NA6 Interior Upgrades

Learning a new skill is one of the most alluring aspects of being an automotive enthusiast. We often challenge ourselves to create or modify parts of our cars that non-enthusiast wouldn't think about. Whether that modification is something extreme such as doing a ground up engine build, to something as small as polishing some bolts. The process of these modifications is sometimes as or more enjoyable than the outcome itself. 

This leads us to my latest challenge: Upholstery.

Looking around the interior of my 1990 NA6, I noticed my shift boot was pretty worn out after 32 years of abuse.

I ended up borrowing a sewing machine from a relative, and bought some "suede" from the local fabric shop. After watching a few Youtube videos and reading a few articles, I was ready to get to work. The first step was creating a pattern. This was done by carefully unstitching the factory shift boot and stapling it to some cardboard.

Once the pattern is created, it was transferred to the "suede," cut out and sewed! Unfortunately, I did not take photos of this process. I only have the finished product.

After realizing that the shift boot looked good in the car, I decided to tackle another piece of the interior: the center console. Not wanting to overwhelm the interior with suede, I decided on only the cubby lid. This process was much simpler. I just haff to use some 3M 77 to adhere the fabric to the the lid and trim.

Last piece to the puzzle was making a hand brake cover. This pattern had to be created from scratch. The original plastic piece was traced, then a seam allowance was traced around it. 

Once the fabric was cutout the 2 pieces were sewed together. 

Then the test fit...

Once the first prototype was completed I realized I had sewed the entire piece closed. Giving me no opening to slide onto the E-Brake.

Then came prototype 2, which didn't give it enough seam allowance and became too snug of a fit...

FINALLY, after 5 attempts, I was able to obtain a product I was happy with.

After a few hours I had finally obtained the interior look I was going for. There are a few more pieces I have in mind for the future. For now my experimentation on the world of upholstery is complete. I give a lot of props to the people that do this professionally, it certainly is a skilled art. My trim pieces are far from perfect, but the process of creating something from raw materials is extremely satisfying.

Do you have any projects you're thinking about tackling?

Give it a shot! 

You never know the outcome. Who knows, maybe you find your future passion!

Author: Daniel Vasquez

Date: 08/17/2022