OK, I thought I'd start a thread for this because I'm sick of explaining the same thing over and over again to n00bs in various threads and PMs

Firstly, this is what my interior used to look like when I got the car - EF futura, stock as a rock




Over time I did things bit by bit - so some of the photos below are at different stages.

Console I won't bother explaining how to remove the console and surrounding trim as it's been explained elsewhere numerous times and it's all pretty self explanatory - remove the ashtray and the 2 screws in behind it, then the radio surround then all the other screws around the dash and cluster and it'll all pretty much fall out.

Door trims - again undo the screws, door handles, mirrors etc and they come off. The centre door trim in mine that I've done in red is held onto the main door trim with those oldskool paperclip type fold out metal tab thingos. You can prize them off with the door skin still attached but its much easier if you remove the whole trim and then just bend them out by hand.
To retrim it the simple way (the way I did) choose a fabric of your choice, cut it to fit, stretch it over the top of the existing material and glue it using fabric glue from behind. Staples are also a good idea to hold it all in place while it's drying. Don't pick a fabric that's too thick or it'll bunch and crease up around the curved corners.




Dash - Now this is one most people won't be in a hurry to replicate. Why ? In order to get your dash out to paint it the car ends up looking like this.




Not pretty, and alot of work. I did it largely because I had to remove my pedal box to weld it up so while it was out it was a good oportunity to paint it. Likewise if you're doing a manual conversion that'd be a good time to do it if you're that way inclined.

Painting - For the most part I used vinyl dye/paint. It's about $15 a can from supercheap and the like. Give anything you're going to paint a good rub with metho or better still something like prepsol. This is especially important if you've been a big armourall user as paint will NOT stick to silicon!

The vinyl spray is really great stuff - easy to spray on, very hard to stuff up (ie doesn't run everywhere) and it's hard wearing too. Also if you do miss any spots with the metho, give them a hard rub later and the paint will go straight on. When I did my dash it all came out well bar one spot where the paint wouldn't take. Once the paint dried I gave it another hard rub with metho, painted it again and it came up perfectly. Like I said, very forgiving stuff to paint with and I think the vinyl texture helps as well.

I used this on the dash itself, the door trims, parts of the interior plastics, the centre arm rest lid, airbag cover (really good colour match with the leather) and also the gear boot. Even though it's soft and flexible you can also spray it, just make sure you get a good coverage and it'll come up looking shmick. I put it on a broom handle and spun it around while I kept the can fairly still. You can even spray carpet with it supposedly, but I haven't tried...

The centre instrument surround piece I did in cheap gloss black spray paint.

The cluster surround was done in what was supposedly chrome spray paint, but it came out with more of a brushed aluminium finish, but that's ok too

Door handles are the standard chrome fairmont ones.

Steering wheel is a leather momo

The seats are just "leather look" seat covers that I got from some discount warehouse place while on holidays in qld ages ago, can't remember the name of the place but I haven't seen them since.
They're getting replaced soon with either a proper retrim or sports seats.

The custom instrument cluster dials are discussed elsewhere in other threads, as are the steps for the LED conversion so I won't bother going into it (see gallery for pics)

And I think that's about it for most of the non standard parts of my interior! This is pretty much how it looks now, but with the new cluster.



Any questions ? ask them here

Mate thats fnatastic.

One thing, when I painted I didnt ahve mine looking like that. Sprayed inside the car .

that is quite nice indeed.
i'm just starting painting my dash sourround and stuff. Dont think ill paint the dash though, cant see me getting energetic enough to pull the whole dash out, plus i have a perfectly good dash mat atm

did you have the workshop manual to help you get the dash out?

looks sweet as!

just rid of the crappy red/black seat covers

I didn't have a workshop manual as such, just a gregories, but I didn't really look at it anyway, just kept undoing screws until the part comes off. If it doesn't come off, you've probably missed one The dash was like that, and there's these 2 bolts roughly behind where the radio is and they're in a s**t of a spot to get to (under the carpet from memory) I tried refitting them afterwards, but it was too much like hard work so they're now in the spare screws and bolts jar

Frank the current seat covers are going, but I might replace them with good red/black seat covers like THESE (maybe black with red stitching if available)
Although I'd rather seats like THESE

Oh, and for those wanting more info about the cluster, see the other thread here:
http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopi ... c&start=20

what speakers are in your front doors, i've got some 6"'s and i'm having trouble to get them to fit behind the door skin.

I have 6's in the front, the Futuras come with them, your door trim is out of alignment or smething or your speaker depth is too deep.

Taking dashes out is the worst thing.
Only ever done it once, and that's my quota for this decade.
Be nice to have some proper race seats...
There are people out there that have done it, but it's alot of trouble fabricating it to match factory seat rails supposedly, and I'm not sure on the legality of it.
Looks nice but

i had Cobra Trohpies in teh wagon for a while when my drivers seat broke and i was waiting on the EL XR interior. Wasn't to hard to adapt the original seat rails to the seats, but didn't look right at all. seats seemed to sit very high.

My speakers are 6.5" response polykevlars.
They won't fit straight in because the top of the baskets hit the existing holes and they'd be too deep so the magnet would hit the glass.

I made up some MDF spacers - they gave enough clearance for speakers to fit and the door skin and grille still goes on ok over he top. They only just fit though

i've got enough room to fit my hand between the magnet and window when it's down, it just sticks out too far. i think it's time to take to the door with the de walt, i'm getting sick of driving with my door in pieces!

Lokks good, cept for the fake chequer plate floor mats, .

Oh they're long gone. haha

Oh, good, looks better with a nice mat set does it? couldnt look any worse, cheapened the look you achieved with the paint/dyeing etc.