Retro Interior

Questions about interior lighting, shift knobs, just anything mainly to do with modifications on the inside of the car. Ask those questions here.
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red 02 r/t
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Retro Interior

Post by red 02 r/t » Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:51 am

Let's face it, with the exception of SRT-4's 2GN interiors can be a bit boring. Like most people I wanted to get SRT-4 seats for my 02 R/T. The problem is SRT-4 seats are very expensive and nowadays it's hard to find a set that isn't beat up. A little over a year ago while I was out cruising around in my dads 1GN R/T an idea came to me. I thought to myself "People put 2GN seats in 1GN's all the time, but nobody ever puts 1GN seats into a 2GN." I looked over at the passenger seat and though "man a red set of these seats would look great in my red 2GN R/T."

So for the next couple of weeks I looked for a set of nice red squiggle seats. I found a nice set in Massachusetts for a whopping $75. I made the 5+ hour trek out to MA to pick up the seats and I ended up spending more in gas money than I did for the seats. :lol:

After getting the seats home and installing them in the car I instantly knew I had to recover the door inserts to match otherwise it would bother me to no end. (OCD) :lol: My next concern was how to get fabric to cover the inserts. I thought for sure I was going to have to track down a back seat and cut it up so I could use the material. Just for kicks I went to my local upholstery shop and asked them if they could still get the fabric and to my surprise they said they could. I asked them how much they would charge to do the inserts and they said $200 for each insert. Needless to say I just order some fabric and left. :lol:

While I was waiting for the fabric to come in a went to my local JY and picked up a set of 00-01 sxt door panels. I didn't really want to take apart my originals and I also wanted the chrome handles. When I finally got the fabric I took the donor door panels apart. With the fabric completely striped off of all the inserts I used one of the fabric pieces to make a cardboard pattern which would help me cut the new inserts. I then found some cool 3M adhesive that came in a long roll. All I had to do was peel on side, stick it to the fabric pattern, cut off the over hanging bit and then peel off the other side. Once stuck to the insert I reattached the insert to the door panel using industrial strength Velcro, with the idea being I would be able to easily take them on and off in the future. The Velcro hasn't held up well and now the inserts are falling off while I'm driving so I will have to come up with a better way of attaching them.

I have never seen another 2GN with 1GN seats in it, does anyone know of another one or am I the first to do it? I'm just curious :)

Now on to the pictures (These seats aren't very pic friendly, so don't mind the blurriness):
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blueneo03
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Post by blueneo03 » Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:07 am

I feel like i have seen it before but i havent seen anyone do the door inserts too.

Im glad you did i think it actually looks complete that way and otherwise looks weird with just the seats.

Ive thought about this a few times as i can get some 1gn high bolster seats and dump the in for 50 bucks as opposed to 300 for some viper seats but they are hard to find in the shape i want here..

Looks good tho


EDIT: when i did my inserts, i just screwed them back in. i got short screws and some washers to space them back enough to not poke through. worked really well actually
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sidepipe87
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Post by sidepipe87 » Tue Oct 08, 2013 12:51 pm

Looks great. I talked with you a little bit at Carlisle about these. As for holding the door inserts on, when I recovered mine I put them back on with speed nuts like below. There are a few plastic locating prongs that you can "screw" onto.

Image
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red 02 r/t
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Post by red 02 r/t » Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:18 pm

Thanks guys! Yeah the matching door inserts really make it look factory. Non Neon people are surprised when I tell them that it isn't. I talked to a lot of people in Carlisle about my interior, everyone seemed to really like it.

I had heard of people using short screws an washers, but I'm afraid of screwing them in to far and poking through. That plastic insert is really thin. The speed nut idea sounds like it could work well, I think I will try that. Thanks for the suggestion sidepipe!

blueneo if you ever find high bolster 1gn seats that are in nice shape, buy them and put them in your car, you will love them. Due to their really soft fabric they hold you in place much better than 2gn seats and imo are more comfortable. Blue squiggles would look really cool in your Neon.
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Post by Midnight_Rider » Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:25 pm

If the squiggle fabric is anything like the cloth I had in my '95 1GN, it will hold up very well. I traded my 1GN in at around 121K (eight years) and the fabric still looked new.
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Post by occasional demons » Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:47 pm

I saved the seat covers from my Sport fronts. The rest of the seat was pretty much shot. The foam was literally disintegrating. Once I finish getting all the stuff removed, I will probably sell them. This would be just the fronts. I'm still using the rear. :lol:

From what I can see, the covers should swap onto a 2gn seat.
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red 02 r/t
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Post by red 02 r/t » Tue Oct 08, 2013 5:37 pm

Gramps the fabric in your 95 was probably more like the fabric found in 2gn's. I also have a 95 Sport coupe and the fabric in that is not as soft as the squiggle and tango fabric which became available in 97 I believe.

