Thanks for all the comments about the interior pieces we covered with carbon fiber vinyl.

We also painted many of the trim pieces. Prep work was a combination of time consuming and simple.

Pieces such as gauge cluster, door handles, etc were rather easy. Steps to paint were:

Sand with 800 grit sandpaper
Wash thoroughly with soap, followed by alcohol or adhesive remover. wash again.
Apply SEM Plastic Adhesive Primer
Apply primary base coat of SEM Warm Gray base paint
--This color was used as our first coat so we would be painting on a light surface to bring out the metallic in the final base paint
Apply final base coat of SEM Titanium Metallic Gray base paint
Sand with 2000 grit sandpaper
Finish with U-Pol #1 clear coat. Sanded with 2000 grit sandpaper every 3rd coating. Usually 4 - 5 coats was done to achieve desired finish.

SEM is supposedly a non fading automotive paint. Very easy to work with. Two coats is all that's required.

U-Pol is a very easy to use clear coat that supposedly offers high UV resistance.

Secret compartment & rear cover trim, Roll-hoops were a more lengthy process. This was due to wanting a smooth surface instead of a textured finish. If you want to paint and keep the texture, follow the above steps.

Doing this will ruin any piece. I experimented several times and came up with the following for a nicely smooth finish. It's not perfect but it's pretty good.

Get drunk
Grab sander with 200/400 grit sandpaper and sand pieces smooth. (You can later blame this event on being drunk)
Apply fiberglass resin. Be generous with the resin.
-- The reason for sanding the pieces first is so the resin is absorbed by the pieces.
Use sander with 80/100 grit sandpaper, finish smoothing with 200/400 grit.
Apply another coat of resin.
I hand sanded with 80 grit to smooth ripples, etc. Then used 400 grit followed by wet sanding of 800 grit.
--You can apply a third coat of resin if needed.
--If you want a nearly perfect smooth finish, I would fill with bondo body filler.
Wash thoroughly
Apply primer and wet sand with 800 grit.
At this point, the piece should feel like glass.
Follow the above painting steps.

Here are the results we got.

Most of the pieces


Gauge Cluster




Steering Wheel Under trim. This pic best shows the results.


Steering Wheel Upper trim


Secret Compartment rear trim. Notice my wife's reflection )


Window control trim pieces


This is a very close picture. The finish is very smooth - the texture is metallic look of the paint.


Door handle trim


Shift boot trim



I posted this pic to show how easy it is to work with the U-Pol clear coat. The roll hoop has had the first 3 coats applied. You can see 'dust' on the surface. That's not dust but the overspray. Just wipe it off ))

 

Good work. All nice pieces. Any pictures of everything installed in the car?

 

I agree, we need photos of them installed, including your CF wrap effort.

 

Awesome! Can't wait to see it all in the car with the CF vinyl.

 

wow this is going to look nice mixed with the carbon

good job

 

More pics or BAN!!!!

 

We finished the roll hoops. A gust of wind blew one off it's stand. I had to do some touch up work.

The car is Rio Yellow and I've always wanted gray roll hoops. 8 years of owning an S and I finally got them.

 

wow, i wanted to do something similar to this for a while now...my inspiration is the aston martin dbs and the cayman s...good luck with the project...cant wait to see the final product...

 

Wow awesome job! A good custom interior job is hard to come by, especially when its home down and not from a shop!!! Good work and great woman you got! She got a sister

 

You do some amazing work. To take your car apart like that definitely requires some balls too.