Jump to content

1980 Austin Princess


vulgalour

Recommended Posts

That looks fantastic. Could you not mask over the rubber on the door seals and spray them with the red vinyl paint? Could you also dye the velour on the seats with fabric dye if you separate the vinyl from the velour before dying, then restitch? I know it is more work but this is something I mean to look into for some of my cars. I am really interested in the work you are doing, it is great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In theory yes, to both questions.  It's all to do with the returns from your investment.  I can mask up the velour on the seats and dye only the bits I want to change the colour of, this takes a minimal amount of time, effort, and materials compared to unpicking and restitching the covers.  Also, if I'd gone to the trouble of unstitching the covers I'm pretty sure I'd just carry on and buy the fabric I wanted and make new covers from scratch because I'd be already half way there anyway.  Dying the bits of the seats I want to change the colour of is the most cost effective approach for the finish I want.  Likewise, the door seals I could save money by masking and faffing about but it's more cost effective in terms of time and end result, that I'd rather just buy new colour coded ones with a fancier finish.  I quite enjoy learning how to do new things too, so I quite like looking at the various different options available to get the results I want, sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised - like the second hand orange carpet that I dyed that this new red one is replacing - and sometimes I'm not.

Most jobs can be done by anyone.  The challenge is doing the jobs well.  Anyone can throw a bit of paint and dye around, it takes a bit of experience and skill to know how to throw it around for the best result.  I'm still learning, still making mistakes, and every now and then getting it right and helping other folks with what I've learned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

Most jobs can be done by anyone.  The challenge is doing the jobs well.  Anyone can throw a bit of paint and dye around, it takes a bit of experience and skill to know how to throw it around for the best result.  I'm still learning, still making mistakes, and every now and then getting it right and helping other folks with what I've learned.

You are absolutely correct, I taught myself welding and lead loading but always have more to learn. Trimming is completely new to me but before this hot weather I  stripped some Cortina seats down to repair but that is on hold while I can get on with outdoor work. I am really enjoying watching and learning from this thread, the new colour looks great and as it should have come from the factory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today's task is to finish fitting the carpet, the new dye order hasn't arrived yet, and is unlikely to until next week anyway, so I couldn't get any further with that side of things.  First thing I did was mark out any extra carpet I needed to trim off with the tailor's chalk and then trimmed it, I only needed to remove a little bit where the inner sill meets the inner arch at the front.  Then it was on to the annoying task of poking holes for things that screw into the floor, namely the seats which can be a bit of a nuisance to fit.  I took BL's lead here and cut out fairly large holes so the spacers were more likely to sit against the floor than the carpet.  A skinny cross head screwdriver is best for this since you can use it to feel for the hole before punching through the carpet.

202004-54.thumb.jpg.9c87b9418cb71a08900f79a24143efd9.jpg

202004-55.thumb.jpg.29fa6a7423d91b5d54a094d8b422e8c0.jpg

With the hole thus punched, there's usually a little tuft of carpet on the back to show where to put the spacer as a template to cut out the bigger hole.  Tailor's chalk employed once again because it's just so versatile for this.

202004-56.thumb.jpg.d36932e68329f888b428f0ccd127f507.jpg

202004-57.thumb.jpg.fecc28a973964370e5a96af4d39d0ec6.jpg

Do that eight more times and you have all the seat bolt holes done.  Repeat for the centre console another four times, but without the cutting a larger hole stage, and that allows you to fight that into place.  Before fitting the centre console, however, I needed to fit that heel mat.  I encountered a problem I had hoped I wouldn't which was that while my machine was perfectly capable of going through carpet and mat, the carpet itself was too bulky to feed through the machine as I was sewing, rendering the job impossible.  Because the heel mat is a vinyl of some sort, once you've punch holes in it sewing that's it, you can't do it again.  I opted to remove the heel mat and rely on the floor mats I always have in my cars instead.  The solution would have been a machine with a longer arm or reach so I could have bunched up the excess carpet and sewn it in.  Never mind, it won't matter in the grand scheme of things.

202004-58.thumb.jpg.bc88284c2411222d2d26ba9797dd59a0.jpg

I could then get almost everything back in the car.  I even had enough offcuts left over to redo the carpet in the parcel shelf up front, this was simply cut to size and put in there, no need for glue.

202004-59.thumb.jpg.f2159754e2a2e7acf3ed1f087110bfee.jpg

202004-60.thumb.jpg.0444134f7fa82d6bbb77d13360f6d90d.jpg

202004-61.thumb.jpg.7e95e91096b3a237b1dedb28ae792286.jpg

So far, so good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That’s looking brilliant, I love the colour too.

