M20J Interior Upgrades - Cost?

[dwanzor]

Hi all, looks like I'v found a 1983 M20J to purchase. 

The interior is not terrible, but the front seats padding is very work and not comfortable, so at a minimum I need to have the 2 front seats freshened up. 

From looking at other threads, it looks like a high end interior redo is in the $20-$22k range at Aero Comfort in Texas - is that still an accurate ballpark? 

If a person had a budget of $10k for an interior - what could be accomplished with that? 

Thanks in advance for ideas and cost info. 

[toto]

Many people who want a budget option will purchase a kit from Airtex and then either do a lot of work themselves (which is probably a $5k interior) or they hire an automotive interior company to do the seats and coverings that can be removed from the aircraft (which is still likely under $10k all in). 

There used to be a company in Pennsylvania that regularly offered a full $10k interior refurbishment on eBay, but their prices seem to have increased post-covid. 

ETA: https://www.ebay.com/itm/300334424661

[ArtVandelay]

I had mine done 9 years ago for $7500 by Aero Trim (Vero Beach) , but I didn’t do the yokes or glare shield. I kept the price down by not doing any fancy embroidery or complex design.

[PT20J]

There are a lot of options depending on how much work you want to do yourself and what materials you want to use. There are lots of threads on the site for refurbishing glare shields, plastic panels, carpeting and upholstery. 

[anthonydesmet]

Over the last couple years I’ve done mine and used multiple sources. The last piece I have are my seats. I talked to Hector at AEROCOMFORT Tuesday who is currently doing my glareshield and trim. I am sending my seats to him after the holidays. 

For everyone’s S/A he is discontinuing complete drop off GA interiors as of 1 January.  He is on contract with AIRBUS who is taking a bulk of their time but he will do GA just not drop off complete interiors. When you want to send something in, plan early.

i did my plastic on my own and had AIRTEX send me the carpet.  
 

I recommend diving in and doing some yourself, it’s a great way to get to know your airplane 

while you wait to send your seats off you can always add a cushion. Aircraftspruce lists a number of them for a temporary until you decide what to do.

 

 

[Ragsf15e]

If you do use an automotive upholstery place (say for the seats), does the year of our aircraft matter for materials compliance?  Or are they all “Car 3” and it just requires industry standard fire resistance? Any different between say a ‘65C and a 2004 R?

[toto]

  On 12/7/2024 at 7:04 PM, anthonydesmet said:

I recommend diving in and doing some yourself, it’s a great way to get to know your airplane 

while you wait to send your seats off you can always add a cushion. Aircraftspruce lists a number of them for a temporary until you decide what to do.

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You mean just like a seat cushion?

[dwanzor]

  On 12/7/2024 at 7:04 PM, anthonydesmet said:

Over the last couple years I’ve done mine and used multiple sources. The last piece I have are my seats. I talked to Hector at AEROCOMFORT Tuesday who is currently doing my glareshield and trim. I am sending my seats to him after the holidays. 

For everyone’s S/A he is discontinuing complete drop off GA interiors as of 1 January.  He is on contract with AIRBUS who is taking a bulk of their time but he will do GA just not drop off complete interiors. When you want to send something in, plan early.

i did my plastic on my own and had AIRTEX send me the carpet.  
 

I recommend diving in and doing some yourself, it’s a great way to get to know your airplane 

while you wait to send your seats off you can always add a cushion. Aircraftspruce lists a number of them for a temporary until you decide what to do.

 

 

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What’s the turnaround time if you send the seats off to Aero Comfort? 

[rturbett]

If the covers are good, the foam inside can be replaced for about $150 in foam / materials and and two hours work. 

 

[anthonydesmet]

  On 12/7/2024 at 7:30 PM, toto said:

You mean just like a seat cushion?

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Yes, aircraftspruce has some seat cushion options you could use as a temporary way of adding some comfort while you decide what to do long term or if you have to wait to send your seats in.

[anthonydesmet]

  On 12/8/2024 at 12:30 AM, dwanzor said:

What’s the turnaround time if you send the seats off to Aero Comfort? 

