Update time... Interior Part 3, plus a few other things

**sandspeed** · 09-07-2008 01:12 PM

Well, it's been a while since I've written anything about my car, and that's mainly due to my job. The military tends to keep you busy, and with work before pleasure, plus lot's of traveling, things have been going really slow with the car. But now it's time for an update, at least to show off some new parts I've acquired in the last few months. I've scoured Ebay.de and Ebay.co.uk, and searched through a few salvage yards to find bits and pieces, and I'm still a ways from being done, but that's what happens when you want to save money and have some rare or custom pieces. So let's start with a quick recap. Here is what my car looked like about 18 months ago. This is the day after I bought it, being inspected at the shipping company in Baltimore, before being sent over to the UK on a boat. It's a 2003 3.0 Quattro, Ming Blue on Tan interior. Pretty much stock, aside from the 17" BBS RCs, which need some work.

That changed fairly quickly. The interior is about 60% I'd say. It now has black carpet and door cards, a black B7 center console, black lower trim, S4 carbon fiber trim, Euro S-Line fabric seats and armrest (temporary untill I get the S4 Recaros retrimmed as I want them), S-Line Monster Mats, and the dashboard was dyed with SEM Colourcoat, which has held up great and has not chipped, flaked, or scratched off at all.

Since then the lowers have been painted along with the stock door blades. We also fitted the Euro S4 front and rear bumpers, S4 grilles, Hotchkis RS4 Race sways at both ends, B7 S4 brakes up front and B7 A4 rears, and it's now riding on ABT Sportsline SP0s in 18x8.5" with General Exclaim UHP rubber. Also, I just installed RS4 pedals and dead pedal, but no pics of that. The suspension is the stock sport setup, but I will be going with coilovers at some point. I just need to concentrate on getting the interior sorta done, so this project doesn't take forever. Here are some recent pics, and a couple really recent from last weekend, at Edition 38. Great show and a lot of top-notch VWs and Audis there.

Some douche and his car.

Here are a few shots of the upholstery shops first attempt at my headliner and pillar trims. It's very difficult to see in these pics, but the grey is too blue, and just doesn't match anything, so I will be getting it retrimmed in dark grey or black alcantara.

Here's the material I will be using to retrim another headliner and pillars, and also for the Recaro seats and door cards. It took forever to get it from Germany, but boy did I get a deal. It's anthracite with no foam backing, which would be used for the headliner and pillars, and black with backing for the seats. Not sure if I'll stick with this, or wait for the rest of the alcantara to come in to make a decision.

Then there's the steering wheel decision. I currently have these sitting in my house.

B7 DTM wheels, one multifunction, one without, and the matching 6-speed shifter. I think I'll be selling those, since this is on the way.

I also have another B7 center console on the way, and I'm going to see about getting it wrapped in leather and the stitching matched with the seats when I get them done. Then I may play around with the A/C vents and the beltline trim to try some color combos out, and eventually get the car repainted or vinyl wrapped. It's killing me how slow this goes, but it's gonna be pretty damn nice when I'm done.

**heateris** · 09-07-2008 01:17 PM

very nice work. i may be interested in the non-multifunction wheel. please let me know.

**Arclight** · 09-07-2008 01:19 PM

Nice work, especially with the interior. Being in Europe certainly helps when it comes to sourcing rare parts.

BTW, thanks for your military service.

**Grenade** · 09-07-2008 01:26 PM

Nice work.

**Condo** · 09-07-2008 01:28 PM

Looks great. Can't wait to see the final results.

**sandspeed** · 09-08-2008 11:57 AM

Thanks for the compliments guys!

**a4darkness** · 09-08-2008 12:05 PM

Very cool. Keep the pics coming...

**dougyfresh** · 09-08-2008 12:08 PM

Tim, This is coming along nice. Keep it up and patience will pay off!

**absolutegtr** · 09-08-2008 12:15 PM

Exactly what i want to do with my ming blue......i mean exactly.

I hate you

**sandspeed** · 09-08-2008 04:01 PM

So does anyone have any knowledge of leather? I'm trying to figure out what type of leather I should use for the seats. I can get the leather cheaper than what the trimmer can, through the US, but I don't know what to get. Just need two or three hides of a good black leather. Something comfy and classy, with some grain. I hate perfectly smooth leather, and the pebble stuff looks fake.