Mustang5l5's Progress Thread - Archived Progress thread '08-'20.

[Mustang5L5]

I also broke down the one Recaro headrest with the damaged netting and mesh bar.

my $46 headrest covers showed up from that shady upholstery company. Of course they messed up. I asked for red stitching. I did not get red stitching.

fired off an email, so we will see what happens. In the meantime I tried to fit one on. A little bit bulky, and needs some trimming. I think I could get it on, and make it tight.

realistically, I may have to have a shop handle this (with a properly made cover). However, given that I have months before I can even drive the car again, I’ll keep working on this, so I can say I did it myself.

I’m debating just cutting apart the original leather cover, getting some material and threading, and trying this myself.

 

[Noobz347]

Hopefully, they send you the right ones.

Amazon product ASIN B07998XNQKView: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07998XNQK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Mustang5L5]

Hopefully, they send you the right ones.

No response. Not gonna hold my breathe.

oh well, only out $45 and I kinda knew I was rolling the dice. Onto plan B

 

[Noobz347]

I get mine from here:

RedlineGoods shift boots

Genuine italian leather automotive interior accessories, shift boots and much more.

www.redlinegoods.com

I'll refer to to this page specifically: https://www.redlinegoods.com/notsupported.php

Stangnet would [more than happy] to host the reveal thread. We can make it a feature for all of their other Mustang accessories as well.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I get mine from here:

RedlineGoods shift boots

Genuine italian leather automotive interior accessories, shift boots and much more.

www.redlinegoods.com

I'll refer to to this page specifically: https://www.redlinegoods.com/notsupported.php

Stangnet would [more than happy] to host the reveal thread. We can make it a feature for all of their other Mustang accessories as well.

Not a bad idea. But would the pair of covers count as one item, or 2? $70 deposit, or $140?

I'd also need to sacrifice the leather cover from one of my headrests. Granted, if I were to do it on my own, I would need to do that anyway. Let me contact them and see if they've done it before. They are located in Europe, where Recaro's fall out of trees practically. I can't imagine they've never done it.

Problem is, i don't want to pay $140 for something similar to their halo headrest for the 86 Mustang. This looks terrible. The material doesn't tuck around the mesh properly. I want material to mimic the OEM recaro setup. My seats look too damn goo to do a hack job here.

I was actually thinking of dying the grey covers I have. The reality is, they are dyed already - very well. The original material is a brown leather, and at some point someone did a fantastic job dying them because I can't get any material to flake. Nothing to lose. They won't have the red stitching though.....

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ok, shady shop responded. They want me to send the coverings back and will exchange it.

Considering they aren't really usable due to being too bukly, plus the wrong stitching, I might as well roll the dice and see what happens.

Or maybe I save my money on shipping and just call it a lost cause. Now that I've seen their work, and the poor fit, not sure I want to put more money into something I know I won't be happy with.

What would Ghandi do?

 

[Noobz347]

Let me contact them and see if they've done it before. They are located in Europe, where Recaro's fall out of trees practically. I can't imagine they've never done it.

I think this as well. I have two of their pieces. The shifter cover and E-brake cover. My initial reaction when I got it was that it seemed thin (as I compared it in my mind to belting leather) but it's not. It's pretty high quality and thicker than most automotive seat leathers. I had requested a specific thread color and stitch when I ordered mine and both arrived like they should.

The Halo headrest covers might have occurred to me then(?) but I never followed up on it. If you get them to make it, I know I will also be down for a set.

Tell them that I want mine in black with red thread in a parallel zig-zag stitch.


Oh... and I would think that the deposit would be for each item that they send you. You will have no issues with the writeup although it does take them some time to get back to you for it.

Def call them though... Tell them Stangnet sent you.

 

[Mustang5L5]

They steered me towards the halo covers thinking they were the same thing. I’m not sure they are understanding that the 83-86 halo seats are not really Recaros and Ford did put actual Recaros in the 79-82 mustang.... may have gone over their heads a tad

 

[Noobz347]

They steered me towards the halo covers thinking they were the same thing. I’m not sure they are understanding that the 83-86 halo seats are not really Recaros and Ford did put actual Recaros in the 79-82 mustang.... may have gone over their heads a tad

Explain it to them. They don't know what you know. Write them an email complete with images and tell them what kind of production numbers you're talking about along with the availability of replacement Halo headrests (non-existent).