Good to see how your doing your carpets. I’ve got mine to do in my Capri. I’ve got a moulded carpet set for mine but you’ve got to cut out all the holes for the bolts, screws, gearstick and handbrake etc. Hopefully I’ll be able to do it as neatly as you’ve done yours. I’ve just got visions of cutting a hole accidentally oversized or something and righting off a new carpet!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cut the hole as small as you can get away with, ease it out until it fits.  Like woodworking (which I'm crap at) it's much easier to remove material than put it back and there's no harm in taking your time.  Oh, and when you work with carpets check it's in the right place with every new hole you cut, you'll find it moves around loads.  The fit I wasn't happy with on the rear carpet actually resolved itself after I'd shuffled about on the carpet a bit and sorting itself out almost completely once the centre console was screwed down.  It's well worth leaving the carpet laid out in the car for a day or two before cutting any holes so it can sort of relax to the shape you need it to conform to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Cut the hole as small as you can get away with, ease it out until it fits.  Like woodworking (which I'm crap at) it's much easier to remove material than put it back and there's no harm in taking your time.  Oh, and when you work with carpets check it's in the right place with every new hole you cut, you'll find it moves around loads.  The fit I wasn't happy with on the rear carpet actually resolved itself after I'd shuffled about on the carpet a bit and sorting itself out almost completely once the centre console was screwed down.  It's well worth leaving the carpet laid out in the car for a day or two before cutting any holes so it can sort of relax to the shape you need it to conform to.

Cheers! I’m going to have a go with it today, see how it goes. It’s one of those jobs I’ve not been looking forward to doing tbh as it’ll look awful if I get it wrong.

I actually laid the carpets out roughly in place way back in September, with intentions of doing the carpet back then but it started raining shortly after and didn’t stop for the next 6 months! Hopefully that should have been long enough for the carpet to settle into place/shape!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent work, I wasn't sure how this would look in situe but it looks great, hard to tell from photos but is the carpet quite thick then?  My Granvia needs a new cab carpet and had quite a thick pile which I didn't want to replace with the thin stuff I can get cheaply on eBay - thanks for the Woolies Trim recommendation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's about 8mm thick from the outside of the backing to the top of the tufts.  It's not super plush, but it is thick enough that the backing doesn't show through on a tight radius.  The backing is also thin enough that it's very flexible. If you don't have a separate underlay in the Granvia, I'd recommend getting something to go with the carpet, it'll make it feel more plush and smooth out and of the wibbly wobbly bits it covers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Weather cleared up today, wind was mostly not there, and I had my latest dye order so it was time to get on with this job before work.  I'm doing quite a big colour change with this so I'm using a bit more dye than you might normally just to get a uniform finish.  The passenger side door cards (from 1978 going by the date stamp on the back) are more sun faded on the top than the driver's side ones were, even though it's not as evident in pictures as in person.  I bought some of the cleaner that vinyldye sell since I'd run out of the generic cleaner I'd been using and I have to say, I wish I'd used theirs from the start because it's very good.  As per their recommendations I scuffed all surfaces with a green scourer before cleaning too and that helps provide a decent surface.  Masked off the weather stripping and popped out the lock pin escutcheons and then hung the door cards on the stacking crates ready for dye.

202005-01.thumb.jpg.7b1993f70151d13444ddcb4c0ea3c564.jpg

202005-02.thumb.jpg.a38024db2a5409df29e42d504265386e.jpg

The instructions call to use thin layers, with about 10 minutes between coats.  The first door cards I did I think I put the dye on a little bit too heavy because this time around I used lighter coats and it went much better.  It was also a bit cooler today so that might have helped.

202005-03.thumb.jpg.9acd111af8a84c30ab53df5a76ed5907.jpg

The dye looks terrible for several coats and then all at once it doesn't and you're suddenly left with new looking door cards.  It took just under two of the tins I'd ordered to do these door cards, which is about what I expected.  Also took about 4-5 coats for a uniform finish, again as expected.

202005-04.thumb.jpg.54cfaa431f17da9a004c705e950ed51b.jpg

One thing I had learned is that you need to use up a partial can, if you don't then when you go to use what's left it comes out splotchy and messy and just doesn't spray right.  That meant doing some more spraying so I hauled the driver's seat out of the car and set to with the masking tape.  This was pretty awkward to do and finding a way around for the seat to go so that I stood any chance of a uniform finish took some thinking too.  I was hopeful one can would be enough for the seat and fully expecting to need the two and a bit I had left since I was trying to cover black.  First coat the dye was barely visible.

202005-05.thumb.jpg.2083306009d4c12b6ce266c08154938b.jpg

Six coats later, seven in a couple of stubborn spots, and I finally had a fairly uniform finish.  I would have liked to do one more coat but I ran out of dye.  That means I need at least two more cans of dye to do the other front seat.  Still, for about £25 of materials it's a pretty impressive job and far easier than retrimming the whole seat.

202005-06.thumb.jpg.f5a0acfc9b16ef330d7778d0eb984a55.jpg

202005-07.thumb.jpg.e416f00c0f7d95640352aad13a2c79c4.jpg

I'm really happy with that result.  To be on the safe side I'm not reinstalling any of this until they've had 24 hours to cure.  There's a few spots on the black piping on the velour side that hasn't quite dyed as uniformly as I'd like, but that also isn't noticeable since it blends with the black seat facings.  When I get the new dye I know I can go over the piping with a paintbrush and carefully touch in the dye where it's required.  I probably won't since it's not really necessary, I'm doing a colour change not a show car.

