Interior & Upholstery project questions & progress updates

[mark99]

I agree the SMS is the only one that seems to be patterned after the original (which it presumably is)
It is like it is made in an old mold and all the features came out rather soft

I took a long time for SMS to send me material, the first one was a weird sort of shinny grey, they sent me a replacement
The upulstry guy looked at it and said it is so thick and heavy it will never stay up (but maybe that is not true)

I ended up using material a member here sold he, he said it was original BMW material
It looks exactly like photos, so I think that is true, but it is also thick, not like the material that was in the car or in other cars I have seen
I paid a guy to install it, he glued it to foam a across the entire top, it looked like s**T
We removed it, removed the glue from the material and car, which took days, and reused it
We installed it ourselves and it looks really good
Except, a problem we have not fixed yet, and hope we can, the reason I asked if you have a sunroof, is on the roof panel, you have to fold over the material, so the thickness builds up, it is too thick for my sunroof to move

 

[bavbob]

Mark, same issue. I put a soft towel over my sunroof and then about 20 lbs of weight on it and let it sit for a few weeks. Sunroof moves without issue but want to repeat now that we have some warm weather

 

[boonies]

No quick way. You can play a bit with the chrome molding by removing the screw that sits in the front edge and then lift it up. There is the infamous plastic block which has little play in it so that limits the movement of the chrome molding.

I spent most of the day on this (and some other tasks around the rear side-windows) today, and I have to admit that I don't feel any closer to success. Both sides the rubber block on the glass is getting peeled back by the chrome molding. The progress is that they now clear the plastic block that holds the chrome down...so at least slight progress.

 

[boonies]

Finally! The leather and carpet arrived from KHM today, couldn't wait to open the box! The headliner is on the way and should arrive next week, so now I can work with the upholstery shop to set a date for installation!

 

[boonies]

Appointment with the upholstery shop took a while, but now set for June 21 for installation of headliner, seat and carpe!

I am trying to tie up some loose ends in the weekends leading up to delivery. Need to re-set the windows as the gaps are way out. Some great content by @deQuincey on rebuilding both the front and the rear window assemblies. The front assembly and adjustments are well documented here, and I am going to study again before tackling the project.

After re-installation I am finding that the gaps between front and rear windows on both sides are way off (pictures to follow). I suspect, but would appreciate thoughts, that the adjustment is almost exclusively in the front window assemblies as the rears seem to only have one option re. landing in the window channel. Look forward to the thoughts of those that have done this before.

 

[mark99]

I am curious what people say about the window alignment as well, worked on mine for hours and not right
It is a very frustration process

 

[boonies]

I am curious what people say about the window alignment as well, worked on mine for hours and not right
It is a very frustration process

Agree, I spent hours on the passenger side and it is still a mess & door is really hard to close as well.

 

[boonies]

Drivers side adjusted. It was all in the rear quarter glass. The fix was to pull the rear assembly out and loosen the glass (I had removed to replace the rubber that seals against the exterior top of quarter molding). I loosened the two bolts that go through the glass to clamp it to the frame, with both loose I was able to pivot the top of glass forward and that did the trick.

 

[boonies]

Took the passenger door and quarter upholstery off again, and adjusted the front and pulled the rear assembly out again to pivot the glass for. it is now ready To go to the upholstery shop tomorrow!

windshield is out so the headliner can be replaced, so a tow is called for.

 

[boonies]

Last picture with the original seats (console out for ease of fitting the new carpet)

. The coupe is at the upholstery shop, eta is unknown, but we told to expect about eight weeks.

 

[damienh]

Looking forward to see how the KHM leather fits.

 

[boonies]

Disappointing update from the upholstery shop on Thursday. They called to let me know they were starting on the seats and found a problem with the product supplied by KHM. I stopped by the shop Friday afternoon and grabbed some pictures and emailed KHM with a letter describing the problems noted. Following is a summary, will let you know how this turns out...

• The front seat pads are much larger than the seat base itself. The pictures show the seat pad with the piping lined up on the right edge of the seat, and significant overhang on the left edge that is approximately 4cm, too much to be made up simply by refreshing the seat padding. I am told by the owner of the upholstery shop that the edge pieces of the cushion would need to be disassembled and re-sized to ensure they are symmetrical. Of course, this would be required for both seats (right and left) and may be required for both the top and the bottom.
  
  
• The kit has two loose leather pieces that are either meant for the seat back or for the rear side arm rests, but there is insufficient material for both applications
  
  
• There is no material, pre-made or otherwise, provided to reupholster the rear center arm rest area, and as stated above there was insufficient material to make covers for the rear side arm rests

 

[paul]

One reason I did not buy an upholstery kit for my car.........on the advise of my upholsterer I had it custom made.....he has seen too many kits which do not fit correctly. Disappointing I know.

 

[boonies]

Over the summer I was in touch with KHM, provided them a small sample from the kit they sent me and they provided the missing material from the kit.

With new material in hand I put myself back on the schedule with the upholstery shop. They could not provide a date for installation because of labor shortages.

Another busy shop in the area was able to give me a date, and I dropped the coupe off at the upholstery shop on Monday and was surprised to get an email last night that it was ready for pick-up.

I just put the coupe in the garage and now will start putting the console and other bits back in.

Work done was a new headliner (not the header or sun visors) due to a torn panel from first owner.

Seats front and rear and new carpet.

Looking forward to pulling the final bits together!

 

[bavbob]

Hope you are you happy with the results, been a long haul.

 

[Ohmess]

That came out really well.

 

[boonies]

Today I started putting the console back together. I had not taken any pictures of the routing of the wires for the AC and other console functions.

Any pictures of wiring would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[Wobdog]

I am having seats completely redone. I looked at cover options but no good color matches. I decided bite the bullet and redo the front and and back even thought really only the drivers side needed replacing I could not find a color match and knew I would be unhappy if front and back did not match. To match my blue interior I went with Garett V305 leather. I also am having seat belt planet make custom seatbelts for my 2800CS, trying to keep as much as I can to original design. Once done I will post pictures. Fingers crossed at this point

 

[boonies]

Made some slow progress on the interior project. The console is coming together and I needed to correct an “order of operation” problem. I had assembled the heating and AC box and vent’s without installing the AC thermostatic switch. I managed to bend the main vent slightly to insert the probe. I was relieved that I didn’t need to remove the vent and control cables.

As noted above, my dis-assembly pictures were incomplete, and I have a few “mystery wires” (pictured below) that I could use some help with.

The first picture is of a bundle of three wires (green/blue, Black and brown). Not sure what these three wires are for.

The second picture shows two wires connected to the AC thermostatic switch. Does the black & white wire look correct? I have a picture that seems to show the black wire that comes from the passenger firewall area going to that switch. The challenge is then the placement of the black & white wire.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[ChrisWrench]

The 3 wires you are showing are for your defrost switch, they get installed into a orange 3 prong switch on the panel under you steering column.
The black white and brown wire gets plugged into the plastic H connector from your body harness. That top Switch with the prob has 2 black wires connected to it. One from the bottom fan speed switch and one that goes out to the compressor there is no orentation of plugging those wires.