Author |
Message |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 122 Reg: 11-2009
| Hi guys, so a couple of weeks ago after using soarer central to figure out how to pull out an alternator from a v8, I realised...I've taken so much from this site and never really given anything back. Heck, I've never even posted any pictures of either of my soarers. So i decided to change that. Then I realised I'm an absolute car noob! no clue about how to do anything, let alone anything that hasn't been done before. So i needed something interesting... So I decided to redo my interior as well as a few other things. A list of planed mods... Poo brown interior to black on light brown. Normal black window surrounds to chrome. Retrim doors. Chrome RHD clear headlights. Retrim roof lining redo floor carpet Swap boring comfy non-leather seats to less comfy awesome looking leather seats with heaters and memory. Swap normal rear view mirror to auto dim mirror. Swap normal steering column with electronic v8 column with auto tilt-away. CARPUTER! (The only thing I can do myself properly) Gauges and some other fancy stuff that makes my car "go faster" haha I'm a computer technicians, so the only thing i was comfortable with was doing the carputer whereas everything else was completely new to me. I should point out I used no tutorials for my work and it was all "just going along with it" (Thanks to that lazy problem, I ended up breaking a lot of clips and stuff...but hell, only one way to learn, right?) Anyway, I currently have no way of getting the photos off of my iPhail so that'll have to wait until tomorrow. So stay in touch for one cool tutorial by someone who's only gone as far as checking the oil and wants to give it a shot... |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 124 Reg: 11-2009
| So this is the look I'm aiming for...kind of.
and this is what I had to begin with...
Okay, i admit the above picture isn't really my car but its really close to how it began except mine was a lot dirtier and in worse condition. The reason i found this pic and used it was because I forgot to take a before photo being the genius that i am. However, mine was very similar in that it had no woodgrain, there was an after market stereo headset that was just plain ugly (Not saying the one above is) and nothing luxurious about the feel of sitting inside the car. Personally, I prefer the luxury cruisy feel of the v8 over the snap your neck speed of the v6. Honestly i regret swapping my 97 UZZ31 for this 97 VVTi but thats done and everything blingy the v8 had can be put in to this limited single turbo. (as in limited in options) So thats my goal...A six cylinder single turbo late model VVTi soarer with the inside feel of a luxurious v8. In other words, a rare GT-TL...I know its out there and probably not worth the effort or the cost and possibly a stupid thing to do but that's what I'm doing and I'd appreciate the negative comments be left to a minimum |
Scott Wilkes
Goo Roo Tasmania 92 TT Factory Manual, 70 HG GTS Monaro
Posts: 1911 Reg: 10-2008
| very nice, ive been trying t ofind the ivory botto mends to convert mine to ivory and black, trying to find a complete set that is in good nick and not overly priced is hard BTW its an inline 6 not a V6 |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 125 Reg: 11-2009
| haha how embarrassing Thanks, Noted. |
James Buchan
DieHard Vic V8
Posts: 997 Reg: 10-2008
| Thats the look I'm going for too eventually! But I will need poo brown interior panels such as door trims, bottom half of the dash, as I will die my top half, and I will also die my carpet black. |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 126 Reg: 11-2009
| I'm doing the top half only too. But I have to get the steering wheel and gear knob re-trimmed in black because the dye will eventually wear off from use. |
Peter Nitschke
Junk Filterer South Australia UZZ30 UZZ31
Posts: 11960 Reg: 11-2004
| The best tutorials come from the inexperienced, as you don't make any assumptions about what people should already know. This is from my own experience at doing tutorials sometimes because simple points were often not mentioned. So rip right into it! |
Mike Beck
Goo Roo New Zealand E36 Coupe
Posts: 5231 Reg: 11-2005
| So you're going to upgrade your JZZ31s interior to make it more V8 spec and then fit a 1JZGTE VVTi inline six? |
Jose-Antonio Castillo
Goo Roo NSW JZZ30/UZZ31/JZS160
Posts: 1817 Reg: 07-2005
|
Hays Sleiman wrote on Sunday, December 05, 2010 - 10:22 pm:So thats my goal...A six cylinder single turbo late model VVTi soarer with the inside feel of a luxurious v8. In other words, a rare GT-TL...I know its out there and probably not worth the effort or the cost and possibly a stupid thing to do but that's what I'm doing and I'd appreciate the negative comments be left to a minimum :-)
I've got one of them rare late model GT-L's Trust me though, there's still quite a few differences between a lux spec turbo and a Limited. I'm planning to do much the same to mine (I have both Soarers, but would still like the features in the Limited in my turbo GT-L as well). Let us know how you go, as mine is off the road as well getting a complete rebuild so I might as well go all the way with it. |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 131 Reg: 11-2009
| thinking the same thing Finished with all the die and coloring. Will have pics up tonight! I think i'll be moving the leather in soon or the electric steering colomn. Keep me updated on your progress as well... Cheers |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 132 Reg: 11-2009
| Alright, got the photos in...Apologies for the crappy quality of the photos. Before i post them, I want to mention my friend Ian Mahon who's helped me every step of the way. He was the expert leading the way and he had the experience when it came to the colour dying as well as the new roof retrim and most of it really. Many thanks to him. Okay, so here we go... This is what the new door trim looked like after we put the new one in. I added the woodgrain to it and gave it a nice clean...Even though it was practically brand new. A big thank you to Quintin Mutton who provided me with the door trims and the wood grain for a very good price at such good condition. He was also very helpful in sending me some advice and pictures on how to take out the steering colomn.
