Interior alteration/update fun has begun

Plan to update my interior with some black Alcantara accents. Just finished the B-pillars and am pretty happy with it. Even added a nifty heat embossed Porsche logo. Plan to do the A-, B- and C-pillars, rear cover below window, gauge pod, dome light cover, door sill covers, and the center console.

Very nice work.

I've been on a mission to de-plastic my interior with leather, alcantara, silver and carbon. I didn't want to use too much of one fabric, instead the different textures break things up quite nicely. I've got some pretty rare pieces like leather climate control and cup holder and some non oem like carbon steering column horseshoe base, seat belt trims and infrared cover. Alcantara are gearstick gaiter and steering wheel. Rarest, which I've never seen for sale are leather stalks, rear view mirror or seat belt buckles. Full spec that I've collected: Interior 997 GT3 seats Red seat belts GT2 Red Tacho face GT2 silver face clocks GT2 carpet badge GT2 handbrake Alcantara headlining Alcantara steering wheel Alcantara gear gaiter Silver Pack - dash strip - silver dial surround - clock dial finishers - door handles - centre air vent slats - side air vent slats Carbon Pack - centre console and ash tray - hazard surround - ignition surround - batwing - lower console pocket - heater surround - gear **** - full length sill plates - steering column base - B Pillar belt trims - sensor cover Extended Leather - steering column (CXX) - dome lamp cover (CXX) - side vent covers - door pockets - door handles - door mirror triangles - Speaker Finishers - Dash - Speakers Door - Jehnert twin woofers - Speaker Finishers - Rear - defroster trims with carbon inlay - heater control facia - cup holder facia - Inner Sill Cover Trunk release - Inner Sill Cover Door Bin - sun shades with vanity lighting - C Pillar belt trims - Centre console arm rest and trims On the list Carbon coat hooks Leather stalks Leather belt buckles Alcantara arm rest with porsche logo Leather rear view mirror

Very nice!

This has been a lot of fun today! Haven�t done this kind of work in a long time. Hope to get the A- and C-pillars covered tomorrow. Can�t believe how well a leather stamp left over from a former life worked on these. 3 minutes with a heat gun is all it took. Might have to start some kinda side hustle except I don�t have my sewing machine anymore

Quotes source post: 20071114

I�ve picked up the leather dash horseshoe and steering column cover (CXX) pieces. My car had the full leather option (982) and it�s all in great condition still but the center console is the old soft touch finish and that�s what started this adventure. Didn�t want to paint it. Started thinking too much about �what else can I wrap up�, slippery slope. All the original black leather trim is going into boxes. I went with just new black coat hooks and have NOS soft touch black side vents to go in. The car is basically death by black, so my new texture variation �problem� Ive created is that this black Alcantara material doesn�t match the steering wheel I wrapped last year (purchased cover) or the black suede shift boot. So I�ll have to wrap a new wheel and figure out how to make a boot without a sewing machine. That may have to wait until the ducktail project gets done first.

This looks so awesome and may take inspiration to do this in the future. Where did you get the crest stamp?

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I think I might have found the crest stamp (and a VW one too) on eBay 20 years ago. It�s a remnant from my failed attempt at being a self employed leather craftsman. (Failed because I cared more about creating awesome stuff than making good money doing it) Like, I probably have the only large breed dog chinchilla collar in the world. Was able to get almost everything except one C-pillar, airbag, and the inner pocket in the right door sill done this weekend. Ran out of one of my adhesives, so waiting on more to arrive. Decided on just getting a second complete center console to re-do instead of pulling mine and having downtime on the car. When the console is off, wanna do the FF shift cables since mine have 245K on them. This interior project seriously has me considering buying my old sewing machine back from the shop I sold it to. I wont need it to finish what I have left to do, but these parts could be so much more visually interesting with some more complex patterns. And there is way more I would do if I could. Theres always issues in first attempts like this, so had to use a little stingray hide to cover material cuts around the contoured sill switches. Should be able to get some installed pictures in the next few weeks.

I see the "Alcantara" covering material on FaceBook all the time and was even looking at buying some and giving it a shot. I hate the cheap plastic the 996 has and covering it would make it look much better. I do like the Porsche crest in yours! Very nice

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Thanks! The panels with complex curves that change directions were a bit challenging, but some weren�t too bad. Choosing the right adhesive for each panel base material is tougher. The soft touch black coating on the hard plastics does not like most of them. Do be aware that not all fabrics on the internet listed/claiming to be Alcantara actually are. I had to return orders from two different places that were clearly not what they represented. I finally found some decent material from Relicate. 2 yards of unbacked black for wrapping the panels, and another yard of backed material for remaking a matching steering wheel cover.

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Do you use either 3m spray adhesive or dapwood contact cement? Sounds like those are the most common. Thanks

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Used 3M spray 90, 94, and a special hi-temp fabric spray depending on the part shape and its size. The DAP contact cement will eat the black soft touch finish like paint stripper but is ok on a lot of the other plastic surfaces. Its pretty thin and requires multiple coats in most cases, and takes longer to work with, but it can be found at about any hardware store or Walmart. Mostly used Masters and RH Adhesives contact cements for edges and curved surfaces where stretching the fabric to form was required.

Not perfect, but I�m pretty happy with my first homemade pattern steering wheel cover and console wrap. The crest on the console is covering a rookie mistake of pre trimming too far ahead, and on the wheel is just because I made two heat stamps. The orange Alcantara underlay dots are my take on a centering strip. Didn�t want mess up on being off centered or have to sew anymore than I had to with my wife�s wimpy sewing machine. Its all coming together

It�s been really fun, but this update ordeal has grown a mind of its own. After putting everything in and adding some sweet black leather and Alcantara Pole Positions, I like how it�s turned out. Very OEM+ feel IMO. But since I finished up this dashboard that I thought I would just sell to fund other projects, it just turned out too nice to not just keep and put in the car. Already have a gauge pod cover and steering column cover installed in the car. This means to keep the continuity of the theme, I will also �need� to re-do the remaining leather door panels and lower rear panels. The interior needs a little more color other than black and grey, so my plan will be to do the upper door and rear in black Alcantara, and the whole �cove� of the door and area below the stitch line of the rear in a orange accented houndstooth fabric. (The area circled in red) like they did on the 996 Club Coupe interior. Might even do the side covers on the center console in the fabric before it�s all said and done.

Breaking up the black everything monotony has begun. Enough houndstooth plaid fabric to do door cove and rear panel accents but haven�t decided on the door pulls yet. Plus probably enough to make some spare Pole Position seat inserts when I can source the foam I want.

That's interesting; are you trying to get special foam or just foam to match Pole position foam?

Very nice work . I really like the look of the houndstooth console side pads . It pops with class . Well done sir .

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Need to get some different foam samples. Since I�m a skinny fella with a boney butt, so I want a firmer foam there and maybe a bit thicker. I can cut and shape the foam myself along with making the covers. The grey Alcantara cushions that came on the seats done by Classic 9 are really nice, but isn�t a perfect match to the headliner gray. I�ve been collaborating with my daughter on the direction of updates because the car will eventually be given to her.

I wasn�t able to figure out the voodoo magic needed to get the handle pull fabric to align with the rest of the door panel. Getting parallel lines to sync up together in stretched fabric on curved surfaces is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The pattern from the leather covers that came off just doesn�t translate well to laying down plaid. Would try a third time but I�m trying to save enough fabric for matching seat cushion inserts for the Pole Positions. It should still all turn out presentable I think.

Very nice work. Do you think it's better to strip the vinyl off to bare plastic or glue directly over it to have a bit of cushion?

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Some of my donor parts were vinyl and some were leather. On the leather parts, when possible I pulled the covers and bonded to the base plastic. The leather door panels can�t really be disassembled easily because they are sonic welded after they are covered, and they can�t be stripped off completely so they are just sanded down for bonding. I would recommend on vinyl parts to pull the vinyl top layer off and glue to the foam backing that stays on. Unless you use a vinyl adhesive, most glues don�t stick well to the vinyl. Pulling the original covers also gives you a starting place for a material pattern.

Finally got the door and rear interior panels finished and installed. Also did the sun-visors in black. Will get the full Alcantara dash put in someday when I am ready to get around to the blend door foam fix. Overall I�m pretty pleased with the results. Did everything come out absolutely perfect? No. Am I okay with the minor defects considering the thousands it saved me? Hell Yes!!! Some black with orange Cocomats should be here in the next few weeks to replace the track mats and cap off what I�m doing for the interior. Should look good.

Looks great!

Wow.

amazing work ! ! I love it.

Your mods scream clean and professional . Well done !

Inspiring!

Looks good but I would have kept the handle and arm rest the original black as it gets lost in the rest of the material....but thats just my opinion.

I think it's much different and more obvious in 3d real life. Cool effect in photos, kinda hides and blends into the fabric graphics.

Quotes source posts: 20301279, 20301329

Thanks for the compliments! The inside of the handle pull was left black leather. That blended/hidden handle effect was kinda what I was attempting to go for. Truth be told, it is a lot harder to keep parallel lines on two perpendicular axis aligned on overlapping curved surfaces using a woven fabric than it seems. I did finally figure out the voodoo required to get the passenger side handle to match the panel like it does on the drivers side. Before After Did the console side panels to match also.

great work!

Quotes source post: 20309830

Dang cool.

Been working up some OEM black leather and Alcantara center console w/ accessories, plus a set of A-, B-, and C-pillars in black Alcantara that I will get around to listing in the marketplace in the next few weeks. If anyone needs an interior refresh, this might be what you�re looking for. Coupe or cabrio/Boxter configurations ☝️ OEM stock - leather w/alcantara - full Alcantara ☝️