Finished my tartan door panels!

[Scott S]

I finished up my door panels last night!

I am just so pleased with this. Made me smile again this morning when I downloaded the pictures (it looks even better in person).

My stock black panels were in great shape, so I bought some used front ones from our local Craigs List, and a set of rears from the Pelican classifieds. Fabric and foam came from a local upholstery shop.

It was more work than I expected – especially making sure the pattern lined up between the front and rear panels, and getting good clean holes where the various screws and hardware go through (if they were not clean, the fabric would twist/pull, distorting the pattern).

I did the rear panels a bit different from stock, leaving the black vinyl on the lower section to break things up a bit. I really like it – and it absolutely made doing them far easier. Lining up that pattern over that bottom hump would have been a nightmare.

The speakers that came with my car were absolutely garish (looked like bright blue anodized hubcaps – just horrible). Being that I am going back to a period Blaupunkt head unit, I was not all that concerned about having top end speakers. I bought a set of 5.25 Blaupunkts with vintage grill from Woody’s Custom Shop.

(New 5 25 Speakers w Classic 70's Style Alfa Jaguar BMW | eBay). These alone made a HUGE difference in the look of the interior.

Next…. Those damn puffer fish sun visors…….

[Uncle Enzo]

I like! Any pics of the process?

[Bird911]

Very nice !

[bobt4945]

NICE, when i first saw the tartan interiors back in the 80's i didn't care for them (arrogance of youth) now when i see them they rock and i think retro. great job!!!

[Bleedsblue]

I really like that! Any plans to match the seat centers or other parts?

[Scott S]

No pics – but it was pretty straight forward.

Front:
- Stripped the panels to the wood/card board
- I could not locate the 1/8” backing foam that the factory used. The upholstery shop told me they use 1/8” foam headliner material. It worked great. I used spray adhesive to attach it to the door cards.
- Punch out all of the required holes. This is important. It is ten times harder to open up the holes after the actual fabric is installed over the foam
- Attached the fabric using spray adhesive on the foam, then wrapping the edge and stapling to the back. If you are using a pattern – make sure it is level.
- Staple on the edge trim
- Cross cut the large holes (door lock knob, window handle, speaker hole)
- Wrap, glue and staple the cuts to the back of the card
- I then used a hollow punch (the type you hit with a hammer) to cut the various screw holes in the fabric
- Buy new hardware (door handle clips, door panel clips, mounting blocks and get extras of the screws if you can – I was missing a couple)
- Put it all together.
- Again, if you are doing a pattern and are doing both the front and rear panels, make sure the patterns line up.

Back –
Really really really NOT fun.
You have to remove a pile of staples and glue to separate the upper and lower sections. Recovering the bottom section is no big deal – spray adhesive and a heat gun.

The upper section stinks. The fabric and panel have to be connected to the lower panel prior to wrapping the fabric around the panel. Not a huge deal if you are using a non patterned material, but a massive PAIN with a pattern. This took many many (MANY) tries to get right. I almost through in the towel. Thank goodness I had a good chunk of extra fabric.

Other than dealing with the seat belts, the rear goes back together pretty quick.
I am not an upholstery guy, so I am sure there are tricks to the trade that would have made things easier. I just kinda went for it.


The previous owner of my car installed leather 993 seats. They are in really great shape. If something should ever go south with them, then yes I would replace them with the stock seats and have them done in the plaid (I bought extra material).

[Brant]

great job !!!

really came out NICE

[puddy]

Those are badass! Makes we want to try my own! I think I will, if not tartan, something different.

[bcoats]

Holy #$&^, that alone should knock 6-8 strokes off your game alone! I'm a Scot so really appreciate that, I did that just to my sunroof in green tartan but that is beautiful! Nice job

[enzoducoing]

Great job!! Nice choice of color too.
Cheers!

[Pstallo]

That looks excellent! BTW, where did you find an original Blaupunkt?!? I've been looking for a Monterey for over a year and can't find one.

[APachon71RN]

Those look awesome!!! I like the fully black interior but I am starting to warm up to something outside the box. Nice work.

~Andy

[ivanuf]

Can you tell us your supplier for the fabric? I am planning of doing something like the attached picture to my silver SC.

[DaddyGlenn]

Originally Posted by ivanuf

Can you tell us your supplier for the fabric? ...

ditto

[Royze]

Great Job Scott! i like how you did the rear area, I think if you would also cover the panel behind the rear seats it would bring the look together even more.

im in the process of doing the same thing to my 911,
I already got the material and working on the interior next month,
hoping to finish it all within april.

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by ivanuf

Can you tell us your supplier for the fabric? I am planning of doing something like the attached picture to my silver SC.

The centers of my '79 SC Targa seats are of the same material as in the picture. Last year I had my driver's seat re-upholstered because it was tired and slightly torn. The back was still good as was the passenger seat. I found the same original material as in the picture at "West Trading B.V." in Holland.

http://www.westtrading.nl/detail.asp?Id=14181132&language=UK&t=Seat%20upholstery

They only sell to upholstery shops not to individual users though. So I had my upholstery shop, Pete's Auto Top and Upholstery, in West Los Angeles order the material which came to 107.50 Euros shipped by Fedex to Pete's for one meter. The material was an exact match and of the same polyester cloth as the factory material.

[ivanuf]

Porwolf. Do you have some pictures of your factory interior you can share? (seats front, back and panels) I want to make it factory correct. I will have the shop contact west trading.

Scott is you supplier also west trading? or some one in the US?

How many square meters it will take to do the door panels and the rear panels based on your experience?

I guess 3 square meters will do the front and back seat inserts. But not sure how much will take to do the panels like you did.

Thanks

[Scott S]

Ivan -
I just went a local upolstery shop here in Colorado. I was concerend about durability, so I wanted to make sure I was buying the correct type of fabric. Then I just picked out a pattern I liked out of what they had access to.

I bought 6 or 7 yards incase I decide to do the seats in the future.

[OffCamber00]

Very nice work.

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by ivanuf

Porwolf. Do you have some pictures of your factory interior you can share? (seats front, back and panels) I want to make it factory correct. I will have the shop contact west trading.

Scott is you supplier also west trading? or some one in the US?

How many square meters it will take to do the door panels and the rear panels based on your experience?

I guess 3 square meters will do the front and back seat inserts. But not sure how much will take to do the panels like you did.

Thanks

I don't have the pictures of my interior handy right now. But, only my non-sport- seats had the centers covered with the Tartan cloth, both bottom and backrest. The doors, the rear seats, and the side panels were covered in black vinyl. All my upholstery is still in its original shape. I did buy my '79 Targa in 1979 and has now only 53,000 miles on it. I will send pictures later.