to take a few weeks total on that since nothing is fast.
Going to get started on the steering wheel one of the next few nights and also get going on the Alcantara pieces for the seats while I wait on the tartan.
A few more teaser pics because text-only updates suck.
Last edited by boomboomthump; 02-10-2024 at 04:26 PM.
Special delivery today. Finally got these after a two week wait. Will be used on the Alcantara portions of my seats. Pic below of my first test but I've already refined the process. Stay tuned.
Before anyone asks, no there is not a specific place to buy these. I put together the exact artwork I needed and had someone custom CNC mill them out of brass to my specs. Also, US Customs apparently opened, inspected and re-sealed my package. Glad they didn't confiscate these and I can carry about my trademark infringement in peace.
Last edited by boomboomthump; 02-11-2024 at 04:01 PM.
These are just some screen captures from a compressed Instagram video, so the quality isn't good and they're very grainy pics. Can't wait to see them in person. Also, so happy I painted the seat bottoms too and not just the backs!
Looks as though your interior is going to be very bright and unique from the updates you have shared. Looking forward to seeing it come together - the world needs unique 993's.
Looks as though your interior is going to be very bright and unique from the updates you have shared.
Thanks. Trying not to go *too* over the top. The painted seat backs (and bottoms) are something I thought about doing originally but second-guessed it thinking it may be "too much" with the bright exterior paint. The more I thought about it though I really wanted to go w/ my gut. There's just something about catching a glimpse of color-matched seat backs through the exterior glass that makes you think "ok, I have to check out the interior".
I'm doing the tartan on the seating surfaces but not planning to do any on the door cards or rear side panels, as I'm worried about crossing the line to "too much", so all the panels will just be a mix of the alcantara/leather I already had going on.
Limiting the contrast stitch to the RS steering wheel (though I'm still mentally squinting at the thought of it on the seats).
Last edited by boomboomthump; 02-13-2024 at 10:13 AM.
01-27-2024, 05:29 AM