So far it's taken 8 cans of dye to do all the door cards, one seat, and all the smaller bits of interior vinyl.  I reckon another 4-6 cans of dye will do the rest of the seats.  That combined with the carpets will bring the interior redo out at around £300ish which really isn't bad at all and hasn't involved any of the faff of unpicking and resewing seats.  If nothing else, it's a good trial run to check I want this colour scheme without committing to the cost and time involved for a professional retrim.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That looks fab!?

Itll be interesting to see how it wears and holds up once in use, but I suppose the original material was coloured in a similar way when new?

I can assure you that a retrim would come in significantly above what you’ve spent so far so to get a result like that you’ve done incredibly well with this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@GingerNuttz Hopefully it will hold up pretty well, I've not encountered any complaints about it on the various fora I use, apart from a couple of comments from people who applied it wrong by doing no cleaning and spraying it on in a single coat.  No idea how it would hold up to kids, I'm always amazed at how destructive kids can be.  That said, it is really easy to touch up should you need to so the the higher wear areas can always be re-prepped and resprayed to top up the finish.  Vinyldye offer top coats as well which would offer a bit more protection.  It is the first time I'm using this stuff, so we'll have to see how it goes.  I used a different product  (Simply Spray) on my old Rover 414's carpets, it was fine for me, but my brother said the kids scuffed through it on the raised tunnel bit so I suppose it depends on the product and the way you use the area that's been done.  I'll be sure to report back if I experience problems, or if I don't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You make a good job of painting your vinyl.   I’ve only ever painted vinyl once, some headrests that I needed to change from brown to black.   I remember being impressed with how well it worked.  But ‘black over colour’ one might expect to be easy.  You are putting colour over black which ‘pushes mental boundaries’ a bit, but you make it work.

Your re-veneered dash looks good, did you do that yourself ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Main reason for not dying the seat facings is I don't know how hard wearing the dye actually is, or if it works on the velour.  So rather than risk having red dye come off on my clothes, I thought it best to leave them as they are.  Vauxhall spec crushed velour in maroon would, naturally, be the preferred option and maybe that'll happen further down the line if I do a retrim proper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That interior really is looking rather excellent, the balance between the maroon and the black really works and it ties in nicely with the black C pillars.

I’m interested to see how the dye on the seats holds up with the flexing and movement, but it certainly looks great. I wonder if the headrests would look good with just the side panels dyed, leaving the rest black.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Had some time and perfect weather to do more dye work.  Thought I needed four cans, ended up needing five and a half, so I was right to order six.  Top tip:  However much dye you think you need, it's more than that.  I'm seriously impressed at how well this dye has gone over black, even if it did take up to seven coats in places.  First thing I sorted out were the front seats, topping up the dye on the driver's seat and doing the passenger one from scratch.  Also made use of @MorrisItalSLX's suggestion of doing the sides of the head restraints in marooon and it really has tied the seats together nicely and made them look more finished than they did.  Excuse all the crap in the background, we're still doing decorating and DIY on this house so keep having to shift stuff into the wrong rooms.

202005-08.thumb.jpg.635e187c02e012d8280ff8b728fdf156.jpg

202005-09.thumb.jpg.f1bc4e8d02d9a1b0cc50092de3935158.jpg

The rear seat got the same vinyl-not-velour dye treatment, even the upright part of the back seat which you barely see.  I wasn't entirely sure if I had enough dye for that bit so I saved it until last.

202005-12.thumb.jpg.be2ed8e8a971c4f2f9d0ca8bfa27ac10.jpg

202005-11.thumb.jpg.e3b4bfb1c8739a5ea2418ba2b1c74c02.jpg

I am delighted at how well that seat looks with the sole exception of the mounting bracket which I think I'm going to repaint using the maroon on the outside of the car, just because it jumps out so much now.  The last little detail is one I've wanted to do for ages which is the recess in the top of the lock buttons.  Normally, the lock buttons are plain black, I've add just a bit of chrome into the recess in the top of them, it's a subtle little detail that ties them in nicely to the other door furniture.

202005-10.thumb.jpg.9bf3092985d358ac10238b4564ba6a41.jpg

I haven't installed the front seats yet as they need handling a lot more than the rear seat to get them in place and I'd rather give the dye a few more hours to cure before I risk handling them.  The only problem so far is that the rear driver's side door card, one of the first items I dyed, feels a bit tacky in places.  The dye isn't lifting or transferring and doesn't seem to want to scrape off so I'm just leaving it alone.  I suspect because it was one of the first panels I did on a hot day I may have been too heavy with the dye and it may have been too hot a day to do it and it's just taking a bit longer to cure, especially since the other items I did on the same day don't have this issue.  The newer parts don't have this issue at all and I used incredibly light coats on much cooler days for those.  I also used the vinyldye cleaner on the other panels and a generic one on the rear card that's giving problems so that's worth considering too.

All in all, I'm very happy with how this is looking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Skizzer that's the place.  Very happy with the service thus far, the website has really good instructions on how to use the product and it seems reasonably priced considering the results.  I'm hoping I can say the same in a few months when I've had chance to wear things in a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...