Swapping 944S interior to 968?

[smj]

If all goes well, I'm buying a '95 968 coupe to replace my '87 944S. The 968's interior is linen or grey and a little rough, and I prefer dark interiors.

I know there are numerous small changes between the two models (door speakers, rear seats), but I was wondering if the collective had any thoughts on how much of the '87 interior might transfer over to the '95? Base cabin carpet, center console, Etc. The tops of the door panels are heavily sweat stained (or something) and rather unsightly...

Thanks!

[ronin]

it would probably be easier to have a go at giving the interior a good cleaning and perhaps doing a re-dye. swapping the parts over is possible, but just very time consuming. if the carpet in the 986 is still in good shape (i.e. no tears or holes, etc) it would be easier to take out the seats and dye it the color you want. if you go that route, you won't have to worry about all the little detail changes between the models

[smj]

P'rhaps -- and thanks for the suggestion. Carpets might be amenable to a dye job. I have my doubts about how well it would work on 13 year old, treated-then-weathered leather, but then again I've never tried it.

The door panels are probably some of the harder items to swap across models, but then again they aren't impossible to source used. I suspect S2 panels would drop-in.

Seats are an easy swap, until I upgrade them. Many of the plastic bits should transfer well, modulo the difficulty of physically getting them out and in.

I guess I'm looking for those who have done some of this stuff. How horrible is it to replace the headliner, for instance? I've been in there often replacing sunroof gears, but never thought of replacing the whole headliner.

[flash968]

almost all should swap over - carpet will be a pain - gobs of glue

[2Tight]

I thought the 968 quarter windows were cut lower than on the 944. Wouldn't that make the rear quarter trim panels not fit? I used to think the only difference was the rubber gasket until someone corrected me that owned a 968.

[flash968]

lol - i said almost

[2Tight]

Originally Posted by flash968

lol - i said almost

I 'almost' got a perfect 10 shot group in the center today at the range, I guess it all depends on when I started counting LOL

[mikepellegrini]

As for the door and side panels - if you're going from a light color to a dark color, you can use spray-on dye. It works good.

My car is black. The back of the car was stripped when I got it. I found a guy parting out a brown car and took the back carpets and the side panels (back seat and in the rear compartment).

I used RIT dye for the carpets - done in a washing machine - and it wasn't very successful.

The carpets (I found) weren't meant to be washed in a washing machine - they came apart; lost the backing. Although, the dye job itself was okay. They went throuugh three cycles (RIT recommends you wash the fabric, then put it through two cycles with the dye). I think maybe if I'd just run it through once, it woulda been okay.

The job I did on the side panels was much more successful - I used Meltonian leather dye, which I bought at a shoe repair store. It looks really good, although it wasn't the same shade of black as the rest of my car. I resolved that problem by doing the rest of the door panels (in front) with the leather dye; now the interior looks new.

It was also handy for re-dying scuffed spots on the front seats...

[smj]

Dyeing the 968 door panels won't work, at least for the tops -- that leather needs to be replaced, it's too crunchy.

So that's one vote for Meltonian leather dye. Carpet dyeing is attractive if it means I don't have to remove it from the 968, but I expect doing that would mean dye stench for months. Must try to balance that against how hard the glue is to deal with. And of course, I'd be working against it twice removing two carpets, and applying it once when putting the black carpet in the 968...

[flash968]

especially since it's vinyl in almost every car

[smj]

D'oh!

[smj]

Getting the center console out was easier than I expected. The factory Blaupunkt was a breeze; glad I paid attention to some posts about the coat hangar trick on Porschefans years ago. Pulled out some carpet and lights in back, and the hatch wiper assembly, but started much too late in the day. Oh well. Maybe I can work from home and "repurpose" my commute time this week...

[kdjones2000]

Keep in mind that the rear cargo side carpets are most likely different for the 968. In '88 (I think) they added the option for 3 point rear seat harnesses in the 944, which adds a bulge to the rear cargo sides to fit the retraction mechanism. All 968's also had this as standard equipment.

Look at your '87 and see if the rear cargo light is horizontal to the cargo floor. If it is, then those carpets will not fit (Ask me how I know this). If yours is slightly off from vertical, then the carpets will fit.

I took some 968 rear carpets and put them into my '88 951 with only a very minor adjustment (Some of the holes for snaps in the back no longer line up).

Don't know about the front pieces, but a lot of it should transfer pretty easily.

Cheers,

Keith

[smj]

Cargo area light is horizontal, so looks like those pieces won't swap.

Interesting what you say about snaps not lining up -- in my 968 the main rear carpet uses a hook-and-loop fastener, not snaps. Same stuff as holds the carpet over the DME in front of the passenger footwell.

[kdjones2000]

I am referring to the side carpets in the back area, the one that the cargo light goes into, and which covers the sunroof motor assembly.

Both the junk 968 that I got them from and my 951 have those attached by glue, and plastic pushpins in the upper area on the back. The 968 carpet also had an extra hole for something in that upper area, but it is really not noticeable.

The snaps I am referring to are the ones on my 951 main cargo carpet. I had to trim about 1/2" square off the very top/back of the 968 side carpets to allow the snaps to work. Everything else matched up just fine. Sounds like the velcro/snap attachment is also another difference between these interiors.

I will post some pics of the car that I have, but I don't think I have a real good pic of what I am referring to: http://70.176.165.176:81/jalbum/index2.html

Hope this helps,

Keith

[bader4]

I swapped everything from a 968 to a 944s.

[kdjones2000]

Bader, you did it to an '88 944S, not an '87. Cargo area is different.