Taking the glovebox out
Took out the oh so ugly DVD head set and 7" monitor
Took off door trim to find cables taped with electric tape. Amazing it was still sticky. Will take off and pop something better on...
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Jose-Antonio Castillo
Goo Roo NSW JZZ30/UZZ31/JZS160
Posts: 1822 Reg: 07-2005
| Will you be removing the top section of the dashboard to dye it? I think I'm going to completely redo mine (it's half arsed at the moment), need to either look for dye similar in shade to the original tan or actual tan parts. |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 133 Reg: 11-2009
| Already took out top part of dash. Will post more pics soon... |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 134 Reg: 11-2009
| Okay, promised more pics. Im abit late but here they are... Next step was taking out the back seat so we could get to the carpet/roof lining.
One of the things i hate the most in older cars is having an air breez come through a closed airvent. Drives me crazy! So at this point, I started replacing the old, worn foam on the inside of the new vents before i put them in. They came with the woodgrain. Thanks Quintin
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Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 135 Reg: 11-2009
| Died that dash. Was actually pretty easy taking it out.
All the bits here and there. These bits ill eventually have to replace with original black parts as the die will wear off from use.
Passenger side airbag. Ian pointed out that it'll be a bit shinier than the rest of the dash because of the color it was before we started. He was right, but hardly noticable.
Centre console surround...that the right name?
Just a close up to try and show the quality of the die and Ians handy work.
Just a few pics of the inside with everything out. Its almost scary...
Got the RHD Clear chrome headlights (Halo angel lights or whatever you wanna call them). In my opinion, they've completely changed the look of the car. Much more modern look. Problem is they point up! I mean like so high up, at night without the fog lights, we cant see anything!!! Anyways, we dont think they can be adjusted but we'll see how we go... Here are some pics of the lights plus some randoms of the car
Started the Carputer build. Found an old intel E21088 lying around. It was a perfect fit for the centre console. I was hoping to avoid having the PC in the boot. The downside of this is that it gets really hot in there and if something goes wrong, it's a bitch to get in there and replace the bits.
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Daniel Arndt
TryHard Vic UZZ31 LTD
Posts: 187 Reg: 03-2010
| Jose I just re-colored my interior same scheme as Hays, However I also redid the tan, or ivory parts as I wanted that fresh new look. I found a product off the shelf very similar in color, only slightly lighter. From Supercheap, the 3M brand vinyl dye in "buckskin" Hays good job on the conversion. You wont need to retrim the steering wheel and shifter, you will be surprised how long the dye will last on these parts. I re dyed my steering wheel from brown to black about 10 months ago and it only now has one small scratch in it. And I do alot of ks. Also the shifter being an auto you hardly ever touch this. so the dye will last longer than you think. Hays have you worked out how to do the seatbelts yet? If you want a tip let me know. |
James Harris
Goo Roo QLD GT Starlet
Posts: 3607 Reg: 07-2005
| Hi buddy, I did mine a while ago also.. check out this link for my write up and pictures. http://soarercentral.com/sc-forum/messages/284/259546.html?1219825423 |
George Lu
TryHard vic v8
Posts: 476 Reg: 02-2006
| interesting... can you put up some picture of yours Daniel.. thanks |
Daniel Arndt
TryHard Vic UZZ31 LTD
Posts: 191 Reg: 03-2010
| heres mine. Note the ivory parts have all been redyed too. they are slightly lighter than the original ivory. But you can only just notice. I used 3M vinyl dye buckskin for the ivory parts. and satin black for all black parts.
