TylerSkidmore

so i bought my Z a couple of months ago and its in pretty good shape but i want to restore it a bit to look better than new. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to where i could some interior restoration parts for it?
As you can see, the biggest issues right now are the doors, a stereo cover, right side horn button, cracked dash (which i plan to just buy a cover for), and a cover for the circuit box down by the passenger door

icice9

take the panels to an upholstery shop pick a color and a design and they will look better than factory... the cracked dash.. you can either try to find one on ebay or on here thats not cracked or get a dash cap from MSA and you can get the stereo back plate from them as well.. thats pretty much what i did with mine.

FricFrac

MSA has dash caps. You can make your own bezel for the stereo from ABS plastic, aluminum, etc or you can get a Metra kit. Rest of the stuff you can get from the wreckers or on the for sale forums. People part cars out all the time....

Daemione

Looks a LOT like the condition of my '79 - same color scheme, same type/depth of cracks, same door panel sun damage. I've got my dashboard sitting in my kitchen right now, and am literally 20 minutes from embarking on making it whole & purdy again. Using this thread as an inspiration . . . Great Stuff gaps & cracks, and probably Duplicolor truck bed liner.

New interior pieces for the ZX are either difficult or impossible to find. And unless you get lucky with someone parting out a car that hasn't ever been in the sun, the best bet might be to recondition what you've got already.

My door panels I haven't touched yet, and are in slightly worse shape than yours. But as long as the structure of the panel is intact (backing, mounting tabs, etc), any upholstery shop should be able to do a quality job. I've got cracks/breaks in the armrests that I need to address as well.

Some interior panels I'll be getting rid of & finishing otherwise (pillars), for others I'm refinishing a spare set that I got off a parts car - cleaning, sanding, repairing, and painting black matte with Color Bond. And I'm just going to get rid of the entire underdash piece with the stock stereo. It's humongous, heavy, & unnecessary. I picked up a Metra underdash install piece (http://www.amazon.com/Metra-99-9000-...6998893&sr=8-1) that I'll just bolt underneath the heater controls & run all new wiring. I'm gonna use a Custom Autosound USA4-DIN-BK so it looks relatively period. And all the stock speakers & wiring are gone - I'm not even trying to keep the laughable stock speaker locations - probably just a 6x9 panel in the hatch for now, until I have the time to bother with speaker pods up front somewhere.

greg416

i have some extra parts, grg3210@yahoo.com let me know what you need.

greg416

i might even have that little fuse box door too

ThaPimpShrimp

That is the most beautiful interior I have ever seen.

greg416

are all dash caps created equal? cant seem to find a good used dash...the only one i found was 1500 bucks... ya right..wheres that alabama guy..he might go for that...shessh.

Trex

Wow those door panels look excellent. Great job!

Philbert

I just re did my cracking dash - looked like yours:





I followed this guide (from above):
http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/s...ocess-Pictures

It's a real pain in the *** but I've very glad I did it. Dash is done but now putting it back together and re installing. The biggest hurdle I face now is that, when I took out the center gauge pod cluster, the 3 "liners" that sit in between teh gauges and the bezel openings (to block light from inside the dash?) cracked....they were all secured with screws and TINY, VERY BRITTLE tabs that all snapped. So, right now I have 3 bezel liners that I can't seem to line up between the dash and the gauges - they just wiggle around and don't seem to "set" in a position that will allow me to button everything up. I'm really frustrated. Anyone have a recommendation? I can't imagine this part is easy to find on its own. Is there a way to retrofit something else after I install the dash, and install it from the OUTSIDE (the OEM ones install on the inside part of the dash only)?

Sorry to thread jack, but this seemed relevant

slownrusty

Agreed!! Wow.

strangelydim

Did you get your headliner done at an upholstery shop as well? Or just your door panels?

icice9

I did the headliner years before with carpet from home depot and some adhesive spray. It came out pretty good

jaromgi

Sorry to high jack the thread, but I found some door panels on ebay that are in way better condition than mine. But the seller doesn't say if they are from a 2+2 or a 2 seater. are the doors different sizes? It is also from an 82 instead of an 81.

NismoPick

Indeed 2seaters & 2+2's have different door sizes as the 2+2 is longer in it's mid-section. The only diff between 79-81 and 82-83 door panels is the 82-83 has the entry light on the bottom.

Send the ebayer a message about them, or post the link here and we can probably tell.

jaromgi

Finally heard back from the seller, they are from the 2 seater.

passenger side

driver side

jaromgi

Anybody have a rough estimate on how much it would be to reupholster the door panels? are we talking closer to $50 or $500?

icice9

i paid around $80 each for mine

jc1116

Hey new to all of this and have a question if someone can help. I have 2 81 280zx's, 1 is a regular and one is a GL. I want to take some of the inteior dash pieces and the doors with power windows and power mirrors from the GL and put them on the regular. Does anyone know if the electric pigtails will be on the regular to plug the power windows and mirrors into?? Also want to switch instrument cluster from GL with digital clock to regular with broken analog clock, not sure if electric connection is the same. Thanks

Male

Icice9 how much did it coast to upholster the interior?

FricFrac

The pigtail is in the dash but you'll also need the body harness. The analog to digital clock shouldn't need anything different but your rear defrost, headlight sprayers, etc will.

Power windows and mirrors don't go through the dash - that's part of the body harness and the switch for the power mirrors goes up to the center console just aft of the shifter

icice9

$80.00 a door panel and $100 a seat.. so roughly around $360.. i started off with just the momo shifter and boot and them bought the matching steering wheel from momo and had them match the color.. bought a couple of cans of interior vinyl paint for the dash.. it came out pretty good I'd say..

ZZzzz

100 for each seat? being an upholsterer, i can tell you that that is not upholstery. that is re-covering. the foam after 30 years is pretty well toast. if you want a good seat, with new foam, you are looking at around 300-900 dollars per seat depending on the material. (obviously leather is much more expensive, and dont get me started on exotics like ostrich)

for example- 1/2 sheet of 4" foam, (which you will use almost all of on 2 seats) can cost over 150 dollars alone. then material, add on 15-20 dollars/yd for cheap vinyl, 25-30/yd for good vinyl, more for exotic colors, around 2.5 yds/seat (you will need more yardage for multi-tone seats) scrim-backing (gives it the taut, full look) add in any decorative stitching such as contrasting topstitch, beading, tuck and roll, (mostly paying for time there) and tack on whatever amount they are charging for labor.

if you want your car to be a daily driver, which looks ok, but nothing to shout about, you might forego the new foam, get the cheapest vinyl, forego any customization, stick with 1 tone, and get by with a 200 dollar seat. but with upholstery, you will find that what you pay will ABSOLUTELY make a world of difference.

no offense to yours of course iceice9, the interior looks decent. however, i think that the job YOU did on the dash/momo etc is higher quality than the seats/door panels.

ZZzzz

as an example- i recently did a 1980 fiat spyder for a friend. we got new preformed foam online, and i didnt charge him for labor. (i dont know anyone here that well, so dont ask :P) therefore he paid for materials only. I did the door panels, the visors, the seats, (2 bucket, one tiny bench in the "back seat") and the tonneu over the convertible top. the materials alone cost ~$600.00

here is a picture- (btw the carpet is due to be redone, and he refused the center console and dash due to funds)

Marlon

I just got my car back from the upholstery shop. I love the way it came out but there is always more that I want to do...