Occasional demons, what type of fabric is are your covers made out of?
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Post by Midnight_Rider » Tue Oct 08, 2013 6:19 pm

red 02 r/t wrote:Gramps the fabric in your 95 was probably more like the fabric found in 2gn's.
No, it was much more soft than the Aries cloth in my '02 SXT and the "bicycle shorts" cloth in my in '04 SXT. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pics of the interior of my 1GN but it was a beige color with different colored speckles (I'm color blind so I'm guessing about the beige color).
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Post by red 02 r/t » Tue Oct 08, 2013 7:52 pm

Midnight_Rider wrote: No, it was much more soft than the Aries cloth in my '02 SXT and the "bicycle shorts" cloth in my in '04 SXT. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pics of the interior of my 1GN but it was a beige color with different colored speckles (I'm color blind so I'm guessing about the beige color).

Well must be they used harder cloth on the Sport model, because the fabric on my Sport coupe seats is just as hard as the fabric on my stock 02 R/T seats. I will have to pay closer attention to the different 1GN fabrics next time I go to the junk yard. :?
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Post by ducktapetg » Tue Oct 08, 2013 8:13 pm

I was at first on the fence, but the more I look at it I like it. I would still rather have my leather seats but those would be a solid 2nd choice. I like them in my 1st gen.
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Post by occasional demons » Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:13 pm

red 02 r/t wrote:
Occasional demons, what type of fabric is are your covers made out of?
From the beginning of my PL before it was cleaned out:
Image

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Edit:
Image
Bill
Olha Koba, a psychologist in Kyiv, said that “anger and hate in this situation is a normal reaction and important to validate.” But it is important to channel it into something useful, she said, such as making incendiary bombs out of empty bottles.
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Post by red 02 r/t » Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:29 pm

That is the Tango fabric I believe and that is as soft as the squiggle fabric. 1gn fabric was so cool, it had lots of color and it felt nice to sit on.
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Post by Midnight_Rider » Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:35 pm

I recently became aware of the Squiggly and Tango fabrics- I thought that the only "different" one was the Flash fabric. My 1GN had the same material but didn't have graphics like the Squiggly, Tango and Flash.
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red 02 r/t
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Post by red 02 r/t » Wed Oct 09, 2013 9:32 am

Midnight_Rider wrote:I recently became aware of the Squiggly and Tango fabrics- I thought that the only "different" one was the Flash fabric. My 1GN had the same material but didn't have graphics like the Squiggly, Tango and Flash.
Is the flash fabric the light grey one with different color triangles in it?

That's whats in my Sport Coupe:
Image


Was this the fabric that was in your 95? These were in a 95 ACR I found in the junk yard. (not the best pic) lol
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ducktapetg wrote:I was at first on the fence, but the more I look at it I like it. I would still rather have my leather seats but those would be a solid 2nd choice. I like them in my 1st gen.
Thanks, I thought it looked cool at first, but now I have fallen in love with it. The only thing that could make it better would be to have SRT-4 seats recovered in the squiggle fabric. Lots of $ to do that though. :lol: If my car had originally came with leather seats I don't think I would have changed them, but since it didn't I decided to play around with it a little. :)
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Post by Midnight_Rider » Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:27 am

red 02 r/t wrote:Was this the fabric that was in your 95? These were in a 95 ACR I found in the junk yard. (not the best pic) lol
Image
Yup, that's it. Wore extremely well. I cleaned it a couple of times a year with diluted Woolite.
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Post by occasional demons » Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:44 pm

That's what our '96 has. It is basically the same feel as the Squiggly.
Bill
Olha Koba, a psychologist in Kyiv, said that “anger and hate in this situation is a normal reaction and important to validate.” But it is important to channel it into something useful, she said, such as making incendiary bombs out of empty bottles.
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Post by sidepipe87 » Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:48 pm

red 02 r/t wrote: I had heard of people using short screws an washers, but I'm afraid of screwing them in to far and poking through. That plastic insert is really thin. The speed nut idea sounds like it could work well, I think I will try that. Thanks for the suggestion sidepipe!.
It's worth a shot as long as those prongs are still in tact. I did this back in '09 after I tried automotive strength hot glue and it came loose and my inserts have yet to come loose!

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Post by red 02 r/t » Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:30 pm

Yeah those seats are tough! As you could tell from that pic, the Neon they were in was pretty beat, yet the seats looked like they were in great shape. They do feel similar to the squiggle seat.


sidepipe I will definitely give that a shot. My prongs are still in great shape so I shouldn't have any problems with them. I would say if yours haven't come lose in 4 years they will probably never come lose.
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Post by slaw » Wed Oct 16, 2013 8:56 am

i absolutely love it, looks awesome. very nice job :rockon:
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Post by red 02 r/t » Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:13 pm

slaw wrote:i absolutely love it, looks awesome. very nice job :rockon:
Thanks slaw! :thumbup:
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