Hey guys,

I spent the entire weekend pulling the interior out of my L, in preparation for the new door cards coming I want it all to match.

I painted all the pieces with rustoleum black textured spraypaint for plastics. I was extremely pleased with it, I used it for everything in the interior except the rear window tray, which I recovered in black canvas and grey speaker material. I also painted the rear light assembly and the vents and stuff.

Seat belts still don't match, and the door cards arent here yet, but I still think it came out great and is much better than it was.

http://photos-233.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838233_7642.jpg

http://photos-234.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838234_8111.jpg

http://photos-236.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838236_9151.jpg

http://photos-237.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838237_9680.jpg

http://photos-448.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838448_6835.jpg

http://photos-449.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838449_7351.jpg

http://photos-450.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838450_7876.jpg

http://photos-451.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838451_8354.jpg

http://photos-452.ak.facebook.com/ip005/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30838452_8876.jpg

Let me know what you think!

Oh, and if you like my work, especially on the rear window tray, I can do yours. We could work out a reasonable price

intersting .. did you consider painting the door cards too?

I didn't bother, since I just got a set of grey RS door cards. Sorry if I didn't mention that.

Oh, and the L door cards don't clear the dash in the front, and I wanted them to match

Looks nice!

I'm interested to see if the high wear areas (like the door sill) stand up to abuse. Doing something like this is very enticing.

Did you dye the carpet?

Find a set of gray seat belts and you're in.

Got better pictures of the dash?

Where did you get the RS door cards from? I'm assuming they're 00-01 RS2.5 sedan doorcards yes?

I've been looking for over a year and my dash swap is stalled because my 97's front doorcards will not clear any dash other than the 93-97 one. If you have any leads, I'm all ears. :)

No, the carpet came out of the 05wrx donor car. As a side note, it obviously doesn't fit in the gc8 haha. I have a grey L carpet thats going to go in when I feel like taking the whole thing apart again.

The grey seatbelts are already in too, I'll get updated pictures with the RS door cards tomorrow.

Oh, and yea they are 98-01 2.5RS door cards. It took me close to 6 months to track a set down, as they are the only ones that will clear an 05wrx dash in a GC. I still don't have all the right hardware, as you have to swap out the interior door handles and trim too.

Looks good Brendan... get those cards in stat!

I'll post some pics today after I recover my blown airbag covers with suede ;)

Updates!

Grey seat belts are in, I pulled them out of an L wagon at a junkyard near me. The wagon and sedan belts looked almost identical when I pulled them out, but came to find out, the rear belts have a different angle lock mechanism, and when installed in a sedan they are permanently locked :furious:

I spent the rest of the day figuring out how to take the grey belts and buckles(which are the same as the sedan) off of the wagon retractor and put them on my old tan sedan retractors. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, it just took me forever to figure that out. Oh, and I messed up one and had to rewind the retractor by hand :lol:

RS door cards pop right in, however the L door handles and trim don't fit. I had the passenger side interior door handles and trim, and once those are switched out there are zero issues. I just need to track down that stuff for the other 3 doors. I also had to extend the wiring harness in the front passenger door card so that it would reach where the window switch fits in the door.

The drivers side plug for the window controllers is completely different however. I need to track down the correct plug, decipher which window is which, and rewire that up to work. I have my old L controller just hanging out for the time being haha.

I also took the time to do something about the blown airbag covers that were previously held together with epoxy and black duct tape haha. I went down to Joanne Fabrics, picked up a remnant sheet of felt (like $1), some Elmers spray adhesive, and some black suede. I put the felt as a first layer, to kind of pad out the lines from where the covers were blown and glued back together. Then I glued the suede to that. This was easy on the passenger cover, but the steering wheel cover took some effort, as the suede doest stretch much and its hard to get it to contour to that shape. Eventualy I got it though, and regardless of how good or bad it looks, it looks way better than it did. I personally think it looks badass.

Let me know what you guys think!!

http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30880429_6242.jpg

http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30880430_6693.jpg

http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30880431_7186.jpg

looking good, James modified my 96 door cards to fit for now until I get ahold of some that will work with my new dash.

How many coats of paint did you put on the plastics? I may spray the grey pieces in my car black.

I just did enough coats for it to look good. The textured paint makes it really easy. Make sure you prep with some mineral spirits or something beforehand, I'm having some problems with it scraping off select pieces, I'm sure because I only cleaned them with soap and water and no paint thinner.

Good luck finding a set of RS door cards, its taken me over 5 months haha.

Post pics of your swap!

I didn't bother, since I just got a set of grey RS door cards. Sorry if I didn't mention that.

would you be willing to spray some of the paint on a card to see how it looks for poor souls like me?...that is if you have any paint left...

How many coats of paint did you put on the plastics? I may spray the grey pieces in my car black.

please don't...sell them to me and buy some tan ones....since tan is everywhere and grey is near impossible to find...

How well did the dash fit?

