How to give new life to your older pathy

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Scaramoche
Posts: 63
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:45 pm
Location: Albuquerque New Mexico

How to give new life to your older pathy

Postby Scaramoche » Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:05 pm

So like many of you out there I purchased a beat up pathy, and over this year gave it a makeover. What i learned during this process is that we, the owners can learn to do 90% of this. On this article I will focus on the interior.

Carpet.
This by itself can give you the "new car" smell, and more importatly a new look.
first, remove the seats(front and rear), center console, and all panels that touch the carpet area(for the panels you may break a couple of the studs, take a sample of a good one and purchase some replacement ones(around 8.00 a dozen are all auto stores.

2nd slowely remove carpet in ONE PIECE, ie do not tear rip or otherwise destroy. You will be using this as a patern for your replacement.

3rd lay the old carpet on the garage floor, and take measurements as if it were a large square piece. Now go to Lowes, or Home depot, and find the exterior carpet area, give them the dimension(i added a few extra feet). Also in the scrap materials area, grab some carpet cusioning(cpl dollars).

4th once you have the carpet, roll it out and lay the old carpet over it(patern). now cut.........AS A NOTE, when you cut patern, overlap at least 3 inches all the way around(it's easy to trim shorter, but you cant add it cuttings back lol). once this is done, install carpet cusioning, then carpet, and put your pathy back together, then admire :).

Estimated time, 1 day(i did in about 4-5hours).

REFINISHING INSIDE PANELS(est time, 2 days)
This gave my pathy a whole new look. First remove all the interior panels(once again take plastic rivets, and purchase a dozen or so from auto store 8.00 or so), next, using a good soap, wash every single one like your were going to eat off it.

2nd, after washing, use 800+grit wet/dry sandpaper and sand every piece well. then when you have sanded, sand some more. finally sand with a 1200+grit paper, and sand some more(spend at least 3-4hours sanding min).

3rd After the pieces have dried, paint with a primer. Once dry, sand again with 1200+grit, then wash again, rincing well.

4th after primer and last wash, it's time to paint. Most autoshops have a paint made for vinyl, purchase 4-5 cans of the color you want(i did a gray), and paint in even coats. I found 3 light coats worked for me. Allow 12hours to dry, then reinstall. Bah, awesome look

DASHBOARD
well like many pathy folks out there we have dashboard that are horrible. First a dashmatt does wonders for the top :P, then i finished the rest with vinyl "carbon fiber" graphic's roll. this is time consuming due to the fact you have to custom cut the vinyl. easiest way i found was to cut pieces with paper, make sure they fit, then use as a templete for the vinyl.

The last progect i have is refininshing the door panels.
Im in the process of doing this right now and here are the steps.
finish the vinyl part of the door in the same manner as the interior panels above.
next find a nice fabric that is thic, and cut to the dimensions of the door carpet area.
using a adhesive glue/gel adhear new material over the exsisting. use a flexibale trim material to blend it in(im using some auto trim stripping material, and a glue gun)
and done.

my 2 cents of what has worked for me
scar


Nimitz
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2010 8:55 pm
Location: Richmond Va

Postby Nimitz » Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:39 pm

Thanks for the post man. I just got my 88 home and I need to start bringing her up to spec. It's in pretty good shape all and all, but I think a good cleaning is in order first.

Scaramoche
Posts: 63
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:45 pm
Location: Albuquerque New Mexico

heeh

Postby Scaramoche » Tue May 04, 2010 10:47 am

simple green ftw

nheric
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:42 pm

Postby nheric » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:10 pm

pics pics and more pics! sounds like it probably came out good!


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