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George Lu
TryHard vic v8
Posts: 477 Reg: 02-2006
| I love what you have done with the factory EMV. is it hard to change it to the new EMV setup with the TT aircon controls? |
Daniel Arndt
TryHard Vic UZZ31 LTD
Posts: 192 Reg: 03-2010
| George there are many tutes and examples of how to do the conversion. Hard.. not really if you can solder and pull the car apart yourself. time consuming... YES I made sure I chose a head unit which still looks relatively factory too. |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 136 Reg: 11-2009
| Sorry about the hold up boys. Been really busy with christmas and all...I'll have pics up soon. Promise PS. I'm currently stuck on finding a factory looking 7" touch monitor... |
Ali Saeed
Goo Roo WA UZZ31
Posts: 3034 Reg: 09-2007
| Daniel your interior is sexual! love the head unit. |
Daniel Arndt
TryHard Vic UZZ31 LTD
Posts: 194 Reg: 03-2010
| Thanks Ali. Hays I recommend the one I bought. I know I know.. Its a cheap chineese version but it does work, and does look more factory than every aftermarket head unit I've seen to date. I know it might not last as long as a name brand one but it will do for now, and when it dies at least a swap to a better one will be easy now Ive done the TT climate control, and all the headunit wiring. Mine is a 6.2" screen so allows space for buttons around the outside which give it that factory look. It also has NO branding stamps or names on the front, again looks more factory. It is also the high def version so the picture is so much clearer than most 7" screens. Just search ES962 on ebay. the seller is Erising I think. they have many similar versions of this product which differing features. Put some pics up please, cant wait to see the finished product. |
George Lu
TryHard vic v8
Posts: 480 Reg: 02-2006
| Thanks for the info Daniel. Would love to see my ex-wife (your car) again.. you should come out on the next cruise. |
Daniel Arndt
TryHard Vic UZZ31 LTD
Posts: 196 Reg: 03-2010
| Sorry George didn't realize you were past owner of my car. I bought it from a dealer, and within a week or so worked out it was previous Daniel Lees. Ive met Daniel a few times now. So you must have sold it to him a while back, and now I have my hands on her! So you upgraded to a late model I see. Love the colour. Would be nice to meet one day. |
Mike Beck
Goo Roo New Zealand E36 Coupe
Posts: 5273 Reg: 11-2005
| Mmmmmm good job on the recolouring. Should look great when it goes back into the car! |
Glen Muller
DieHard Victoria Soarer - UZZ31 V8
Posts: 827 Reg: 12-2007
|
Daniel Arndt wrote on Friday, December 24, 2010 - 11:04 am:and within a week or so worked out it was previous Daniel Lees
Lucky bastard! That thing has had a small goldmine spent on it. I've been on a couple of cruises with Daniel Lee in the past and his Soarer (now yours) is a magnificent example of a UZZ31. Top bloke too! |
Chris Prak
DieHard WA JZZ30 Soarer - Twin Snails
Posts: 907 Reg: 12-2006
| when people say "dye", I have noticed that it doesn't "dye" it. Its a thin film (I did 3 coats). It does not soak. I have scratch it in places you can see, and it just sits on the top, but quite hard to scratch off. I used VHT vinyl dye. |
Ali Saeed
Goo Roo WA UZZ31
Posts: 3049 Reg: 09-2007
| thats the issue with VHT viynl dye Chris. some parts soak it up, but on others it just sits on top, which is annoying cause all the arm rests dont soak it up |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 137 Reg: 11-2009
| I'm back! Daniel: Yes, I agree that is on sexy factory looking monitor! However, I'm not sure if it's the most factory I've seen. Check this one out...
For me, it'd be out of yours or that one! Chris: Yeah, you're right. The dye doesn't always soak with everything. However, the are better ways to do it than others. My friend Ian (Mentioned above) showed me a nice way to go about working with the dye. With the first coat, if you have to spray it on very VERY lightly. It has to be so light and spread out that it ends up looking like a bit of black dust sitting on the part. After that dries, another coat or two will be enough. This way, you'll find that a scratch will leave you with a lighter black line, making it less obvious than the brown (Unless its a bad scratch of course) I've been using VHT vinyl glossy black dye. Parts have been scratch and hardly noticeable. Okay, moving on... The computer turned out to be too slow for my taste so I ended up using an Acer Aspire L320. It's a little bigger which means it'll have to go in the boot (Which kinda sucks) but it's got enough grunt to run Windows 7 and the required software. The software I'm using is called InCar Terminal and can be downloaded for free. You can find it with a google search. I downloaded and tried more than 10 programs but this one was the most flexible and customisable for car use. I've been using it on a test computer for a few weeks and it seems perfect. Here are a few screen shots. Note these are not my pictures but they are of the program.
The white circle in the above shot can be customised to have a logo. My program has the griffin sitting in the middle.
Continuing with the dyeing...
Heaters had to be used so the parts would dry with the right amount of heat. We had a few cold days (gotta love Melbourne summer) and if the stuff dries in cold weather, it ends up with different shades and smudge looking marks.
Took the seats out. These seats are in prestige condition. When I find leather replacements, I'll end up putting these up for sale.
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Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 138 Reg: 11-2009
| Decided to fix the gauge controller I've had sitting around. All it needed was a bit of soldering on a few things to get it working.
Just getting a quick idea of what the window surrounds will look like in the new colour. However, the roof lining will be black as well.