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Once he has them it’s about a week.  We picked out color and materials so he has them on the shelf. He will notify me when he has downtime and I’ll send them off. Probably end of January or early February.

[bigmo]

As a few guys mentioned, there are some cheaper ways to get a nice end product. My F is currently getting the seats done right now. I chose a high quality marine vinyl in a medium gray. I'm also having the "easy to get off" side panels done too. My plastic is all in generally good shape, so this will be a light renovation but should be a BIG step up from the early 80's bowling alley fabric it has now. The upholsterer is also reshaping the seats a bit as the last time it was done (1982ish), they built up the side bolsters. 

I'm not lifting much of a finger. My normal A&P is doing the removal and reinstallation. A guy that does nice car & boat work is doing my seats (he's also a pilot & CFI). 

All told, I'll have $3K in the job. 

It takes a bit of a personal network, but checking with nearby airfields, mechanics etc is well worth the time. You are certainly not the first guy that wants to do an upgrade and not sink a giant load of cash into the plane.

[Pinecone]

The last price I got from AeroComfort was $18,000.  But, that requires that someone remove the interior, ship it to them, then reinstall it.  They no longer offer those services.

There are a number of local shops around the country that do aircraft interiors.  I used Roberto's Aircraft Interiors, now located at New Garden airport (N57) in SE PA.  He did nice work, for a lot less than AeroComfort.   Mine was done during an avionics upgrade, so my airplane was not at his shop.  So it was not a priority for him. He replaced the poster board and other backings with Kydex.  All materials have burn certs.

My local FBO quoted about $12K for an Airtex interior install, including the Airtex interior.  They would remove, repair and paint all the plastic parts.

[Bill_Pyles]

My seats and carpet are fine and I need just the plastic side panels, headliner etc  What interior shop for plastics might the group recommend?

[bigmo]

  On 12/11/2024 at 12:24 AM, Bill_Pyles said:

My seats and carpet are fine and I need just the plastic side panels, headliner etc  What interior shop for plastics might the group recommend?

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Check out Vantage. I needed a couple of plastic parts and from talking to them on the phone, it appears they make them on demand vice stocking old stock. Total time order to door was about two weeks. Prices were decent and quality seems better than OEM.

https://vantageassoc.com/

[GeeBee]

  On 12/7/2024 at 7:29 PM, Ragsf15e said:

If you do use an automotive upholstery place (say for the seats), does the year of our aircraft matter for materials compliance?  Or are they all “Car 3” and it just requires industry standard fire resistance? Any different between say a ‘65C and a 2004 R?

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You want burn certs for all materials used or prepare to take a hit when you sell it. I know of several shops who get calls all the time asking how to certify an interior with no certs. Getting the certs is not difficult, many material manufacturers already have them and will send copies with the order.

 I did my interior with AeroComfort last year before he stopped full installs. One of the nice things is as an FAA Approved Repair station not only do you get a logbook entry with certification of the materials and work but that certification also exists in the Repair Station records that AeroComfort maintains.

[bigmo]

I’m not doing separate certs for my CAR3 F. It’s not needed. The material supplier standards meet the regulations.

For any Part 23 certified aircraft, I can vouch for this guy:

http://www.kruegerflam.com/
 

I think his name is Keith. Super responsive and an affordable $100 fee. He needs 3x samples 3”x6”. Easy peasy.

I don’t know which models / serial numbers for our planes switched to Part 23. Presume it’s 1980ish+ but I suspect it’s by serial number for models that span that era.

[Bill_Pyles]

  On 12/11/2024 at 1:52 AM, bigmo said:

Check out Vantage. I needed a couple of plastic parts and from talking to them on the phone, it appears they make them on demand vice stocking old stock. Total time order to door was about two weeks. Prices were decent and quality seems better than OEM.

https://vantageassoc.com/

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Thanks Bigmo; I will check out Vantage.

[DCarlton]

  On 12/11/2024 at 3:46 AM, Bill_Pyles said:

Thanks Bigmo; I will check out Vantage.

