Metal interior
#1
10-22-2012, 08:20 PM
Metal interior
Hello everybody. As you might've seen by my silly "Floor" post, I am completely emptying my interior. Now that all the seats are out except the driver's, and it's mostly metal, I thought of maybe keeping it that way except sanding it down and painting it all black, or something along the lines of that. Does anyone here have a metal interior? If you do, please post pics! After it is all painted, I would put the back seat in and the driver seat, because those are currently the only black seats I have. Let me know what you guys think, pros and cons, and more importantly, pics!
#5
10-23-2012, 12:01 AM
I drove a completely stripped interior for 6 months while doing rust repair and such. The only thing that remained was drivers seat, drivers seatbelt and center console. It was loud and tin sounding. Floor was extremly hot from exhaust. Road noise was so loud , I had to crank the stereo. W/O the insulation the cranked stereo sounded like crap! Sort of like driving My wifes wrangler..
#6
10-23-2012, 09:46 AM
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Portland, Or
Posts: 9,097
It'll look a bit weird with driver's seat and rear seat. If you're wanting to look more like a "race car", you'll leave the rear seat out also.
Can't think of any pros, but there's tons of cons. Too noisey, cold in winter-hot in summer, unfinished looking, devalues the car, etc, etc.
Can't think of any pros, but there's tons of cons. Too noisey, cold in winter-hot in summer, unfinished looking, devalues the car, etc, etc.
#7
10-23-2012, 10:38 AM
Thank you all for the input. I can assure you that the carpet that was in there was no better than having the metal interior (haha), it was bad. I can see there's many things wrong with this, but I think I'll be doing what 66fordman did. If the interior is already stripped, might as well take advantage of the chance. As for when I get cash, does anyone know of a trustworthy site that has decent interior parts? I'm also curious what people did for the roof of their car. Mine had this worthless cardboard-like stuff on top. If that's my only option, I would rather take the metal. Also not impressed with my car's "plastic-y" interior trim but I think that just makes me picky. Let me know, guys.
#8
10-24-2012, 07:32 AM
Reidski, One of the most satisfying part of owning a car is that You are able to customize it to Your own taste. Do whatever pleases You. If You like the metal racecar look and feel, do it! You can always reinstall the interior at any time. As for the carpet, anyone can tell You there are endless websites. Personally,I have purchased two carpets from jc whitney and one from "Year One".
As for the headliner, if the cardboard is in sound shape, you can always cover it with "headliner" material.Also consider installing Dynamat material to the roof before the headliner goes up. Just remember, Do it the way You want!
As for the headliner, if the cardboard is in sound shape, you can always cover it with "headliner" material.Also consider installing Dynamat material to the roof before the headliner goes up. Just remember, Do it the way You want!
#9
10-24-2012, 10:19 AM
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Portland, Or
Posts: 9,097
You certainly can do it the way you want, but be prepared for the negative responses from the people who don't like what you've done. Need to be thick skinned when you do something that many people don't like.
If you're doing this to save money, then there are other less expensive options that will give you a finished/custom look and not cost a bundle. I'm all about customizing, as long as it improves the looks, and I love saving money too!
I've done several changes to my cars to make them custom inside and save money vs. replacing with repro door panels, and headliners. I use the local fabric store that my wife pointed me to, and they often have 40-50% off sales.
The headliner material is cheap at the fabric store, and I bought enough to do one of my cars for less than $15. You can recover your cardboard piece cheap. You can also recover your door panels with naugahyde, and save vs. new door panels, if the base material is in good shape. I found black naugahyde for $8 yd., and with 40% off it was under $5 yd.
On the carpet I would bite the bullet and buy a carpet kit. Mine was under $100 from Biscay's Classic Chevy, and it's hard to make anything that looks as good for less. I got "dynamat" style sound deadener for under $35 from Home Depot, and it was cheaper than the factory style jute matting.
I deleted the back seat on my Camaro, and used some scrap plywood to build panels and cover them with inexpensive carpet. It cost very little to do, but looks more finished than painted metal. Check page 1 of my project thread to see what I did in the backseat area:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/70-81...project-62101/
I bought door panels for the Camaro, but for my other car I used 1/8" board and covered it with naugahyde and I have less than $150 in the whole interior, including the seats, headliner, and door panels. You can use your od panels to make patterns and then glue the naugahyde to the new panels. Post #10 on page one of my gasser build shows the way I did the fabricated inexpensive interior on my other project:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/proje...-gasser-61842/
Hopefully you can find something inexpensive, and still not suffer from all the detriments of leaving your interior bare and unfinished.
If you're doing this to save money, then there are other less expensive options that will give you a finished/custom look and not cost a bundle. I'm all about customizing, as long as it improves the looks, and I love saving money too!
I've done several changes to my cars to make them custom inside and save money vs. replacing with repro door panels, and headliners. I use the local fabric store that my wife pointed me to, and they often have 40-50% off sales.
