interior side panel covering?

[Amelia]

Looks as if this year's annual will include a long-overdue interior refurbishing for my 1980 M20K. The current decision is whether the Royalite panels, now cracked where the fasteners are, and irretrievably yellowed, should be covered with fabric or fake leather. The Eurostretch fabric is cheaper than the Ultraleather, but I'm still worried about cleanability. The interiors expert says he's had very few complaints about the fabric, and it has less tendency to wrinkle around corners, and takes less extra seaming, so is a good bit cheaper... So, what do y'all recommend?

[jlunseth]

I don't have any helpful opinions, I am doing the same thing, and would be interested in hearing what people have to say who have done this.  I would also be interested in knowing what the quotes usually are.  I have a quote to refoam and reuphoster the two front seats, cover the panels with fabric, and replace the windlace, at $6k.

[LFOD]

Just go all out and get the factory to put in one of their fancy interiors.

What is $20K between friends?

[fantom]

Quote: jlunseth

I don't have any helpful opinions, I am doing the same thing, and would be interested in hearing what people have to say who have done this.  I would also be interested in knowing what the quotes usually are.  I have a quote to refoam and reuphoster the two front seats, cover the panels with fabric, and replace the windlace, at $6k.

[Flybeech21]

There is aslo a product called Fusor that automotive body shops use.  I used it and worked incredibly well.  The Fusor is quite expensive ($40/ caulk gun tube and its a special double barreled caulk gun for the two part resin) and you will have to buy it from a shop because it is not available to the consumer.   But, getting it is worth it.  Trust me.  It is plyable so it bends with the plastic panel you repaired.  It is heat activated, so you will need a heat gun as well.  Once you sand and paint you will not be able to tell it was ever cracked.  And it hardens fast so you can sand it after a few minutes.

 

[KSMooniac]

Nice work!

[The-sky-captain]

Looks great Jim. I hope you enjoy the process and end results as much as I did with my plane. BTW I had my 2 straps reupholstered by a furniture shop for $10. Got to pick the stiching color and everything:)

[HRM]

Quote: JimR

I don't have a "before" picture for comparison sake, but here is my freshly-restored interior door panel.  The strap hasn't gone on yet.  I'm just redoing the plastic for now, so the red trim remains.  It looks a lot better than it did.  Thanks, Bodie, for the inspiration.  I'm going to work my way around the whole interior.

Jim 

[231Pilot]

Jim, the repair looks great.  Where was the damage?  I cannot detect the repaired area in the picture.

[HRM]

Quote: JimR

Baggage compartment and hat shelf complete.  My original royalite in these areas was in very good shape, but everything was very discolored and the hardware was mismatched and looked old.  It's amazing what a little bit of paint, some new stainless steel hardware, and a new windlace can do . . .

Jim    

[MooneyMitch]

Great job Jim.  You have mastered the interior technique.  It is most gratifying when completed, as you have discovered.  I do say that moving around in the interior of the Mooney when performing this type of work is a challenge.  We can get ourselves in the most uncomfortable positions!  Ok, once again, it looks terrific.

[markejackson02]

I removed the plastic and used Bondo, then SEM specialty paints.  Very nice results.  Removing the interior is a pain/education, took eight hours to get it out, a week to paint everything at night and a weekend to reassemble with new screws.

[HRM]

Quote: markejackson02

I removed the plastic and used Bondo, then SEM specialty paints.  Very nice results.  Removing the interior is a pain/education, took eight hours to get it out, a week to paint everything at night and a weekend to reassemble with new screws.

[RJBrown]

