interior trim tweaks....

[britlude]

for my annual xmas project, this year i decided to retrim some of the interior of my nsx, mainly the bits of leather that get touched, and as such were now bright and shiny after near on 20 years of use... in the firing line was the steering wheel, gear knob (it's an auto) and the arm rest! it's been bugging me for ages that the interior plastics have a grain finish, whereas the leather was smooth and polished... my quest started with leather from that purveyor of all things, ebay..... i bought 2 bits as i had no idea on the grain/pattern descriptions, fortunately one was right!



first off was the gearknob.... scratched/battered/polished

carefully stripped... curious as the knob moulding is textured... what lower model did it feature on???

patterns cut and perforated

a quick brush up on the intricacies of the baseball stitch, and away I went, ending up with this...

turned our well! the knob now has the same finish as the dash!!!

 

[britlude]

the steering wheel was more complicated, but much the same, this time I sourced a steering wheel from NSXPrime (cheers Shawn110975) and set to work
the wheel i got was slightly better than mine but had the usual sun/heat damage..

this was carefully cut off and patterns made

the patterns were sewn together and the new trim stretched over the wheel (the patterns work out to be about 1 1/2 inches short on the circumference....

then once it had stretched/settled a little I set about sewing it up by hand, starting with this

 

[britlude]

then after punching some holes started twin needle sewing, lacing it up first, then tightening after

until the whole rim is done....

 

[britlude]

all that was left was to trim and glue the spokes and open up the horn button holes....

 

[britlude]

the end result being I now have a steering wheel rim that matches the airbag texture and isn't quite so slippy/shiny!!!
before and after

also have english cruise control buttons, not the JDM ones...

and the rim matches the airbag....

smiley faces all round!!!!

 

[britlude]

the centre armrest was next on the list (actually it was before the steering wheel as that was hijacked on delivery and made into a christmas present!!!) with gentle persuasion, the leather was fitted without any need for stitching and seams....

went so well didn't take pics!!! here's the before and after

next on the list is the handbrake... just deciding how i want to do it!

well, they might as well all match!

ok it's a pic of the handbrake, not very exciting.... but another angle on the gear stick!!!

 

[shawn110975]

can you take a pic of your foglights switch and post it? I always wanted to know what it looked like.

take a shot looking down so we can see what kind of switches are Original

one is fog lights one is for rear fog i think, and the other one is for headlight washer I think and the other is your Aftermarket alarm right?

please post.

great thread though very good. I will let other chine in though LOL

 

[britlude]

here's the switch panel... it's a JDM car, so front fog lights (top left) are stock, half/full height antenna, again JDM stock (top right), after market alarm indicator/control bottom left, and diy made-up rear fog switch bottom right..

JDM cars don't have rear fog lights, but UK cars have to have them. When the car was imported a nasty rocker switch was jammed in here, I replaced it with a push on/ push off illuminated one, with a matching cover made (using the front fog switch to make a mould!)

(note to self... clean around switches next time i'm detailing interior!!!)

 

[EAC]

wow, nice work!

 

[shawn110975]

you really can craft some great stuff.

are parts for the NSX hard to get over there?

I always though that in europe all cars had to have the headlight spray button. I dont know where i saw that at.

but to craft a replica button is awesome.

 

[britlude]

ironically, alot of the parts i get are sourced in the US, even with shipping and duties it's still cheaper than Honda prices here for the same parts!!

headlamp washers were factory fitted on UK nsx, but not compulsory for all cars (not in the UK anyway, not sure about the rest of the euro-zone).

there are several peculiarities with the UK cars, for example, we get the ugly washer buttons on the front bumper, but earlier UK nsx didn't have the rear wing brake light, just a red plastic filer piece, whereas it was always fitted in japan!

 

[DRIFTER]

What is the trick to getting the stitching so even? Did you need special tools?
I would love to know how to do this.

 

[britlude]

i did plan on making a spiking wheel, but it was done freehand, with an old screwdriver ground to a pointy point (if that makes sense)

the holes were made about 1/4" apart, and 3/16" from the edge... the pitch gets a little closer on the spoke corners, just to keep it all tight. look up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVcC8YVzCwU (turn the sound down, the music is SOOOO bad!!)

as long as the holes are approximately even it looks fine! :smile:

 

[synergy004]

What does that "HALF" button do?

 

[britlude]

What does that "HALF" button do?

JDM cars can have the radio antenna go full height, or only go to half height, making it look slightly less like a dodgem car power pick-up!!!

 

[shawn110975]

some jdm cars also have the bumper pole with the button, I have one installed on my cb7 accord.

I have another one and i want to put it on my NSX just to have something no-one else has on their NSX but havent got any time to do it

I also have the half button for the NSX which is the same as honda inspire in japan.
so I will install it one day

 

[eyecandy]

very nice work

 

[swimmingpie]

Wow! That looks very nice. Great work.

 

[docjohn]

agree that is some old school talent.....nice job.

 

[condumbwerkz]

Awesome job! I need to do the same on mine...