The headliner material is cheap at the fabric store, and I bought enough to do one of my cars for less than $15. You can recover your cardboard piece cheap. You can also recover your door panels with naugahyde, and save vs. new door panels, if the base material is in good shape. I found black naugahyde for $8 yd., and with 40% off it was under $5 yd.
On the carpet I would bite the bullet and buy a carpet kit. Mine was under $100 from Biscay's Classic Chevy, and it's hard to make anything that looks as good for less. I got "dynamat" style sound deadener for under $35 from Home Depot, and it was cheaper than the factory style jute matting.
I deleted the back seat on my Camaro, and used some scrap plywood to build panels and cover them with inexpensive carpet. It cost very little to do, but looks more finished than painted metal. Check page 1 of my project thread to see what I did in the backseat area:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/70-81...project-62101/
I bought door panels for the Camaro, but for my other car I used 1/8" board and covered it with naugahyde and I have less than $150 in the whole interior, including the seats, headliner, and door panels. You can use your od panels to make patterns and then glue the naugahyde to the new panels. Post #10 on page one of my gasser build shows the way I did the fabricated inexpensive interior on my other project:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/proje...-gasser-61842/
Hopefully you can find something inexpensive, and still not suffer from all the detriments of leaving your interior bare and unfinished.
Last edited by 1971BB427; 10-24-2012 at 10:22 AM.
#10
10-24-2012, 11:23 AM
You certainly can do it the way you want, but be prepared for the negative responses from the people who don't like what you've done. Need to be thick skinned when you do something that many people don't like.
If you're doing this to save money, then there are other less expensive options that will give you a finished/custom look and not cost a bundle. I'm all about customizing, as long as it improves the looks, and I love saving money too!
I've done several changes to my cars to make them custom inside and save money vs. replacing with repro door panels, and headliners. I use the local fabric store that my wife pointed me to, and they often have 40-50% off sales.
The headliner material is cheap at the fabric store, and I bought enough to do one of my cars for less than $15. You can recover your cardboard piece cheap. You can also recover your door panels with naugahyde, and save vs. new door panels, if the base material is in good shape. I found black naugahyde for $8 yd., and with 40% off it was under $5 yd.
On the carpet I would bite the bullet and buy a carpet kit. Mine was under $100 from Biscay's Classic Chevy, and it's hard to make anything that looks as good for less. I got "dynamat" style sound deadener for under $35 from Home Depot, and it was cheaper than the factory style jute matting.
I deleted the back seat on my Camaro, and used some scrap plywood to build panels and cover them with inexpensive carpet. It cost very little to do, but looks more finished than painted metal. Check page 1 of my project thread to see what I did in the backseat area:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/70-81...project-62101/
I bought door panels for the Camaro, but for my other car I used 1/8" board and covered it with naugahyde and I have less than $150 in the whole interior, including the seats, headliner, and door panels. You can use your od panels to make patterns and then glue the naugahyde to the new panels. Post #10 on page one of my gasser build shows the way I did the fabricated inexpensive interior on my other project:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/proje...-gasser-61842/
Hopefully you can find something inexpensive, and still not suffer from all the detriments of leaving your interior bare and unfinished.
If you're doing this to save money, then there are other less expensive options that will give you a finished/custom look and not cost a bundle. I'm all about customizing, as long as it improves the looks, and I love saving money too!
I've done several changes to my cars to make them custom inside and save money vs. replacing with repro door panels, and headliners. I use the local fabric store that my wife pointed me to, and they often have 40-50% off sales.
The headliner material is cheap at the fabric store, and I bought enough to do one of my cars for less than $15. You can recover your cardboard piece cheap. You can also recover your door panels with naugahyde, and save vs. new door panels, if the base material is in good shape. I found black naugahyde for $8 yd., and with 40% off it was under $5 yd.
On the carpet I would bite the bullet and buy a carpet kit. Mine was under $100 from Biscay's Classic Chevy, and it's hard to make anything that looks as good for less. I got "dynamat" style sound deadener for under $35 from Home Depot, and it was cheaper than the factory style jute matting.
I deleted the back seat on my Camaro, and used some scrap plywood to build panels and cover them with inexpensive carpet. It cost very little to do, but looks more finished than painted metal. Check page 1 of my project thread to see what I did in the backseat area:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/70-81...project-62101/
I bought door panels for the Camaro, but for my other car I used 1/8" board and covered it with naugahyde and I have less than $150 in the whole interior, including the seats, headliner, and door panels. You can use your od panels to make patterns and then glue the naugahyde to the new panels. Post #10 on page one of my gasser build shows the way I did the fabricated inexpensive interior on my other project:
https://camaroforums.com/forum/proje...-gasser-61842/
Hopefully you can find something inexpensive, and still not suffer from all the detriments of leaving your interior bare and unfinished.
P.S.
Door panels and dash are in perfect condition as far as I'm concerned, it was mostly the little trim that goes around the car that was total crap. I'm going to assume the same principles can be applied.