Project Boondoggle (or, so I went and bought a Z!)

[grannyknot]

Thanks for the heads up on flocking, the final product looks very presentable. So all the gauges are been lit by just LED bulbs in the stock position with the green filters removed?  That's a very even illumination, can you tell us which led bulbs you used?

[dmorales-bello]

I think your effort spent on the dash is to be commended. Thanks for posting the long process. It will help all those considering doing this job. The result looks pretty even in the pics although I would agree that the "flocked look" might not appeal to all.

Your instruments turned out beautifully ! Nice work.

[Captain Obvious]

I'm so glad that after all that effort you got something you're satisfied with. Lot of effort, but finally something suitable!!

About your dash LED's... I redid my whole dash system maybe a year or so ago and am thrilled with the results. My prediction on yours? You may find them to be way too bright. If I can see them that bright in the daytime, then once everything outside the car is dark, I'm thinking you're going to need sunglasses to look at the instruments.    I solved that problem by modifying the LED bulbs themselves, and converting over to a PWM dimmer.

[charliekwin]

Thanks for the comments guys. It's definitely not a stock look and I'd be lying if I said it was my first choice, but given my talent* and resources/budget, it was the way to go. I still like the idea of covering in vinyl in some way and might revisit that when I get to the audio system, but the results are acceptable for now, especially when I compare it to what I started with:

 

Regarding the LEDs, I picked up a package of 20 BA9S lights that were sold as replacements for a 4W bulb on eBay for a couple bucks just to test them out and liked the results. Tons of sellers have them; they look just like these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/20Pcs-Xenon-White-BA9S-Interior-Map-Instrument-Panel-Dash-Gauge-LED-Light-Bulbs-/252729348168?hash=item3ad7d7d048:g:sw8AAOSw2xRYfuNy&vxp=mtr and drop right in. If the pot growing forums are to be believed, painting the cans white helps with the even illumination.

These lights are brighter than the stock bulbs, but not by much (I took the photo in a dim garage, with long exposure). The brightness seemed just right when I did my one test at night, but time will tell. There are also much brighter LEDs available (I think mine are supposed to output 5 lumens; the brightest are almost 100!) that I've seen some people use. They're blinding, but I guess I understand the motivation:

*Talent, in retrospect, may have been slightly overestimated! 

Edited March 22, 2017 by charliekwin

[charliekwin]

Fixed up some of the interior pieces this weekend. Biggest project was the steering column clamshell, where two of the screw "thingies" (pretty sure that's what they're called) on the side were broken off, as well as the one in the middle. Turns out that the promo pens we got at the office a while back can be cobbled into a very suitable replacement and are made of a plastic that ABS cement will bond to. The clicky part of the pen even worked as a stopper for the male end on the top of the clamshell. Fiberglass reinforcement on all the new bits and over the cracked areas. Then everything sanded smooth and painted with Krylon Fusion to match the center console and applied some Raammat to give the pieces a bit of solidity. I was unreasonably pleased with how well it all came together.

I also fixed the coloring on the dashboard badge and on the edges of the center vents using a silver Sharpie; I think that was a trick someone around here mentioned. Worked great! And finally freshened up the lettering on the combination switch and on the floor temp, fuel and map lights.

The interior -- finally! -- is halfway presentable. That abomination of a steering wheel and new door cards ought to be the last big things I take on in here.

 

[charliekwin]

Next entry in the list of Projects I'm Not Smart Enough To Avoid: the steering wheel.

It's in bad shape, and after the dash went back in, it became even more obvious just how bad it was, and harder to overlook: auto parts store cover over electrical tape over masking tape over whatever was left of the original foam.

So, having watched a bunch of YouTube videos on steering wheel upholstery and having more enthusiasm than ability or common sense, dove in: stripped everything off and removed the flaking old paint. The spokes were sprayed with some rattle can Rustoleum. I'm now in the middle of building up the wheel. I searched Home Depot for anything I could use to replace the original padding but came up empty -- all the foams I found there weren't dense enough. I dug around the garage and found a bunch of old nylon webbing and thought to do this:

It seems to be working so far. When I tried for the second layer, it was feeling a little less solid than I'd like, so I soaked it with resin.

I need to do at least one, and maybe two more layers of the webbing, but I'm at a bit of a crossroads now: I can't decide what shape the wheel cross section should be. Round would be easiest. My G has more of an oval shape, which I never bothered to notice until I started working on this project, and it seems that's how many wheels are shaped. I could also try and put in the finger indentations, but don't have any idea how I would go about doing so. I also don't know how thick I want to make it. Some unexpected decisions to make here.

Ultimately, it'll be covered in leather. I got this nice piece from Springfield Leather Company for $35 shipped. So far, it's the only expense I have in this little project.

[grannyknot]

Nylon webbing, great idea, firm but with a bit of give. Will you cut the leather in a strip and wrap it like the webbing or sew it like a cover?

[charliekwin]

Every now and then I stumble backwards into something that makes me feel more clever than I probably am...the webbing qualifies here. Once the webbing is done I'll wrap it all with something like bicycle handlebar tape. Then I'll sew on a cover. That'll be the tricky bit.

[Captain Obvious]

I went through something similar a couple years ago and I cut finger grip slots in the base material before the recovering. Even after the final wrap, you could still feel the dents.

The point is... Have you considered putting finger grip dents in the base ring? Is there even enough material to consider doing that?

[charliekwin]

Having looked at a bunch of steering wheel pictures, I've decided that finger dents on the back of the wheel are the way to go. I like how Nardi did it on this one:

I think I might be able to get that kind of profile with a drill, sanding drum, and some cleverness.

That's a 390mm wheel, which is just slightly bbigger than the 280z wheel  at ~380mm, but I think I might go a narrower on the grip. The Nardi looks a little fat for a car like the Z.

[charliekwin]

Warning: tons of pictures of a steering wheel lie ahead!

I had one wrap of the webbing at the last update, so added another one and put a coat of resin over it. That gave me enough of a base to work from, so on to the finger indentations on the back. First measured the circumference and then marked off 36 lines and tied kitchen twine around each one, which I hoped -- too optimistically as it turns out -- might do much of the job in creating the indentations after coating it with resin. It didn't, but the profile did help in keeping the indentations centered.

I quickly gave up on trying to make any kind of jig and did them all by hand using a Dremel tool, hand drill with a couple different sized sanding drums, a couple of files, some hand sanding and a propane torch. For all that effort, at least they came out pretty well. By the way: doing 36 of anything is terrible.

The I had to dress up the spokes a bit and do some final cleanup. This part of the job is finally done!

The webbing would be way too hard if I just put the cover over that, so I had to cover it with something that has some give. I thought about bicycle handlebar tape, but it's 1) rather expensive, and 2) has tapered edges that would show through the leather. Good bar tape is cork based, so why not just use that? Turns out OSH sells 1/16" cork sheets for just $10. Onward! The profile on the spoke junctions ended up being a little flat, so first I padded those. Then I wanted to bring a little more height to the wheel profile since the indentations knocked a lot of it off, so I glued up a ring on the top face. My original plan was to wrap the whole wheel handlebar style, but the cork isn't flexible enough to work around in the indentations, so I wrapped the whole thing in strips, then sanded anything that needed a little help.

Considering that I haven't done something like this before, that I mostly used stuff laying around my garage, and that the internet as a whole seems surprisingly lacking in information on steering wheel restoration, I'm pretty much thrilled with the results so far.

I sure hope the leather part goes even half as well.

[grannyknot]

I would be tempted to just leave it with the cork with a sealing coat of some kind to keep the stains off, looks really good.