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All of my interior side panels and several of the baggage compartment panels were replaced with Vantage Plane Plastics.  They take a ton of trimming and fitting but they're much better than the originals.  They finish very nicely with SEM aerospace products.  The plane plastics on line catalog is not very friendly.  You may not see the exact part you're looking for; if not, call them; they'll likely have it; if they don't, you can send the your part and they will make one.  You'll likely want to make your own arm rests and side accent panels.  

[Brent]

Here's the last turn-key interior that Hector and his crew at Aero Comfort did. I picked it up in mid-March; took five weeks for the whole job. I contemplated sending my panels in as I had the interior out to replace my side windows last year. But my skills and workmanship would have come up short when it comes to the tricks of installation. My plastics were in really tough shape, but they were able to salvage and repair them. I paid full price, but I was really happy with the quality and workmanship and end result The cost was more or less in line with Aero Comfort's published price list, though I had some extra charges due to a couple missing components that they were able to replace. A couple of before/after photos attached.    

[IvanP]

Looks awesome! Hope you will enjoy it in good health. 

[A64Pilot]

  On 12/7/2024 at 7:29 PM, Ragsf15e said:

If you do use an automotive upholstery place (say for the seats), does the year of our aircraft matter for materials compliance?  Or are they all “Car 3” and it just requires industry standard fire resistance? Any different between say a ‘65C and a 2004 R?

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@Ragsf15e No, ALL mooney’s are CAR3.

I have never heard of anyone wanting burn certs for a pre-buy, but they aren’t expensive or hard to obtain, most anything will pass as the reg pretty much says if it doesn’t burn vigorously it’s OK. Surely Airtex can or will supply burn certs on request, it’s just not tough or expensive to meet Certs so why wouldn’t they?

From memory your supposed to placard the airplane no smoking if you don’t have burn certs, but even if you have certs if you don’t placard it you have to have an ashtray for each seat, there is no way if I were paying big bucks for an interior that I would have ash trays, so I’d placard it anyway.

For anyone who is replacing the foam in your seat I strongly recommend Oregon Aero cushions, Maule has absolutely horrible seats, couldn’t fly an hour without my back killing me, Oregon aero seat foam transformed the seats, it’s not so much the foam as it’s the foams shape that made the difference. It will seem like a lot of money for just foam, but it’s worth it.

[Schllc]

I will tell you this, unless you know an upholsterer personally and have seen the quality of the work, trying to get a budget job done is extremely dangerous. 
you are much better off letting  aerocomfort do the job for what they ask.

they know mooney’s, they have done hundreds of them, and they know what to look for and avoid. 
I am on my third in six with a shop that took deposits and just could not perform. 
frustrated would be a happy place for me now. 
they will ground your plane, and have you hostage once they start. 
I would never do this with a “cheap” guy,  it can definitely cost you a lot more in delays, poor work, down time and stress.  
 

Good Luck!

 

 

[Matthew P]

Actually I've known people that have gone down the street to the Custom Auto Body Shop and had their interiors done...Most auto fabrics meet the burn criteria and if not, they can order it...They took the seats, headliner, carpets and panels, etc. to the shop, a couple of the upholstery guys were curious about the aircraft so they went out to the aircraft to see it and make suggestions...it's an option and usually a bit cheaper..just a thought

 

[toto]

  On 4/7/2025 at 12:53 AM, Matthew P said:

Actually I've known people that have gone down the street to the Custom Auto Body Shop and had their interiors done...Most auto fabrics meet the burn criteria and if not, they can order it...They took the seats, headliner, carpets and panels, etc. to the shop, a couple of the upholstery guys were curious about the aircraft so they went out to the aircraft to see it and make suggestions...it's an option and usually a bit cheaper..just a thought

 

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There’s an auto upholstery shop in Kansas City where the owner is an A&P and does high quality aircraft work. It’s not their main business, but definitely worth considering. We had a couple of seats rebuilt and reupholstered there a few years back and they looked great.