993 restoration

[Ferry Man]

Well, here’s much of my black interior.
If you’re considering following my lead, I’d urge caution.
Black interiors seem to be quite uncommon.
I’d been looking for quite a while in my search for these parts and ever since I’ve acquired the complete set I’ve been looking out for other opportunities.
And I’ve not seen one become available.

[Ferry Man]

And if you buy carpet sections make sure they are RHD and not LHD. And Manual and not Tip.

[Ferry Man]

Whilst I had much of the components I needed, I was still after a black handbrake and gear lever/gaitor.

[Ferry Man]

And that’s where Tom (Tp81) comes into the story. He’s a wealthy man and when he purchased a 993RS and discovered his gear lever and handbrake were only 99%, he decided he wanted them replaced with brand new parts from Porsche. Well, crumbs from a rich man’s table are fine for me. I bought those original RS parts from Tom at a bargain price and he packed them well, shipped them promptly and even gifted me some side-repeaters in the deal. Thanks Tom.

[Ferry Man]

Both look pretty new and unmarked. If you check over them carefully you can discover a small nick on the gear lever and a slight scuff on the leather of the handbrake.
The pursuit of perfection, eh? Still that’s my good fortune.
Cheers, Tom, they’ll be just fine for my hot-rod.

[Ferry Man]

This is my old (light grey) door card. Rotten. Rather nasty, smelly and misshapen.
It’s a legacy of a poor speaker installation, ineffective window scraper rubbers and no protective membrane between door and door card.
I’ll try and do better when I put it back together, I don't want that happening to my doors.

[Ferry Man]

The secondhand black door cards I acquired looked much better. Damn impressive actually, just like brand new.

[Ferry Man]

Most of the interior came from a lad in Brighton who was parting out a crash damaged car.
The front seats came from a different guy. The rear seats were won on eBay. The carpets came from a breakers.
The door cappings, dash top & knee roll were already black in my car.
I reckon I spent about £2k sourcing the black interior (excluding hard back seats).

[Ferry Man]

[Tp81]

Paul,

I like your style....crumbs....so says the man with a mint RS and equally fresh 74 Carrera in the garage. Thoroughly enjoying the thread so far.

Always happy to help.

[Ferry Man]

Thoroughly enjoying the thread so far.

Thanks Tom.

[Ferry Man]

So, I carried on stripping the car and readying the panels for paint.

[Ferry Man]

Soon I'd be able to deliver the car down for paint.

[Ferry Man]

But there was the small matter of the carpets...
I was keen to retain the soundproofing in the rear of the car, on the one hand because it was an effective barrier to engine & road noise into the cabin, but secondly, because it provides the smooth contours to the rear seating. I wanted to keep the standard soundproofing to ensure correct shaping to the seat wells and how the carpets fit.

However, removing the existing carpet (without damaging the soundproofing) was to prove troublesome....

[Ferry Man]

I suppose in any large organisation there are people who are just not nice. Some folk get mischievous at work. Or worse, they are resentful or awkward or deliberately obstructive. And so it was at Porsche.
The first trouble maker was the guy that fixed the seat backs in place. He took great delight in over-torquing the screws so that later owners would struggle to remove them. You can imagine him now, chuckling at the subsequently skinned knuckles and fingers punctured by screwdrivers.
The second person to cause future generations distress and difficulties was his colleague on the production line that glued the rear seat bases in place. He evidently decided to make it impossible to remove the seats. He used a glue so strong as to be a deliberate act of provocation. Frankly, gravity would be enough to keep those seats in position but no, he would explore the extremes of adhesive technology.
And he would then pass that knowledge onto the team that glued the carpets in place.