*!Build of the year candidate!* Strange PNW Build: E30+Volvo

[adam.nonis]

Man that cock pit is awesome. Your an inspiration that makes me want to try some of the little projects that I thought would be cool but never took the leap. Well I took a small step recently. I will let you know when it is done.

How did you wrap all of those pieces so cleanly? I know this is a hell of an ask but when you do the wrap on the dash could you make a small DIY on how you do it? And what you are using to do the job? If you can't I completely understand. But if you can that would be awesome.

This is my favorite build on the internet. Anklebiter held the number one spot for years but he has been pushed to second now. Keep up the great work.

Absolutely I’ll make a DIY. I’ll add as many details and points of note that I’ve picked up over the years. One thing is to know ahead of time what can/can’t be wrapped and how to fix what can’t. Such as the front center console. I know that I can’t get the vinyl to wrap all the way down into the front pocket area. I’m aware people have stitched separate pieces to get in there. I laid up a fiberglass piece in the back so I could wrap around the sides and then wrap the insert piece separately and glue it in. I’ll grab a separate pic later tomorrow.

[adam.nonis]

Just as an FYI, not everything magically works out for me. I am not going to have funds, or time, to get my front seats upholstered before I’ve got stuff to do this coming spring so I decided to paint/dye the front seats. I had some custom color mixed up and prepped/sprayed the seats. I know it’s not a solid long term solution, but I figured I could get one season out of it. Well, after getting it all done it felt “dry”. Not like how it usually is. I stuffed my arm up in the seat to remove the hangers I used while spraying and everywhere the seat wrinkled the paint cracked. I drug a nail across it and it flakes right off. FML. Now I need to strip off all the paint, re-prep and spray again. I won’t be using custom mixed paint this time (I’m blaming that material), but instead an off-the-shelf rattle can color. This is gonna be a pain in the a$$.

[parkerbink]

That sucks, sorry.

[adam.nonis]

Set up the workshop after doing a fair amount of shoveling. Came up with a pretty good rattle can combo that got the seat color pretty close. Test fit the Nardi. Slightly smaller, so it blocks even more of the gauges for me. That’s why I added LEDs on the lower inner gauge bolt locations. They’re turn signal repeaters. From my driving position the turn indicators are 100% blocked. Now I need to make a top half cluster bezel.



The kids and I also took some storage bins I had and we built some snowball fighting forts.



The 11 year old is tall for his age, and the three year old is short for his age, so we tried to stage the wall height so it could work for both

[LateFan]

Haha, very sweet.

I like that steering wheel.

[adam.nonis]

Haha, very sweet.



I like that steering wheel.

It’s a used Nardi from eBay that I won the auction on accident. lol. It’s a bit weathered, and I was thinking of re/clearing it, but now I’m thinking the “patina” kind of goes with the rest of the car.

[adam.nonis]

Hoping to possibly wrap the dash tomorrow AM! Pretty excited. I think I’ve got enough of the detail stuff completed to move forward. Pretty excited to check that off. I’ll still need to make the polished aluminum “chrome” strip.

[oekundar]

You do great work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[adam.nonis]

I’ll put together a longer post once I get some better daytime pics tomorrow. Got dark fast today



Oh, and test stickers!

[parkerbink]

Wow!

[adam.nonis]

You do great work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you. I try

[rzerob]

Holy crap, that turned awesome. Not that I am surprised. I look forward to the longer post.

[Staszek]

I’ll put together a longer post once I get some better daytime pics tomorrow. Got dark fast today



Oh, and test stickers!

You are just crazy talented!

[adam.nonis]

Holy crap, that turned awesome. Not that I am surprised. I look forward to the longer post.

I’m super happy. Mostly to have that part checked off.

You are just crazy talented!

I’m trying to provide as much info as I can so other people can dip their toes in and try some stuff.

[adam.nonis]

*!Build of the year candidate!* Strange PNW Build: E30+Volvo

I know this is a hell of an ask but when you do the wrap on the dash could you make a small DIY on how you do it? And what you are using to do the job?

So, I took some pictures and then I just got in a groove and stopped. Here’s what I did take. The first step in wrapping a custom part is to try and to note potential problem areas and come up with solutions in advance. Such as..

Where the vinyl comes around the end of the dash I’ll need A) a recess for the vinyl to lay flat with the surrounding area and B) a way for the two colors to interface with each other when the chrome strip ends. I laid some double back tape around the edge of the end caps (3M double back is about the same thickness as vinyl), then bondoed up to it. And I cut a slot for the two vinyls to “tuck” into.



The next problem areas are any deep recesses. The least stress you can induce to the vinyl the more likely it is to stay down. The solution there is to twist/pull the vinyl in other areas to create slack for tucking into the recesses (no pic, sorry)



Pocket areas with tight radiuses will almost never get vinyl down in them. The fix is to make an insert to fit in that will allow you to cut slots right up to the radiuses. I do this by machining plugs that are oversized for me to fill up to, but the low tech way would be to use whatever part you’re going to use in the final part, wrap it with masking tape, then put a strip of double back (to create vinyl space) and body up to that.

This is the glue I use (I buy it five gallons at a time, but you can get it in smaller sizes online)



One trick I do is to mask off areas that I’m not wrapping the first time so when I’m wrapping the first half I’m not fighting the vinyl sticking to where I’m not wrapping



Then my technique is to spray glue lightly (I use the $15 Harbor Freight paint guns) to both the part and the vinyl. Wait for it to dry completely. I mean completely. Then lightly spray a second coat on either the part or vinyl (usually the part) and then stick. When possible, I heat the vinyl from the back side. When you heat from the front you risk melting the vinyl before getting it all stretchy. By heating from the back you almost completely eliminate the possibility of “burning” the vinyl



I haven’t completely decided what I’m going to do on the end caps, but for now I just glued a piece of suede on



Custom loop carpet floor mats shown



Next is to re-upholster the door caps two tone with the chrome strip and finish the cluster surround trim