Faux-E-M Service Mat

Joined
25 September 2012
Messages
518
Location
Markham, Ontario, Canada
I thought I'd share some photos of a successful project thought of by myself, but mostly executed by my girlfriend (she's the one with the sewing machine:biggrin:).

The final product:
Photo 2014-05-14 23 33 03.jpgPhoto 2014-05-14 23 33 31.jpgPhoto 2014-05-14 23 35 27.jpg

Please excuse the poor lighting, but it turned out quite well.

If anyone else shared my thought it making your own service mat, the overall footprint of MY mat is 2.4 x 1.1 m and seemed to work fairly well covering the fenders and all of the trunk surface.

In terms of materials, I used a grey vinyl (top and bottom) and cotton batting (in between) to give it some cushion.

The whole mat was essentially sewed inside out first (just like a pillow case) then inverted and stuffed. This method gives a very clean edge and hides most imperfections (so I'm told, looks good!).

The tough part was getting the engine bay cut-a-way right. I wish I had a photo, but I used a long and wide piece of cardboard placed over the engine bay. Then, lightly rest the bay glass over it, and simply trace around its shape with a sharpie. Then cut out the cardboard paper outline and you've got yourself a stencil!

The cherry on top was the NSX logo. I printed out HUGE "NSX" in NSX font, then cut them out of another cardboard stencil and sprayed some red plastic paint on it and called it a day.

All in all, it's a OEM-like, super useful, service mat for about $50 or less if you've got some materials of your own already. It's a cheaper option than going OEM and puts another notch on the DIY belt.

Hopefully I've inspired someone else to DIY!

Cheers,

Lucas
 
looks great, and no pics of girlfriend... I say its you with the sewing machine ;)
 
looks great, and no pics of girlfriend... I say its you with the sewing machine ;)

While I can't prove I wasn't the one doing the sewing I can assure you it wasn't me! I did help with cutting out the materials:

Photo 2014-05-11 12 55 00.jpg

Here is some photo credit she deserves:
Photo 2014-05-12 11 24 05.jpg
Photo 2014-05-12 11 36 36.jpg

It took a morning to get 90% done, and an afternoon to manually stitch the last opening, and overnight to let the paint dry.

For a DIY project, the satisfaction comes on fast!

Lucas
 
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