Airtex Interior Pirep

[mcrouch]

Well, since no one else has asked, mind sharing what the turn key cost was?

[Mark M20B]

On 6/8/2019 at 6:38 PM, mcrouch said:

Well, since no one else has asked, mind sharing what the turn key cost was?

I'm in the process of doing mine now.  The total cost from Airtex including shipping for everything - seats, wall panels, headliner, carpet and other recommended items was $3,822.  This was for vinyl seats.  I also ordered soundproofing material, glue and other supplies from Aircraft Spruce for around $400.  While installing my headliner, I noticed the seal in my side windows needed to be replaced so I decided to order new windows.  That will add another $1,300 to the cost.  While the headliner was out I also decided to add ADS-B.  I'm pretty happy so far as it looks really nice.  It will end up taking a month and a half longer than I though it would though.

[David Lloyd]

Yesterday I ordered carpet, sidewalls, leather seats, 3 sheets of soundproofing material, 200 screws & washers, 3 pints of glue, 22' of weatherstrip welt.  $4021 plus shipping. A few minutes after sending pictures, Airtex owner Dodd Stretch called to discuss a few details, color of the arm rests, etc.  He told me I did not need the strap material under the seats, asked about the door pulls, the split rear seat backs and hey, those front seats came out of a late model.  Need more pictures, we want to get it right the first time. 

This is the kind of customer service I expect!  Same as what I experienced from Airtex 15 years ago.  Dodd took over the business from his father 18 years ago and expect to have a business to pass to his early teen sons in the future.  

[carusoam]

Dodd really knows customer service and getting things right the first time...

Its only been 20 years since I learned what welt was... Thanks to Dodd and his Dad...  

Best regards,

-a-

[Comet]

Now that the plane is back from the paint shop, I’ve finally gotten around to the armrests.  I got an extra yard of vinyl from Airtex.  Removed the armrests and peeled off the old vinyl.  Most of the padding foam remained on the aluminum armrest, so I decided to just recover the armrest with the new vinyl using the same contact adhesive that I used on the seats.  The contact adhesive has gotten a little gummy over the past few months that made it harder to apply.  Final step will be to remove the old trim and replace with new vinyl.  That will have to wait until after Oshkosh (and I’ll want to take interior pics for when it’s complete).

[David Lloyd]

Seats, headrests, carpet and most of the side panels done.  Still need to do a little repair to two panels that's why all the screws aren't installed.  Still have the windlace to install but I have had it with hot an humid.  It'll be a cold day in...uh, where was I going with that?  Several little questions, Dodd Stretch, owner of Airtex phoned me with an answer.  Once, over the Labor Day weekend, by the pool with a drink in his hand.  Terrific customer support.

One of the questions was how to put a 12x8x5 block of foam with a 3x7 piece of sheet metal glue in it into the headrest cover.  Can't be done.  Dodd said just get it all prepped, put it in a garbage bag and stick a shop vac hose in the bag.  Turn it on and it sucked the foam block down to about half size.  Put it in the cover and turn the vac off.  Rip out the plastic bag.  I'm old and have seen some neat things.  That ranked up there.  Okay, maybe it was a slow week.

In case you're wondering, the carpet is easy.  Headliner, intimidating but not too bad. Seats were unexpectedly easy.  Repairing the old brittle plastic side panels, then repainting, most of the time was spent here.  

Next job, instrument panel redo.