Interior swap...yet another project?

[EuroDriven]

Hey all, so I have been doing some looking and reading and clicking and am starting to like the idea of an interior swap more and more everyday. I found a decent deal on black leather s4 seats front and back. So I am wondering what issues people have had with an interior swap, if there are any threads of choice to check out and if there is anything tricky I probably haven't thought of.

So since I want a full black interior in the car there is a whole slew of things I need to replace.

-Carpet
-Dash
-Center Console
-Headliner
-Plastics
-Sun roof
-anything I missed?

I want to experiment and see if I can dye a majority of things that need to be "swapped". I have some left over VHT Vinyl dye from my old CRX last year which had a black interior but I picked up a few misc blue parts for. The dye supposedly soaks into the plastic so that if you were to cut the plastic and examine the cross section you would see the inner part of the plastic actually change colors. I have actually cut something and gone at it with sharp metal objects to put deep scratches in and it seem to work just as described.

So with this can of VHT Vinyl dye I should be able to do most of the plastic in the car. This means FREE black plastics for the interior if it works. I have seen things about doing this to the carpet in the car as well, so I am gonna have to try it on that too.

This swap won't take a place for some time, but I am looking for a guide on how to take the plastic parts out of the interior so I can take them out a few at a time an dye them. I am also thinking about wrapping the headliner in that 4 way stretch suede with diamond stitching while I am at this, and while funds permit.

Over all, if the vinyl dye works well I should be able to swap the interior with a custom headliner for about 800$ or so.
Of the 800$:
$400 - seats
$200 - dash
$150 - Headliner
$50 - Misc

I am sure this is too low as I need a new sunroof switch already since the one I have is peeling.

I am hoping to do this in parallel with everything else starting near the end of may when I get my life back from school. So this should all be done before I start driving here every day. Along with all this I have a bunch of exterior styling mods to come too

-John

[audee3]

removing/replacing the carpet is a very big project. It is all one piece and with the thick padding it has underneath it, its not that easy to work with and most of your interior will need to be out to do it. We replaced one on an accidented car and it was a much bigger job than we anticipated. I say if theres anyway to dye it and you think it will be good, I think it will save you alot of trouble. The dash is a huge project too.

[Seerlah]

S4 seats will also sit a bit higher than your A4 sport bucket seats. Just a heads up, if you are a guy like me whom likes to sit more tucked away.

[black99.5a4]

dash is cake..

carpet is easy, just time consuming

[RoadRage]

I'm considering replacing my carpet from all the water it's soaked up. Is there a DIY for carpet replacement? Or is it pretty much just remove your seats, cut up and remove carpet, install new carpet, replace seats.

[black99.5a4]

carpet is...

remove console both portions
remove seats
lower a, b, c trim
door sill trim

slice carpet behind the heating duct behind the radio

[biketsai]

tell me more about teh dash replacement?

[SeekB00st]

you will exerince more problems than u expect

[EuroDriven]

I can say this about everything on this car so far. But to be able to replace all the interior pieces I need to pull them out, so the carpet would be easy to get at if I am doing this anyways.

The carpet would have to be outside of the car to dye it....well maybe..I might be able to do it in the car.

The only thing that worries me is the seats, I didn't think the S4 seats would sit higher. Anybody have measurements of how much higher? Also are there any super comfortable "racing" style seats that I could put in which would offer good looks, comfort and a good driving position down low?

The seat height worries me because I am a big framed guy. Broad shoulders, but only 5'11", but with long legs. In my Subaru I can barely slouch in my seat without my knees hitting the dash just trying to hit the dash.

I know I saw a picture once of a tan interior with a black carpet does anyone have one they could post? I would at least like the carpet black to make it look cleaner from dirt and all that.

Thanks!

[A4Rob]

Skip the dye. Find someone who is parting out a S4 and grab all the black parts you need.

[EuroDriven]

Have you tried the dye before? I am not saying its the best option, but I have used it first hand. The only issue I have with getting s4 parts is I have seen plastic sets going for like 400-500$ and I figured the dye would be worth a try.

-John

[A4Rob]

Have you tried the dye before? I am not saying its the best option, but I have used it first hand. The only issue I have with getting s4 parts is I have seen plastic sets going for like 400-500$ and I figured the dye would be worth a try.

-John

$400 to $500? For plastic grab handles and visors? whoa!

[biketsai]

Ive seen them on AZ for around $1-200 depending on what they include.

[EuroDriven]

Maybe I am wrong...But along with the handles/visors don't I need a/b/c pillars, sunroof controls/whatever dome light, sun roof plastic, lower b pillar, center console, door sill surrounds?

Thanks again...

John

[AudiBoy808]

how you doing on your hunt for interior parts I too am doing this swap currently looking for a S4 dash, end caps, and HVAC and I'll be done. You just have to keep checking the classifieds and eventually the things you need pop up.

Good luck

[LDetter]

Maybe I am wrong...But along with the handles/visors don't I need a/b/c pillars, sunroof controls/whatever dome light, sun roof plastic, lower b pillar, center console, door sill surrounds?