Cleaned and shined the woodgrain and put on the plastic woodgrain covers on the door/window switches.
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Ali Saeed
Goo Roo WA UZZ31
Posts: 3058 Reg: 09-2007
| gloss black on the dash will not be good in the sun lol |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 139 Reg: 11-2009
| Just noticed the quality of the woodgrain photos. Sorry, the photos don't show the quality of the clean and shine. Okay, finally took out the roof lining! And i gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed I'm ripping this material off because its soooo clean. Great condition.
Still have NO IDEA how to get the slider out. I've been searching all over the internet for a diagram or some sort of tute but nothing. Can't put the lining back on without getting this done. Meet Ian. The backbone of this whole operation! He's just helping me get the carpet out in this shot.
Ian doing nothing...
Ian still doing nothing...
Still nothing...
Aaaand this is him finally getting sick of the camera. hahaha
Okay, moving on from my stupid sense of humour... We got the dash back in. For anyone who hasn't done this and might be thinking about it, it goes in by being rotated toward the windshield.
And that's me putting in the centre console stuff
Just more random photos of the car. It needs a clean but otherwise, she's lovely!
Yes, I know how ugly the steering wheel is. But I wanted to get a retrim and not spray it. So just waiting on some info as to where I can get that done...
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Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 140 Reg: 11-2009
| Okay, so this is where I stand now... I'm waiting on the carpet guy to get some quotes on getting a new carpet in black. However, I can't find a place that does it all in one piece. Even knox carpets only do two pieces and I was hoping to avoid that. So after that, I tried getting some quotes from some places that steam clean and professionally re-dye the carpet. But that seemed to be way too expensive. My only three options left are, clean it and re-dye it myself. Get the two piece black carpet made. Or buy the black one off of Ebay but I'm not sure what kind of quality that'd be and if the cut is right. I also wanted to put in sound deadeners. Also waiting on finding out how to get the sunroof slider out. And Still saving for a monitor for the carputer. Anyway, hope everyone had a good christmas and new years and I will be back soon hopefully with some good progress...Happy holidays everyone |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 141 Reg: 11-2009
| Hi Ali, we've tested the glossy on a different soarer and had it sit in the sun for a good 9 months. And it still looks stock. If we weren't so sure of how it would've turned out, we would have used something else. |
Ali Saeed
Goo Roo WA UZZ31
Posts: 3060 Reg: 09-2007
| i myself used Satin black, but people who have used gloss reported some sort of glare in the sun. if you dont get this glare then nothing wrong with the gloss. car looks insane btw |
Joshua Rao
Goo Roo WA JZZ30 vvti auto GT-L (for sale $9.8k ono), TT (for sale $5.2k), 06 Hyundai Elantra (for sale $9.2k), 97 Blk UZZ31, 97 JZZ30 vvti turbo blk manual ($14k), 96 vvti turbo manual, Legnum VR4, Alfa 156
Posts: 2397 Reg: 09-2006
| Please guys listen to me. Do not use the gloss finish on the dash. All I can say is that when I did it I had to look over the centre of the dash as the above steering area had such bad glare you couldnt safely drive. I had to recoat with the matte finish which was the biggest PITA |
Daniel Arndt
TryHard Vic UZZ31 LTD
Posts: 197 Reg: 03-2010
| Looking good. Just paint the steering wheel for now. If your going to get it retrimmed later, what have you got to loose? Also the gear selector and handbrake lever. I like the black console lid. I kept mine ivory but might do it black now. |
Scott Vim
Tinkerer Vic Soarer (1uz) Chaser (1jz)
Posts: 15 Reg: 12-2010
| really love the black dash. How long does all this take? |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 142 Reg: 11-2009
| Joshua: Too late now. If i run in to any problems, I'll be sure to confirm it on here. Daniel: Yeah, guess you're right. Might actually go ahead with it and paint it black. Scott: If you have all the products around, with some good warm weather, it can all be done over a weekend. Definitely worth it. Also a bit of fun and experience! |
Sebastian Grant
Goo Roo nsw soarer TT
Posts: 1497 Reg: 01-2008
| Too late now but what you need to do is lightly sand then vinyl/leather to remove the protective film put on from factory. A simple test is to spray some water on an area, if it beads then it still has the protectant on it. If it doesn't really bead and soaks in then it's worn away. Wouldn't happen to have had any luck with the memory seats? I just bought some and I'm trying to work out how to get them to work. |
Hays Sleiman
TryHard Victoria UZZ31
Posts: 149 Reg: 11-2009
| well from what I've been able to see. The seat ECU is on the seats themselves which is a good thing. But this connects to the buttons and another central ECU which also connects to the auto-tilting steering colomn as well as the outside mirrors...I've havent yet been able to transfer all of it over but hopefully will have time to get to it soon. |