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DIY Custom Interior Trim


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A few of us with the taupe interior are unhappy with the faux wood trim. This walk through will take you through the steps for removing the trim in the door panels and how I reassembled everything.

Removal of the wood trim on the center console can be found here: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93803&highlight=shift+knob+removal

***WARNING***

 

You WILL be using fire to get the door panels apart. Use common sense and you should be fine. Only do this in a well ventilated area and keep a fire extinguisher or at least some water nearby.

 

The tools you need will vary depending on the level of customization you choose.

Basic tools:

1 small bladed flathead screw driver

1 Phillips screwdriver

Dremel (not mandatory but helpful)

16 half inch wood screws and washers

2 quarter inch wood screws and washers.

A long nosed BBQ lighter such as this one:

http://www.yoyita.com/Hurricane/BBQ-lighter.jpg

 

Removing the panel from your door:

Follow deneb's walk through. Note: Skip deneb's step 4 if you are doing your rear doors. Stop using his walk through after you perform step 5:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20069&highlight=removing+door+panel

 

My picture shows the wiring harness for the power window switch, door lever, and door lock which all have to be removed.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/jjbhoops/door/door_disconnect.jpg?t=1228599809

 

Here is a different view of the door handle/lock assembly:http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/jjbhoops/door/Door_mech_disconnect.jpg?t=1228599988

 

There is a door covering the assembly which just has to be popped open. Then disconnect the handle cable and lock cable by first unclipping them. The cables can then be disconnected completely from the door by angling them and lifting them out. It is extremely easy.

 

 

At this point, your door panel should be completely disconnected.

 

Removing the individual pieces:

Here's the door with the steps color coded to show the order of disassembly:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/jjbhoops/door/door_disassembly.jpg?t=1228600623

 

This is where the fire comes in.

 

1a. Heat up the glue around the styrofoam pieces and remove the pieces. Do not discard the pieces! You will be reattaching them later.

 

Note: Remove the least amount of material to get the pieces apart. It will be tough to later reassemble the pieces if you remove a lot of the rubber/plastic rivets.

 

1b. There are 8 rubber rivets which need to be melted. Heat one up for 10 - 20 seconds and separate the piece at that rivet only. You should not have to pull very hard. Reheat it if you are having trouble separating it. Repeat this process until the top part is off. (If you wish to cover this piece in fabric, you need to remove the door handle assembly and the window "wipe" at the very top. It's pretty self explanatory when you look at them both.)

 

 

2. This piece is the backing of the leather insert, which you may wish to customize. There are 8 rubber rivets again. Heat and remove them all.

 

 

3. Next you will remove the power window switch. There are two phillips screws. Easy :).

 

 

4. This is the faux wood trim piece. The entire piece including the rivets are all molded together and made of a thermoplastic (meaning it cannot be reheated and remolded). This just means it will be a little tougher than the rubber rivets. I used a combination of using the lighter and my Dremel to remove the piece. There are only two rivets.

 

 

Your door panel should now be in a lot of pieces and you're probably panicking. :lol: No worries!

 

 

Skip to the end of the post for pictures of my customizations and ideas for yours.

 

 

Door panel reassembly:

The door panel pieces go back together in reverse order.

 

Every rivet that you burned will be screwed together using a half inch wood screw and washer. Use quarter inch wood screws for the farthest left and farthest right red circles.

 

Don't forget to reattach the styrofoam at the end.

 

If anyone has any better ideas of reattaching the pieces, let me know. My method is ghetto, but effective and makes for easy changes if I get tired of a certain look.

 

 

Customization ideas:

There are a lot of different things you could do. You could get custom embroidery on the inserts, colors, fabrics, leathers, etc. One thing I do recommend though is to just paint the faux wood trim piece in the door. I covered one of the small faux wood pieces in microsuede and it makes for a very tight fit

 

I covered the top most part of my door panel and also the leather insert in black microsuede, which I purchased at Wal-Mart for $17. I bought about 24 sq ft of it. It's important to buy in bulk because different batches of the same fabric may have color variations.