 

[Noobz347]

Explain it to them like you were explaining it to me.

 

[Mustang5L5]

They said no. Didn't even want to try to make them for me.

I'm not sending the covers back to the vendor for replacement. They want me to ship on my dime, and to be honest, they fit like crap. Look at the pic I posted and you'll realize there is no way to get them nice and tight on the headrest. Red stitching is not going to make me want to put them on so I might as well save my $8 return shipping and cut my losses.

On to plan C.

And yes, seeking out a local upholstery shop is on my list, problem is many of the ones I knew about closed down.

 

[Noobz347]

Plan D:

There are LOTS of leather vendors on Amazon. A stupid number of leather supplies and makers.

Plan E:

Contact any of those Amazon makers (ones in the US). Many of them will make whatever you like. I have had [several] pieces of gun leather custom made for my guns for relative pennies. Exhibit A:

I needed something I could toss over my shoulder and to clip the tractor (we have coyotes).

 

[Mustang5L5]

Harness all wrapped up.

Ford stuck the hazard flasher on the backside of the fuse block in the 87-89 cars. Since I swapped to a 90 dash, been meaning to mount the fuse block correctly. So I bought the 90-93 mounting frame on eBay. I reversed the pins on the hazard rekay to flip it around to the correct side

also picked up a 91-93 fuse box cover. Fits right in with spare fuses too.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Just plugging away.

I’m almost done with the filler. Just basically smoothing out wgere I welded up the holes and trying to not go too crazy. Almost to the point where I think it’s good enough. I’d hate to think what I’d be going through if I decided to just smooth out everything. Even this is a lot of work.

next up will be to scuff everything, wipe it all down and start with primer.

I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Body work will be done and I can get back to doing mechanical things, which is more of my comfort zone....

 

[Mustang5L5]

So mustamg engine bays are typically fully painted right? They are also painted in a paint that can typically withstand solvents right?

I did an acetone wipe of the firewall and found the black paint easily came off without much effort.

Bottom left, you'll see some black paint that remains, as well as into the trans tunnel. That's the POR I spread about 15 years ago. Glad to see it doesn't come off easiy. I may actyally add some more POR-15 in that lower area while i'm here.

But, it's interesting to see that below the firewall seam, the black paint came off easily and down to the E_coat. Above the seam, it remains. Wasnt the only spot i was able to wipe the black paint off. Rad support and aprons also had paint wipe off, although not as much. I couldn't go crazy though as i obviously needed to stay away from the body filler. I found out the hard way that acetone softens that right up. Oops. ALl fixed now.

On the plus side, i'm pleasantly surprised to see all the other sheet metal is in really good shape. Well..other than the frame rails. But no rust around the cowl and base of windshield as well which was a relief.


With all these fumes and solvents and paints, i ended up buying a supply air respirator. Pump goes outside in the fresh air, and then a 20-25'hose feeds fresh air to my mask. The smells of the filler and acetone give me headaches. When i'm done, i'll sell the respirator off.

 

[02 281 GT]

Acetone is pretty strong stuff. It doesn't surprise me that it removes paint fairly easily.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Aparently it doesn't affect POR-15 too much I guess.

Anyway...as you can see, getting slowly closer. I am just waiting for some finishing putty to show up. I'm chasing small imperfections in the filler with more filler and it's just making more work. So I got some finishing putty.

I'm learning...slowly. I wish I could trade body work with someone for something easy like rebuilding a T5.

 

[General karthief]

The paint in my dog house came off with soft scrub

 

[02 281 GT]

Here’s what acetone can do to certain plastics.


View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rl2NI5MKRw

 

[Mustang5L5]

Yeah, it's nasty stuff. I forgot to add that it removed the paint instantly. The SPRAY PAINT PRIMER put up more resistance to removal than the factory black engine bay paint. Just surprising.

Speaking of volatile fumes and such, this is the respirator system I bought. I got a used setup off ebay.

Amazon product ASIN B00GAG8APUView: https://www.amazon.com/Breathe-Cool-Supplied-respirator-darkening-welding/dp/B00GAG8APU


Mine isn't a welding helmet and has a standard hood. But I used it today for an hour. Garage stunk up of acetone and body filler fumes, but I had that thing pumping air from out in the yard in my face the entire time. It worked really well.