Thanks again...

John

Just to let you know, being that your car is a 1998 the S4 headliner won't work in your car, the sunroof is in a different location on the roof.

[ADNpro]

complete upper half black s4 interior (a,b,c pillars, headliner, sunroof slide, light clusters front and rear, homelink visors, visor lights, ohh **** handles, and wiring harness and black door seals) 300 shipped or ask for individual pieces

http://www.audizine.com/classifieds/...ar-108k&cat=54

[lotusgardener]

Thanks for the advertising ADNpro!!!

[ADNpro]

Haha no problem!

[black99.5a4]

tell me more about teh dash replacement?

remove side panels of the dash... remove knee bolster and glove box... remove center console... remove the 2 torx holding the cluster in, remove the 2 torx that hold the accordian piece in, remove it... remove the 8mm bolts that are under the dash.. they up against where the beltline trim is.. i'd say there are 4-5 of them.... remove the 10mm nut on the air duct behind the radio.. lay in the pass footwell and take out all of the bolts holding the air bag brackets to the main dash support.

pull dash out.

i can have mine out in 20 mins.

[EuroDriven]

remove side panels of the dash... remove knee bolster and glove box... remove center console... remove the 2 torx holding the cluster in, remove the 2 torx that hold the accordian piece in, remove it... remove the 8mm bolts that are under the dash.. they up against where the beltline trim is.. i'd say there are 4-5 of them.... remove the 10mm nut on the air duct behind the radio.. lay in the pass footwell and take out all of the bolts holding the air bag brackets to the main dash support.

pull dash out.

i can have mine out in 20 mins.

Thanks for this!

Whats the difference between s4 interior plastics and a4 interior plastics?

-John

[black99.5a4]

in 99.5 the plastics changed slightly.. which is the same as s4 stuff..

the difference is, s4 is black, a4 was never offered in black.

for your car, the plastics will work, but you must change them ALL.. not just upper pieces, they wont mate to the lower b pillars.. at least, i dont think they will.

the console swapping is gonna be the biggest pain for you if you do that.. cause the wiring and switch plugs, etc. are different.

the headliner from the s4 wont work at all, so you can just recover yours.. the sunroofs are in different places.

[lotusgardener]

The sunroof is *MAYBE* about half inch forward in pre-facelift vs. facelift cars. If you put in a facelift headliner you will see that half inch of black bar. It's not horrible.

[TheNatural]

Since your doing it anyway you should take pics and make a DIY of it!

[lotusgardener]

The wiring really is the hardest part. I have yet to talk myself into doing it, just because I know it will be a headache and take up mucho amounts of my time

[EuroDriven]

What about black plastics out of a 1997 2.8L 12v v6? ;) I at least have a dash and center console....plus....I have a few surprises up my sleeve which should be unveiled by summer.

As always, thanks guys!

-John

[EuroDriven]

remove side panels of the dash... remove knee bolster and glove box... remove center console... remove the 2 torx holding the cluster in, remove the 2 torx that hold the accordian piece in, remove it... remove the 8mm bolts that are under the dash.. they up against where the beltline trim is.. i'd say there are 4-5 of them.... remove the 10mm nut on the air duct behind the radio.. lay in the pass footwell and take out all of the bolts holding the air bag brackets to the main dash support.

pull dash out.

i can have mine out in 20 mins.

I am almost done pulling out the dash, but there are a few screws I cannot figure out. The first 2 screws I can't figure out are the torx screws that get take out after the gauges are out. The other screws are the ones for the air bag, there are so many screws around there that I am not sure what to pull out. I pulled out the 4 closest to the cylindrical thing up under there.

Also once the screws are all out how do I get the dash loose? It seems like it clips in up by the windshield but cant get my hands in far enough to unclip it.



Thanks for the help.

-John

[EuroDriven]

Another update:

I got the dash completely disconnected except for 1 wire....the one that goes to the center of the vent in the center of the dash up by the glass. There is a nut holding something on covered the wire, but I cannot get to this because of how everything is positioned.

Any tips? I might go back out to look at it again in a couple hours.

-John

[x2nervisx]

Another update:

I got the dash completely disconnected except for 1 wire....the one that goes to the center of the vent in the center of the dash up by the glass. There is a nut holding something on covered the wire, but I cannot get to this because of how everything is positioned.

Any tips? I might go back out to look at it again in a couple hours.

-John

Pry the cover up on that little sensor and you'll see a screw holding that sensor in. Once that screw is out, you'll be able to snake that sensor underneath the dash. You'll have to use a small screw driver to get at it.

[x2nervisx]

The wiring really is the hardest part. I have yet to talk myself into doing it, just because I know it will be a headache and take up mucho amounts of my time

Are you talking about the facelift headliner into a pre-facelift car? I was going to do this on my car but I didn't only cause I didn't know how to wire the facelift lights and sunroof dial into my pre-facelift. The old sunroof dial has 3 wires where the facelift style has 5 wires.