cal16v's WIP

[cal16v]

Boot carpet



Door card



More pics later

[cal16v]

Side Repeaters arrived

[cal16v]

Went to fit some M3 style mirrors to the cali and was horrified at how the supposedly correct base plates are meant to fit. Not sure I even figured it out tbh... Anyway, simple things are best designed and left... well... simple. Modification to the bases is not difficult so no use complaining



Glue in an infill and smooth out = clean. Too easy.

[cal16v]

Finished both mirror bases and trial fitted the M3 mirrors before sending them away for painting but can't say I was impressed by the overall look. The gentle curves of the oem mirrors had given way to something that looked like it belonged in Karate Kid. Nothing gained and nothing lost... I'll just stay with the originals thanks very much.

[Cliff]

Sometimes original is better - any pics with the m3s on? Not planning them myself - just curious


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[BigDaz]

Sometimes original is better - any pics with the m3s on? Not planning them myself - just curious

You don't want to see a calibra with m3's on they ruin the look of the car

[Cliff]

[SEE-NO-EVIL MONKEY]


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[cal16v]

You don't want to see a calibra with m3's on they ruin the look of the car

True that.

...any pics with the m3s on?

Thankfully no, sorry... but if you could imagine angry 'gull' wing mirrors on a slender curvy beauty then you get the idea

Today I removed the boot carpet for some additional alteration and now the plan is to use the same carpet for the rear of the split-folding seats and stitch the 2 sections (seat & boot) together to get that seamless look when the seats are folded down. Not earth shattering but an improvement IMO. Also hunted down some leather to recover the seats as the '90's grey bus patterned fabric is looking very dated. Re covering the door cards and rear cards in the same leather is a possibility depending on how much leather I can source from a mate. Also considering headrests for the rear seats but the jury is still out on this one. I would want them sunken into the foam via a welded plate on the rear of the seat but...

Otherwise I ordered a new windscreen and rubber surround and new rear tailgate glass. 4 x Blue T10? globes for the instrument panel arrived and fitted. Just need to clean up the scuttle tray a little and fingers crossed, the dash to windscreen panel I made fits snug against the new glass now.

[cal16v]

Part of my order from CrazyLED's arrived so time to post some pics of blue-ness





And the old and the new side by side. Will finish the remaining switches when I get more LED's. For anyone interested I ordered 3mm Flat Top 120 deg spread.

[cal16v]

Managed to source enough leather hides to recover the door cards. Not looking forward to the job tbh but worth it for the improvement over the vinyl. Pics up once I'm done.

[cal16v]

Seat moulds wrapped in leather. Nearly time to learn how to sew

[cal16v]

Rear cards

[rich30mex]

They look great mate

[cal16v]

Thanks Rich.
They turned out really well and much closer to the oem cards than the vinyl you can see in the first pic. The camera doesn't really do these justice

If anyone is contemplating trying this here's some tips...

The vinyl is more difficult to get 'right' because of it's limited stretch but does cover blemishes more than the leather. Leather stretches far easier in all directions but surface prep is a must... and on this point, a consistent level of stretch is imperitive to achieve a uniform look, i.e you don't want grain (just like the vinyl door) in some places and a tight drum-skin finish elsewhere. This is the main concern if recovering the door skins in leather. The high/low relief of the armrest is do-able but the trick is to achieve a constant overall look... not too much stretch in one area.

I've been looking into a mixture that temporarily permits leather to be 'stress-stretched' or moulded with the use of clamps. The mixture is 50ml alcohol, 50ml water and 25ml shampoo and entails wetting the back of the leather and gradual clamping. So my plan is to try and almost pre mould the arm rest section before recovering leaving the same amount of stretch required in the armrest as everywhere else. And again, it really is only the top of the armrest (the bit that blows out) that is extreme.
Theory only though

[cal16v]

I'm considering splitting the leather recover along the armrest (where most door cards blowout) to avoid possible bubbling and lifting into the future. A metal plate could be fitted over the top of the armrest and serve as a base for a thin upholstered panel that can be fixed from underneath. Just some thinking out loud...