Blue Suede Outback

[EnderDragoon]

I picked these seats up for $400 from a want ad I posted on craigslist. Less than 5k miles on them and they're perfect, not to mention uber comfortable given that I commute 2+ hours a day 5 days a week in her. Only had them in for 2 days and my back is already starting to feel better.

[EnderDragoon]

Finished repairing the upper edge of the door panels and repainted the hood. I know the color of the hood looks goofy with the black but I wanted to see what it would be like with the rally blue/yellow on an Outback. As you can see the hood was very sun faded, had millions of cracks and several dings down to the bare metal. At the least I needed to reseal the hood and 10$ of rattle cans goes a long ways.

Damage to the top edge:



Using a razor I cut a clean line back far enough to remove the damaged vinyl:


Using a razor, scotch pads and alcohol I removed the remainder of the foam padding and any residual oil/dirt as well as removed the window seal strip (~8 tabs to bend and one rivet pulls out with pliers). Surface prep is everything!


Foam padding acquired from Jo'Annes. I was told the material is typically used for padding inside quilts and can be "ironed on" to other materials. I forget what the material is called but it is very closely the same thickness as the vinyl. 1/2 yard was about $6. Trimmed to size and bonded with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive.




Suede with a red stitching hem line (my first time sewing with a sewing machine). Again, bonded with 3M 77. The wrinkles at the forward edge will be covered by the tweeter speaker triangle cover.



Night came before I could get finished shots in daylight, which I'll post tomorrow.

[EnderDragoon]

The hood you can see before, wip, and after shots here. Wet sanded with 220 grit, Primed 2 coats, 4 coats blue/yellow, single clear coat, wet sanded with 1000 grit, 2 clear coats. As I said before, this is experimental, not the finished product, but you can't go wrong with gaining the experience, I'm happy with the results for rattlecans:

[bradze]

the black looks 1000x better, just my opinion. if you like the blue, go for it.

[EnderDragoon]

Every outback is black, I want something different.

[bradze]

well the blue is good, i had to have azurite blue so i deal with a stupid tan interior(will be painting soon). just not digging the yellow.

[cardoc]

Originally Posted by EnderDragoon

The hood you can see before, wip, and after shots here. Wet sanded with 220 grit, Primed 2 coats, 4 coats blue/yellow, single clear coat, wet sanded with 1000 grit, 2 clear coats. As I said before, this is experimental, not the finished product, but you can't go wrong with gaining the experience, I'm happy with the results for rattlecans:

Looks good with the yellow accents. The scoop makes the bill and draws your attention to the remainder of the yellow. Whole car in blue with yellow pinstriping???

What color are you going to do the grill in?

..

[Novablue]

Originally Posted by EnderDragoon

Quick update. Seats acquired. Dashboard installed.

I can't tell from the pictures, did you allow for an exit for the passenger air bag?

[EnderDragoon]

Originally Posted by cardoc

Looks good with the yellow accents. The scoop makes the bill and draws your attention to the remainder of the yellow. Whole car in blue with yellow pinstriping???

What color are you going to do the grill in?

..

The grill I will leave mostly stock but I will put yellow pinstriping trim tape inside the openings, similar to what you see with newer modded imprezas. The whole car will be a darker blue than the hood is at present, the Rally Blue (Mica Blue) seen on the WRC cars with yellow trim/decals.

[EnderDragoon]

Originally Posted by Novablue

I can't tell from the pictures, did you allow for an exit for the passenger air bag?

The airbag opens from scoring lines on the other side of the vinyl. The flocking doesn't wrap a new material over the vinyl, think of it more as repainting the dashboard. The airbag should have no problems deploying if necessary.