 

Final(ish) products:

At this point I've only done my rear doors to check out some different options. I also covered my armrest in the black microsuede, which is nice on the skin. :lol:

 

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/jjbhoops/IMG_1072.jpg?t=1228604378

 

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/jjbhoops/IMG_1073.jpg?t=1228604439

 

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/jjbhoops/LGT/IMG_1187.jpg?t=1228605306

 

 

The latest...the suede started to fade (as I feared it would), so I'm in the process of redoing everything. I found a faux leather vinyl that matches the factory material, pretty much identically. The shift and e-brake boots are from Redline Goods. You can see the very edge of the armrest at the bottom of this pic and see how badly it faded after about a year.http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll37/jjbhoops30/Legacy/Interior_Dash.jpg?t=1255454031

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gotta question SLA, do you think if you had small tap/die set that you could drill out and thread the faux wood trim piece backing? I know you said you used a similar method to put them back on..

 

Do you have a pic of these pieces themselves and the process of coating them?

 

I'd still prefer them to be dipped and re-coated, but ya never know.

 

These little pieces have hung up an entire mod that I would like to do for over 3 years now. (I said I was going to do it before I even bought the car. I never liked orange trim with black swirls in it being called "Wood" anyway.)

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
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gotta question SLA, do you think if you had small tap/die set that you could drill out and thread the faux wood trim piece backing? I know you said you used a similar method to put them back on..

 

I would think you could do that. The faux wood part is flexible enough to be drilled into without it breaking. You should be fine with a thin drill bit and just go slowly.

 

Do you have a pic of these pieces themselves and the process of coating them?

 

I don't have a separate pic. When I first did this I wasn't thinking "walk through"...lol. By coating I guess you mean covering it in the fabric. If you want to do that, get a good tacky glue. Start at one end and using your thumbs, work the fabric over the piece and smooth out any wrinkles. Leave excess fabric on the sides which you can glue to the back of the piece. Try to use as little glue as possible b/c you'll get glue hairs everywhere.

 

any diy to get rid of the taupe interior?

I wish I had skills like that :lol:

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actually I meant dipping it in one of those surface tension vats with a better faux wood print. :lol:

 

there's a couple companies out there that do that for CF, marble, solid colors and faux wood finishes. I know it wont un-cheesy the fact that its fake, but it may make it more tasteful.

 

thanks for the info!

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
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will carbon fiber vinyl work? I'm interested in giving this a try.

 

Maybe if you get some that flexes well with heat, I had some CF vinyl and tried to cover those a couple days ago, they're just shaped a little too weird for it to work :(

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  • 4 weeks later...
whatabout putting red LED bulbs in the overhead map lights instead? I was thinking about that

 

The ebay led lights I have for my maplights are pretty dim. Regular bulbs are way better unless you can get an array of leds...or if you want some mood lighting I guess.

 

I have the led array from fastwrx.com in my dome light...it is very bright! They also have arrays for map lights.

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Every time this topic comes up...I post this pic. lol Removed and painted the center console pieces satin black. Came out perfect, you'd never notice. Just take your time prepping/painting. For the door faux wood pieces I used black vinyl sticker sheets to cover, then just trimmed the edges. Took some practice, but the stuff is cheap and you get the hang of it. Hasn't come loose or fallen off in 1.5yrs.

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_y662cR2205s/SV6kdz7hB7I/AAAAAAAACYQ/WOyOKROPjo4/s800/014.JPG

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The ebay led lights I have for my maplights are pretty dim. Regular bulbs are way better unless you can get an array of leds...or if you want some mood lighting I guess.

 

I have the led array from fastwrx.com in my dome light...it is very bright! They also have arrays for map lights.

 

its a LOT cheaper to buy the bulbs from other places, and not fastWRX

 

http://autolumination.com/festoon.htm

 

the dome light 36-led array was 15 bucks (i had to modify it a lot to make it fit, i'd go for the 25 if i were to do it again, and 6-led arrays for the maplights

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its a LOT cheaper to buy the bulbs from other places, and not fastWRX

 

http://autolumination.com/festoon.htm

 

the dome light 36-led array was 15 bucks (i had to modify it a lot to make it fit, i'd go for the 25 if i were to do it again, and 6-led arrays for the maplights

 

Do you remember what bulb type we use for the map lights?

 

Another factor is trying to find LED bulbs that have built-in resistors. Otherwise you may need to add-on resistors later somewhere in the wiring or risk electrical issues.

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Do you remember what bulb type we use for the map lights?

 

Another factor is trying to find LED bulbs that have built-in resistors. Otherwise you may need to add-on resistors later somewhere in the wiring or risk electrical issues.

 

there's a thread here about that. Let me see if I can find it in my subscribed list. This may take a while, its been a year or so. :lol:

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
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