Re-upholster your FD's console or anything else... ask me how! Thread
 

Feel free to move this to the appropriate section...

Well i was lookin' at the ol' rex today and i was contemplating doing some work, now i had just bought a bunch of new interior plastic such as a new shifter console and some other stuff but then looking around at the new stuff made the old stuff look just that much older. the original console had seen better day and was faded, and showing its scratches while the shift boots and e-brake boots were also looking pretty tattered too with holes through the original vinyl (yep i thought it was real leather before but nope) scratches and even burn marks left by the previous owner. and the shifter knob looked like crap too. it had holes in the leather, which was worn worse than my work boots. this is obviously no good if i have a brand new oem shifter console going in.

Now ive looked around before and found redlinegoods which offers a "console cover" and matching shift and e-brake boots to go with but at $140.00 or so it also seemed a bit steep so i waited. and i waited. i really liked the look of their cover and the boots but just couldnt justify the price so tonight it came to it that i had to do something about my dire interior.

The solution? a trip down to the fabric store yeilded some fabric backed imitation leather (read: vinyl) that looks nearly identical to the oem grain pattern... WOWEEE and some bright red top stiching thread. at a mere $9.00 PER YARD i thought i can afford to learn something new and not really be any worse off than i am now if i screw it all up... so i got the girlfriend to show me the basics of the sewing machine which had been hiding in the closet for months... and i was off!

Now i must contend that I have never sewn anything ever. in my entire life. but i was determined to make this work so with a test piece of my fabric and some black thread i got to practicing for about 5 minutes until when i actually got the hang of it... then with some brief laughs from the girlfriend i learned how to "butterfly" a seam so i could get the same look that redline has on their site... red stitching on black leather yaaa baddasss!

The shift and e-brake boots were easy as you take them out of your car unstitch the seams and use the pieces as templates for the new fabric! pin and cut. simple. then sew the panels together from the backside add your topstitching and VOILA it really was just that easy... and if i can do it the first time i think anyone can really.

the console was even easier. now at this point i dont want to take anything away from redline goods where i got my inspiration because im sure that they offer a very high quality product but if your cheap like me and dont mind trying something this is quite easy... far easier than i ever imagined.

Cut out the shape of the console from the old piece of vinyl pull it over the plastic and draw a straight line where you want to stitch with sewing chalk. which wipes off clean with a damp rag. so i sewed my lines and fitted it again... amazing.

now i had crap loads of leftover vinyl Oh i bought 1.5 yards and have roughly half of that leftover. so i thought ill give the shift knob a go.. now heres where it got tricky. you cant use a machine so your gonna have to learn some patience and do it by hand. so after a quick google search for "baseball stitch" and 2 minutes of reading i was set... got my pattern and started pulling thread trying my damndest to keep my spacing right. once i got all the stitching on and on the knob youll see that it fits loose so you have to go back a few times over "tightening" each stitch starting at the beginning each time but it gets looking good quick. this was the most time consuming part of the whole night and the knob from start to end took about 2 hours... not bad for someone whos never picked up a needle and thread before!

Total time spent doing all of the work below was about 5-6 hours with next to no involvement from the significant other!
Total money spent:

$2.50 for bright red topstitching,
$11.50 For 1.5 Yards of faux leather with fabric backing
$4.80 for spray glue from homedepot to put the console cover on.

=$18.80 for a brand new interior!

now some pics

the rest

more pics to follow tomorrow when i have the console cover put back on

Oh and the next job im going to attempt is to re-wrap the steering wheel in the same style as the shiftknob

can't beat that with a fucking stick. needs to be moved to interior along with a more detailed write-up.

A teaser before i write the full article...

This is with the new shifter console from mazda and the old but cleaned really well switches and lights.

All this for less than $20 bucks and some sweat equity, and if it gives me another 10 years ill be more than satisfied!

dammit.

now I wanna do that and I have no skills!

Honestly thats why i wrote this... i had no skills... still dont think i do at upholstery, and i really believe ANYONE can get the same results!

so what if you mess up you cant wreck anything... im in the process of writing the full article which im trying to have downloadable patterns for the shift boot and e-brake boot so you dont have to take yours apart first... see now what have you got to lose?

if you do, I might try it.

now you have to show me how to do the dash :D

I may actually attempt that one day... except i think the dash on an fd is blow molded vinyl not stretched over plastic like the console... im not sure.

Nice work, I'd like to do that as well but unfortunately, guys usually don't have spare sewing machines lying around the house... :p

WOW!! I just saw this and moved it to 3rd gen section..

Great DIY!!

I was just thinking about this last night...

wow that is nuts!!! want o make me some with the stuff left over? PM me a price if you can.

i am more than willing to help anyone out for cheap but give me a bit as im still writing the full article... but ya ive thought about making a few "sets" up and selling them for pretty affordable as it really doesnt cost much

This only serves to confirm my desires to attend a welding class, followed by a sewing class. Great work!

Did you pre-puncture the holes for the shift knob or did you eye ball it to make it look that good?

not sure what holes you are referring to...

opps sorry, I mean, did you pierce through the vinyl to create the stitching holes first to make sure the holes are equally spaced then threaded it or did u start to stitch and eyeball as you went a long?

Looks good and cheap!! That is hard to beat!!!

cool...let me know when your ready, i would like the shift boot and ebrake one like yours, the center consol too, maybe the shift knob.. i can send you the knob but would proably want the stiching in white, or red just like yours.

I got some cloths I can send you that are in need of repair.
Just kidding. Great job! :bowdown:
I may look at this once you get your write up done. Mom has a sewing
machine I could use.

this is awesome

ready to do mine yet? lol

very impressive, you should get some good shots of it in the car installed. ( i guess that may come with the full writup?)

Great Job!
 

Did you use the old shift knob cover as a template for the new vinyl one or do something else?

Was the shift knob all hand sewing or did you use the sewing machine on it too?

Really a Great Job!

This is great! I want to do the same only in an alcantara type material. Do you think the same adhesive would work well with a material like that?

Have you tried to do anything with the e-brake handle? I spruced up my interior with redline goodies (console, shift & e-brake boot) but wanted to match the e-brake handle. It seems there aren't alot of options out there. The spirit r e-brake lever is exactly what I'm looking for but I can't justify the cost.

That is awsome I am going to try this as well. I went to sewing class in h.s. It was the best class I ever took 23 students and I was the only guy!

Are you thinking about attempting to realin the ebrake? Now that would be interesting!

sorry i havent updated in awhile but my car has been sitting collecting dust while i build a new house, when i have more time in the new year ill be updating this thread and "attempting" the e-brake handle as it really shouldnt be much different than doing the shift knob.

Im getting excited Im going to try and tackle the seats as well... http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ude7/035-1.jpg

Thats supper baddass man... I think I will attempt this later on this year, when I got a bit more time on my hands...

got any better pictures of it? or just the cell phone ones...

J.

good thread. i redid my shiftknob and was suprised how good it came out

have you done the dash yet? im tempted to recover my dash... think i should cover over it or rip the current "leather" off first?

im scared to remove it because of the foam backing and might come off at the same time..

Why not replace the foam while you're at it?

I think this might be worth a sticky? If not shame me for bringing up an old thread...:o11: