Interior transformation (1 Viewer)

[Firephil]

It's been a while since I have wandered these hallowed halls. After a tumultuous love affair with my 60 in which I tried to sell her a few times and couldn't follow through with it, I have finally decided I'm going to keep this old girl. She has to change however!

I just swapped in a new 350 and I'm finishing up that project, but I'm looking hard and long at my interior. I'm not a purist and to be honest I hate, emphasize hate, the brown color interior.

Have any of you done a complete color swap? I'm wanting to go black to match my two tone white/black paint job. I'm thinking I can make my own door panels and rear panels. I found a dash cover replacement that is black. The bottom of the dash I'm going to have to think on how to make that look good without needing a body shop.

I would like to swap the stock seats with something more modern but I don't need suspension seats or any of that BS just some comfy leather seats to swaddle my pampered ass in. Ideas?

The carpet is out and I have no idea what I want to do from there. Thoughts? no rhino lining or spray in stuff.

I'm not rich but I'm not skipping corners this time either. Sooooo - Hit me with your best shot! Fire Awaaaayyy!

Phil

P.S. Yes I searched but honestly not that hard

 

[Feistl]

Hey mate,

I am currently in the same process for my HJ61, getting rid of every single Brown item. What is your budget?

Here in Australia you can have the dash pad professionally recovered in black vinyl, new carpet or vinyl flooring etc. I am changing the seats over to black leather (from a Honda Accord euro), black seat belts...

Also taking it a step further and swapping out the steering column for one with black plastic surrounds and a native cruise control stalk...

Really the only tricky part is the B piller covers, but there is a forum member making after market steel versions which should look ok painted in black.

Cheers

 

[cruiserpilot]

If you pull the dash pad, the whole lower steel panel unbolts. It would be easy to paint. The switch panel can be painted too. Look up BMW seats in this forum. Best wrecking yard option and you can buy reasonable brackets from vendors on the forum. I’m not purist either. I got a set of Recarro seats from a VW GTI, very comfy, bit of screwing around to bolt on. Post pics,
I think @reevesci has carpets, and everything else you might need, to be honest.

 

[murf]

If you pull the dash pad, the whole lower steel panel unbolts. It would be easy to paint. The switch panel can be painted too. Look up BMW seats in this forum. Best wrecking yard option and you can buy reasonable brackets from vendors on the forum. I’m not purist either. I got a set of Recarro seats from a VW GTI, very comfy, bit of screwing around to bolt on. Post pics,
I think @reevesci has carpets, and everything else you might need, to be honest.

Friend runs the BMW seat option with seats out if a wrecked beamer and loves it!

 

[Firephil]

Hey mate,

I am currently in the same process for my HJ61, getting rid of every single Brown item. What is your budget?

Here in Australia you can have the dash pad professionally recovered in black vinyl, new carpet or vinyl flooring etc. I am changing the seats over to black leather (from a Honda Accord euro), black seat belts...

Also taking it a step further and swapping out the steering column for one with black plastic surrounds and a native cruise control stalk...

Really the only tricky part is the B piller covers, but there is a forum member making after market steel versions which should look ok painted in black.

Cheers

Haven't really worked out a budget for this project. Suffice to say I have enough means that I can do pretty much what I feel like doing although I'm not the guy that can do it all at one time. Make sense? So money is a concern since I"m not wasteful, but not really a concern.

I didn't think about the pillars and changing them - hmmm. We can get dash covers for about $160US from cruiser corps.

I've had the dash completely out before. I can turn a wrench, but painting I'm a bit of a short bus kid at. Maybe I will just suck it up, pull it out, and have the body shop paint it.

BMW seats - Have to get into that. What about the back seat though?

Any body ever put a rubber floor down over Dynamat? I'm thinking about this just from a ease of cleaning the thing. Although, I've changed direction in that this won't be a crawler anymore so carpet might be the nicest way to go. damn decision making. Adulting is hard

 

[Cruiser Corps]

Here are some thoughts!

Even though we don’t list a black carpet kit on a 60 doesn’t mean we can’t have one made. We can have it custom made that way and do it at no additional cost.

Seats we can recover as well in a different material for a small difference of about 50.00 in cost.

The painting process on the interior is actually a dye. We sell it in cans and if you know how to use a rattle can..... you won’t screw it up. It doesn’t apply like paint and is simple to use.

Call me and we can talk if needed.

Take Care
Mike 405-863-3393

 

[gregnash]

Friend runs the BMW seat option with seats out if a wrecked beamer and loves it!

Outside of the BMW seats the other easy-ish swap is the PT Cruiser seats. I did this in mine and was able to get the seats for cheap through Pick N Pull and took me probably about 10-15hrs to complete with the pulling of the seats myself. Really easy mod and has made a difference in the ride (plus I upgraded and put butt warmers in them!!). However, there is some fabrication that needs to be done and that also depends on which year your truck is.

 

[Major Nelson]

BMW seats are amazing, you should check with Torfab to see if he still makes the brackets for them. You can paint any of the plastic in the truck using SEM color coat - stuff is amazing. I'm rebuilding my door panels (actually working on them tomorrow) and would be happy to share any steps with you after I'm done. Reevesci shared a ton of info with me on the steps in making them. For the most part building new panels isn't too hard...just time consuming. I actually cut my own carpet from marine grade carpet...came out great, but this was before Reevesci starting carrying carpet. It did save me a ton of $ (cost less than $250)...but it was hugely time consuming creating the templates to make the carpets look good.

 

[Firephil]

Here are some thoughts!

Even though we don’t list a black carpet kit on a 60 doesn’t mean we can’t have one made. We can have it custom made that way and do it at no additional cost.

Seats we can recover as well in a different material for a small difference of about 50.00 in cost.

The painting process on the interior is actually a dye. We sell it in cans and if you know how to use a rattle can..... you won’t screw it up. It doesn’t apply like paint and is simple to use.

Call me and we can talk if needed.

Take Care
Mike 405-863-3393

Thanks Mike! I was really impressed with the amount of stuff you carry for these 60s. I've already got a list of stuff to get from you soon.

Outside of the BMW seats the other easy-ish swap is the PT Cruiser seats. I did this in mine and was able to get the seats for cheap through Pick N Pull and took me probably about 10-15hrs to complete with the pulling of the seats myself. Really easy mod and has made a difference in the ride (plus I upgraded and put butt warmers in them!!). However, there is some fabrication that needs to be done and that also depends on which year your truck is.

10-15hrs!! s*** man that doesn't sound easy! I'm prone to spilling s*** and my kids still think everything outside the car seat is a garbage can so leather seats it must be!

BMW seats are amazing, you should check with Torfab to see if he still makes the brackets for them. You can paint any of the plastic in the truck using SEM color coat - stuff is amazing. I'm rebuilding my door panels (actually working on them tomorrow) and would be happy to share any steps with you after I'm done. Reevesci shared a ton of info with me on the steps in making them. For the most part building new panels isn't too hard...just time consuming. I actually cut my own carpet from marine grade carpet...came out great, but this was before Reevesci starting carrying carpet. It did save me a ton of $ (cost less than $250)...but it was hugely time consuming creating the templates to make the carpets look good.

Send me a message when you get those done, I'm going to seriously pick your brain about them. If I do carpet I'm just going to buy a kit. Im to impatient not to mess it up on my own!

I have a 1985 so I think the torfab brackets don't work? Im not opposed to fabrication although my welds look like a blind 5yo did them while having a seizure (to twisted?)

I'm really appreciating the input here!
Phil

 

[dnp]

I sell very "correct" carpet (cheap), and I can have it made in OEM colors or black. Let me know.

See the link in my signature line

David

 

[joebattle1]

I have a pair of really nice E34 Power Seats in my garage collecting dust if you're interested. They need a little bit of work but would look sweet in an all black 60. I had plans of fixing the few little things that need fixin but life keeps getting in my way. I would be more than willing to make a deal with a Mud member. I went with the Corbeu seats myself. I have mixed feelings about them. Here's a pick of my interior with the Corbeu's and the Bimmer seats.

 

[madvr6]

Tor fab brackets don’t work for “early floor” 60’s last I checked with him without floor modification.
Mine is a 85 and early floor.
I just put in some PT cruiser seats I found from a local guy that has them in a 60.so far so good. Pretty lucky.

Check car-part.com for PT cruiser seats.

It’s didn’t take 15 hours. Less than 1 for me, but they bolted straight up, just had to do some tugging on the rails to get the bolts in. No problem for 2 people.

Pro car Elite’s are supposed to just drop in with your existing rails. I have been wanting to buy those, but stumbled on the PT cruiser seats.
They have the pro car’s in black as well.

I just put in dnp’s carpet and think it’s the best option out there. Mine is a dark gray. I like it.

 

[86aggie]

I have installed some BMW sport seats out of a '08 335. I am still working on running the wiring harness, but have them bolted in. Even though I can't completely adjust the driver seat yet, I described the difference between OEM and it to another member as the difference between sitting on a bar stool and sitting in a top fuel dragster seat.

In my searches for information on the install using Torfab's brackets, I thought I saw a couple of comments that Adam had a bracket for older 60's that he was working on. Its not on his website though.

 

[BMValentine]

I recently re-did the door panels on my FJ62. I bought some Starboard 1/4" black plastic and used contact cement to attach foam and then added my fabric. I have the brown interior and kept min brwon but you could go get black marine grade vinyl fairly cheap and do it yourself. I chanbged the plastic clips to screw and used nutserts so the door panel is not going anywhere. I pulled the old door panels off and used those as my template. The hardest part is to do the upper part around the window. A

nother option would be to not use foam and just use the black plastic and give it a real utilitarian look.

 

[Seth S]

I'll take some better photos of my door panels but a previous owner had them redone and though they are different than stock they look pretty good:

You can just see my passenger door panel in this shot.

 

[Seth S]

As far as seats go I'll either do a Saab 9-5 seat with heating and cooling. Some years had heating elements for winter and also had perforated leather with fans inside that pull air away from your body in the summer and prevent you from sweating. Or my better preference would be a set of Scheel Mann seats...or at least a driver seat...they are pretty expensive but very nice. And the last idea I had was to install a set of Mercedes sprinter seats as they are very comfortable for long distances, have a plethora of adjustments, and an armrest.

 

[gregnash]

For those that have reupholstered your own panels, how difficult was the top section (if you kept) that has the inner window felt? Looking at doing this during the winter since it will give me something to mess with and what not.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

Have any of you done a complete color swap? I'm wanting to go black to match my two tone white/black paint job.

How about a photo or two?

 

[BMValentine]

For those that have reupholstered your own panels, how difficult was the top section (if you kept) that has the inner window felt? Looking at doing this during the winter since it will give me something to mess with and what not.

it wasn't too difficult, as you take the panels apart pay close attention to how they attached it from factory and just replicate that. I added 1/4" foam to give it some padding which adds some difficulty in refitting the components. I should have taken some pictures of the process but got caught up.

 

[Firephil]

How about a photo or two?

You mean like a D pic? You need to woo me a little bit more!

Work in progress. However i want to revamp all of her