 After my last plane was painted I did the interior mostly by myself. The seats were pulled and sent to a freind of mine that does my antique cars for reupholstery. I pulled all the interior panels and repaired them. On any areas that were cracked I took 1 oz fiberglass cloth and worked it into the plastic on the backside with MEK. The mek softens the plastic and the light fiberglass cloth embeds into the plastic. The glass cloth was from a hobby shop. It was meant to be used to cover R/C aircraft. Any place that I felt might use the reinforcement got it. Any area that was cracked and had pieces missing got the fiberglass treatment on the back and then I used a product called Plast-Aid to fill the voids on the front. Plast-Aid comes as 2 plastic tubes. One contains a powdered plastic material and the other a liquid solvent. Mixed together it forms a bondo like putty that is plastic and melts into the panel material permanently. Bondo is too rigid if used it could later crack and fall off. SEM also makes a product called Flexible Ure-Weld part# 39406 that I have found usefull. It is a two part product that remains flexible after curing and can be sanded and painted. The paint I used was made by SEM. It is made to paint plastic. It is available in many colors and it sticks permanently to plastic. I used Airtex carpet it was easy to install and fit perfectly. New stainless screws were used to attach the refurbished panels. I replanced the windlace around the door and luggage door. I don't remember the source. The side trim pieces were made to attach without screws showing.  After the leather was cut I took the 4 pieces to a shop that had computer controlled embroiderly machines for the "MOONEY" in the headrests and the "305 Rocket" in the side panels. We chose stock letters for the embroidery. For an additional cost almost any artwork could be set up and embroidered on. The shop I used puts logos and lettering  on shirts, caps and jackets ion the normal course of business.

[markejackson02]

Quote: HRM

Hi Mark,

Can you post some photos of your interior? From my round of questions to Jim, I finally realized that he has a J that is 10 years junior to my E, duh . For example, it looks like his baggage door is royalite where mine is carpet covered. Your plane is a bit closer in size and age to mine.

Harley

[HootaCaroota]

In my opinion, covering with vinyl is a better choice than repairing and painting. Vinyl lasts a lot longer and looks better too. It stands up to UV rays too.

 

Here's a site with pics of some nicely covered window surrounds:

 

http://lcaero.com/InteriorBrochure.html

 

If you poke around, they also list thier prices for new interiors. Pretty darn reasonable it seems to me.

[HRM]

Quote: HootaCaroota

In my opinion, covering with vinyl is a better choice than repairing and painting. Vinyl lasts a lot longer and looks better too. It stands up to UV rays too.

 

Here's a site with pics of some nicely covered window surrounds:

 

http://lcaero.com/InteriorBrochure.html

 

If you poke around, they also list thier prices for new interiors. Pretty darn reasonable it seems to me.

[GeorgePerry]

I took my bird to Todd at Airtex in NJ.  $7K for an entirely new interior.  I was extremely happy with the quality and workmanship.  They repaired or replaced all the plastic bits and covered everything with a premium quality duraweave material.  For a complete breakdown here's a link to a previous thread and the link to Airtex's website

http://www.mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=1&threadid=446

   http://www.airtexinteriors.com/index.htm

[rlbowley]

Quote: HRM

The second is that this is a DIY thread, but since I haven't done any of it yet (still trolling for ideas and waiting for time) the notion of using vinyl if it is something anyone can do is intriguing. On the other hand, if LC Aero can do the whole thing in leather and vinyl for 5.5 AMU, that would be a bargain and worth consideration--strong consideration. Another plus is that I would not mind a trip out to Las Cruces, location of one of the finest universities in the world.

Last word--those guys must be hosting their website on a Commodore 64!

[FAADAR]

I am performing the same to my M20J, I bought a few hides of leather and thought I would just try to glue it in... what a mistake that was!! I am still high from the touloline vapors. Finally I had a local guy here in France do the headliner, side walls and seats. the prices were about 4000 USD, one of the most difficult areas were the LH/RH cockpit side panels, my guy had to stitch in a pouch if that makes sense and it is looking fantastic, even the headliner is being redone. The headliner was all cracked up and I had to repair the air duct chanel now the headliner is covered in a foam then stiched to fit and glued.

Hope to show photos soon Nice weather coming and the avionics mod is not yet finished Geez!!

[PTK]

How exactly did you remove the old windlace?  Is it a lot of work??  Thanks!

[carusoam]

Quote: allsmiles

How exactly did you remove the old windlace?  Is it a lot of work??  Thanks!

[Barry]

Frankly, I think it looks SUPER SHARP!! What do you charge to do mine ??

[rogerl]

Quote: JimR

Well, the next phase of my royalite restoration project is complete.  The red might be garish, but it looks like new, cost next to nothing, and I've had a great time doing it.

Jim

 

[carusoam]

Jim,

Congratulations, you have done mighty fine work.

It looks brand new on the inside. 

Best regards,

-a-