Raf99 : 1993 Accord EX

[Raf99]

Story time....

Had the septic tank pumped out at the house today, which is a first for me (recent new home owner (5+ years). Buddy and his son arrive in the pump trunk and I hang out and talk to them. (for reference I'm in the IT business for 20 years).
Owner / truck driver is most friendly guy I've ever met. 62 years old. Son is probably 23. Don't think I've ever met folks who were so happy. I was not expecting it haha, you know.... dealing with shit everyday. But the father/owner of the business already did 32 years of splicing fiber optic cable for a major ISP here in Canada and retired / got his pension. I was like woh. what? Son was an electrician, red seal, etc etc. for 8 years.
Soo.... I asked the obvious question. Why....? they both smiled and said "for the money" In the truck and they were gone in under 15min. Cost was $440CDN. He said he tries to get 20 a day done. Slow season in the winter but have emergency calls.

If ya do the math wow. Easily $500,000 a year off one truck I'd say & he has between 10-20 trucks (other drivers). Dam ...

[Raf99]

Ya. 1/4" rope is too much for me. And the color.

[CyborgGT]

To be honest, I think any contrasting color is going to look a bit goofy (or maybe it's just the 1/4" thickness?). Personally, I'd stick with the same color as the inner material; or a slightly darker shade of that same color.

You've got me thinking about how I'm going to tackle my door panels now. I found this vinyl piping, and I'm wondering if the sewable 'fin' can be cut from the round edge itself to make the whole strip more malleable, and just glue it in place. Looks like they've got vinyl to match all our OEM colors! https://www.ebay.com/itm/28307017855...YAAOSwSP9bVkHV

I'm finding some nice stitched leather material as well for the large panel pieces; you can get real classy with this, haha.

[Raf99]

Ya i totally agree. Red, white, green, not going to work with my car. Just doesn't match anything. Maybe a dark blue / navy blue will do here.

[SSMAccord]

I like the idea here. 1/4” or 1/8” cord in a green or teal that emulates the exterior might be just enough color to be appreciated but also not be obnoxious. You might also be able to find a black ballistic nylon cord that would work. The ballistic nylon would have a contrasting sheen/gloss from the rest of the door but still add visual interest.

[Raf99]

So I decided to go with this stuff. Should look great!
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B004HSAAP6?...hk_typ_imgToDp

And started to fix the door panels too. The back passenger panel fabric never really "took". And it's because it was the one door where I kept the .... "skin" of the door on. Pics.... will make sense.

Booooo


If you ever do this, be careful when peeling in the corners. And you want to keep the foam layer.






Still got fabric, let's do it all better than last time.


Iron it out....


the ripple is a hole. Still have to make cuts for holes. use a sharp blade.


I'll leave it like this until I get the rope. & with the rope I'm thinking I'll have to use pins/needles to hold in the corners. I'd hate to use glue, and it comes undone after a while. Need a hidden secure way of getting key points.
After 24 hours I'll use a really sharp knife and cut on the outside of the cardboard while pushing down on the cardboard.

[SSMAccord]

This retrim turned out really nice. Make sure that the blade you use is surgically sharp to prevent snagging the threads in the fabric.

[Raf99]

Oh Ya, Suicide Kings should of been 80% more Dennis doing bad ass things (like when he beat the abusive old fella with a toaster) and 80% less of the 4 guys who were doing their thing.

Back to the door. Used this for the cutting. Still tricky to do. Next time I think I'm simply going to use a white chalk to mark 1/8" outside the outer limit and cut with scissors.



I could make it perfect but not trying to. That's the point of the rope. (thanks to whoever I stole this idea from on here. I think it may have been grasshopper?? )



Oh ya. The lights all done. The glass is perfect, but the chrome has seen better days. Looks presentable though.

[Raf99]

I'm still baffled and deeply disturbed how we came to such an idocracy world where folks with 3' lifted new jeeps are allowed to run LED lights in all 4 lights. This fuck others attitude use to just be Tommy and his civic and now we have manufactures selling it to the 10% assholes out there who don't care. Uggg... totally ruined my night driving which I use to enjoy.

[Grumpys93]

What adhesive did you use to adhere the fabric? Looks great by the way and I think like mentioned above a thinner rope would take a lot better.

[Raf99]

Just used the stuff that was at the place where i got the fabric. (fabric mart etc.). I'm Ok with the rope color I guess.... but i will change it down the road. Maybe to just black.



So same story with the other rear door.


This time I'm going with a custom cut fitment thing. So just stuffing the fabric in and cutting 1/8" from the "line".





No worries about the wrinkles, will work them out





The join is above the red light.



Fini!!

But oh I do wish I had a set of real leather panels. The ebay black handle is not the color black of the arm rest. The black fabric is nice though. But the fabric on the bottom is grey and ... 90s. I haven't made up my mind what exactly needs to change to make this look more complete. I'll think on it. I wonder if a pro could do better as to replace the grey part of the full panel. black leather....or suede. Would need some unique tools.

[Raf99]

Ya, super easy mod. If I have any issues with it coming out I'll glue it in. Passenger door had a small spot coming unstuck. No issues. tape off the area and you only spray the foam part of the door. Don't spray directly on the fabric. And a good roller helps. You can do by hand, but it's just as good I find.

[CyborgGT]

I wasn't sure about the tracer stripe in your edging, but it actually kinda goes with the front seats! I dig it.

You mentioned suede... are you aware that that material (and the synthetic version, Alcantara) gets all matted and gross over time from the oils in your skin? Looks great, but you'd be replacing it much sooner if it's not obsessively maintained. I think velvet is much the same.

[Raf99]

Ya, i hear ya. The more I look at it the more i don't like it. If I could get black and grey rope to match the seats it would work. But this is too much... Will probably just go with black.

[CyborgGT]

Oh, is the blue more vivid in person? At least from the photo, I was saying it didn't look bad.