The dash fits great, with modification of course. East Coast Swappers did that work, and I'm extremely pleased. The only noticeable thing is a gap on the edge hwen the door is open, because the GD dash is a littl deeper than the GC. It's really not that obvious though, and I'm making a panel to fill that gap next time im feeling industrious.

I'll spray one of those cards tomorrow with my leftover paint and let you know how they turn out!.

I'll spray one of those cards tomorrow with my leftover paint and let you know how they turn out!.
thank you:banana:

I painted all the pieces with rustoleum black textured spraypaint for plastics. I was extremely pleased with it, I used it for everything in the interior except the rear window tray, which I recovered in black canvas and grey speaker material. I also painted the rear light assembly and the vents and stuff.


What are your thoughts on Duplicolor's Vinyl and Fabric paint? I have tan interior in my car, but I'm picking up some JDM WRX seats (gray/red) this Friday. I was planning on swapping in a newer dash relatively soon, or at least a gray older one, as well as some new carpet. I was going to paint the door panels as you did, but I'm concerned about it scratching easily, especially since I tend to use my foot to push open the drivers door.

I painted my center console and lower dash with the mentioned Duplicolor paint, in gloss black. I wasn't impressed with the cheesy looking results, and they scratched fairly easily.

I used the vinyl and fabric paint for my sun visors, and have been extremely happy with it. I used the flat black, and prepped them with soap and water, paint thinner, and then clorox cleaning wipes.

The gloss black is probably why it looked cheesy. The flat black looks great, its still fairly smooth looking because of the vinyl.

I didn't paint the door cards. I replaced mine with 2.5rs pieces. I'm going to try painting one of the old tan cards today for homemade wrx, with the vinyl and fabric paint. I'll let you know, but it has yet to scratch off on the visors and I use them a lot.

DO NOT use the duplicolor paint on vinyl! I tried it first on my visors and they never dried. Only use it on hard plastic pieces!

Good Job.

I am in the middle of doing the same thing to my OBS right now. I am converting the two tone interior to a single dark color. I am using SEM paint as I have heard good things about its durability.

Do you have an airbag in the steering wheel?

Hey Brendan,

give me a ring sometime and I'll explain to you how to hook up your power windows with the new switch - its a little complicated.

Some better pictures:

http://photos-451.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v45/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30893451_5138.jpg

http://photos-452.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v45/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30893452_5634.jpg

http://photos-453.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v45/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30893453_6103.jpg

http://photos-456.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v45/45/2/15616420/n15616420_30893456_7419.jpg

did you do the dash swap yourself? If you did do you have a write up on how you did it? I have an 02 WRX dash and already swapped the motor and stuff and was thinking of swapping the dash too. PM me please.

did you do the dash swap yourself? If you did do you have a write up on how you did it? I have an 02 WRX dash and already swapped the motor and stuff and was thinking of swapping the dash too. PM me please.

The dash fits great, with modification of course. East Coast Swappers did that work, and I'm extremely pleased.





Do you have an airbag in the steering wheel?

I also took the time to do something about the blown airbag covers that were previously held together with epoxy and black duct tape haha. I went down to Joanne Fabrics, picked up a remnant sheet of felt (like $1), some Elmers spray adhesive, and some black suede. I put the felt as a first layer, to kind of pad out the lines from where the covers were blown and glued back together. Then I glued the suede to that. This was easy on the passenger cover, but the steering wheel cover took some effort, as the suede doest stretch much and its hard to get it to contour to that shape.


I write words for a reason :rolleyes:

well, I read and am just wondering how the door vinyl turns out :D

oh, I forgot about that! I did it. The vinyl paint sticks great to most of the panels, it only scratches off when I really get my fingernail into it. I sprayed the plastic part surrounding the window switch and that scratches off easily, but i didnt prep that area at all, and that could be removed and sprayed with the paint for plastics. The only thing that didnt work was the fabric part of the panel, the paint definitely darkened the fabric but did not make it black, whatever is behind that fabric kind of soaks up the paint. I don't know whether multiple applications would help, but you'd have to be careful and mask it off so you didn't overspray too much on the panel itself.

I didn't prep any of this card though. With a prep, it would stick to the vinyl parts even better, the plastic parts fine, etc. The only thing you'd have to figure out would be the fabric panel, which isn't easily removable from what i can tell.

the fabric would be pulled and some new fabric or alcantara (matching the old school sti seats) would be put in

Good luck with that. I tried pulling that panel off for ****s and giggles and broke it.

Good luck with that. I tried pulling that panel off for ****s and giggles and broke it.

did you pull the staples?...

There werent any staples on mine, the fabric and cardboard its glued to are epoxyd to the door panel itself.

You can just spray over the fabric itself with the rest of the doors.

There werent any staples on mine, the fabric and cardboard its glued to are epoxyd to the door panel itself.

odd, mine has brass heavy duty staples...probably glue too though

odd, mine has brass heavy duty staples...probably glue too though

lucky :lol: