MIm20c Posted May 30, 2017 Report Posted May 30, 2017 I'm looking to do an interior overhaul this summer on my 63 ranger. I'd appreciate some pictures of other c's including floor -carpet cutouts-, seats, and headliner. This is one interior that I like and it looks fairly reasonable for a local shop to copy. Link - M20c Quote
carusoam Posted May 30, 2017 Report Posted May 30, 2017 (edited) When it comes to interiors, the one you posted looks very (well thought out, expensive, very nice.) You can see that the budget is always going to come up in conversation. Do you have a budget in mind? Or any limits that you need to stay within? There are different levels of niceness that are available. If you are staying to a budget you might want to explain that too. As a CB, there are some parts and pieces that can be purchased new that are technically proper for an M20C and won't break the bank. There are new plastic interiors and leather surfaces that are in the 10s of AMU. Flying around in an M20C, nobody knows how much you love your machine. You may be willing to spend for custom paint and beautiful leather to match a 75AMU instrument panel. Realistically you will run into a challenge using a local auto shop. The flammability and logging the weight and balance change, and other rules of airplanes, adds to the Work and expense. Getting your auto shop up to speed can be more costly than finding an aviation shop to do it properly. Briefly, Are you in the club to have somebody do it for you. Or are you in the club to get the best price on parts and install yourself with a mechanic checking your work? Best regards, -a- Edited May 30, 2017 by carusoam 1 Quote
MIm20c Posted May 30, 2017 Author Report Posted May 30, 2017 11 minutes ago, carusoam said: When it comes to interiors, the one you posted looks very (well thought out, expensive, very nice.) You can see that the budget is always going to come up in conversation. Do you have a budget in mind? Or any limits that you need to stay within? There are different levels of niceness that are available. If you are staying to a budget you might want to explain that too. As a CB, there are some parts and pieces that can be purchased new that are technically proper for an M20C and won't break the bank. There are new plastic interiors and leather surfaces that are in the 10s of AMU. Flying around in an M20C, nobody knows how much you love your machine. You may be willing to spend for custom paint and beautiful leather to match a 75AMU instrument panel. Realistically you will run into a challenge using a local auto shop. The flammability and logging the weight and balance change, and other rules of airplanes, adds to the Work and expense. Getting your auto shop up to speed can be more costly than finding an aviation shop to do it properly. Briefly, Are you in the club to have somebody do it for you. Or are you in the club to get the best price on parts and install yourself with a mechanic checking your work? Best regards, -a- Very good questions. I'm looking to put a lot of sweet equity into the interior overhaul. Buying the backing and trim it to fit. Buying automotive carpet (high quality) and cut it to fit. Repairing the plastic and painting it to match. At that point I'll have my local shop bind the carpet, purchase automotive leather and vinyl and redo my seats with new foam and covering. Put the leather or vinyl on the side panels to go above the carpet kick panels will be the last step for them. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the project with an airtex headliner and have my IA sign off. So I'm thinking a budget of 3-6k and slowly working on it over the next 6 months. The reason I picked that example is the limited amount of stitching on the side panels and straight forward seat design for the shop to emulate. Quote
carusoam Posted May 30, 2017 Report Posted May 30, 2017 My C was looking a lot like an Airtex show room. A tremendous improvement over the original, but rotted materials. Carpet and sidewall details all over. MS was still years off in the distance... My installation skills needed some MS type help... On a budget, the Airtex stuff is pretty nice. Fixing plastic panels and re-painting them mproves things a lot. Details are searchable around here... All the stuff that is behind the walls and under the floor boards is also nice to have updated, cleaned, or rejuvenated... Stick around your going love MS. best regards, -a- Quote
Schinderhannes Posted May 30, 2017 Report Posted May 30, 2017 We finished our interior overhaul yesterday. Upholstery material is IZIT "leather" and carpets from SCS. Our plastic panels were in pretty bad shape and I tried different methods to fix them. What worked best for me was a trick one of my old school A&P friend (fellow M20c owner) tough me. Cut a piece of fiberglass cloth and glue it to the backside of the crack by apply superglue with fast rubbing action. I tried different brands and Uncle Don's Hobby Shop house brand worked the best for me. It comes in different size bottles and different viscosity. They also sell an activator in a small spray bottle that cures the glue within seconds. http://www.uncledonshobbies.com/ 4 Quote
Yetti Posted May 30, 2017 Report Posted May 30, 2017 Search for 3 leather hides. I learned alot on that project. It would look a bunch better if I redid it now. 1 Quote
HRM Posted May 31, 2017 Report Posted May 31, 2017 21 hours ago, Skmoore63 said: I just finished putting new refinished seats... My god, those windows are CLEAR! 1 Quote
cliffy Posted May 31, 2017 Report Posted May 31, 2017 For 3 to 6K you can do real good with Airtex pre-made interior kits. They sew with approved materials and you do the install work. They look real good when done. Do check them out before you go to a lot of sewing work. If you really want to DIY make sure you understand the rules involved in a new interior. What materials you can legally use, how to get the weight and balance signed off (an A&P needs to do that for you), what and how you have to sign off as the installing person. Its not too difficult or complicated but you need to know how to do it legally. Show up at your next annual with a new interior and no paperwork and you might not get your annual signed off. 1 Quote
wcb Posted May 31, 2017 Report Posted May 31, 2017 I just did mine as well. I kept it simple with the seats but did everything in leather. Black leather yokes and everything else in tan leather. When I say everything in leather what I mean is wrapped the plastic window trim, side panels, post trim etc. (everything but the new tan carpet). I need to get a few more since I have also recently my m20c on the market. 1 Quote
MBDiagMan Posted June 3, 2017 Report Posted June 3, 2017 My new to me C is an outstanding bird in almost every way. New paint, 260 hour total time engine and prop, 430w, nice panel except for needing new switch overlay, no corrosion, great rigging and on and on EXCEPT the interior is long in the tooth. This thread shows what it can look like. My local Mooney mechanic is proposing he use of airtex, and doing the paint touch up and plastic for a middle ground price. I am leaning toward that solution as opposed to twelve or fifteen thousand at one of the high end shops. I am afraid to post pictures of the existing interior here. 1 Quote
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