# Two 1989 Nissan Sentras: Interior, Exterior, Audio, and Restomods



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I have a current build going on on a couple of audio forums, I figured I'd post it here for the benefit of fellow B12 enthusiasts.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Let me get this out in the open, my daily driver is a 1989 Nissan Sentra. I have owned it since 2002 and have done nearly everything on it myself. The car has been great to me and deserves better than I've given it recently, hence my new project.

I bought a second, matching 1989 Nissan Sentra for parts, but then decided to do some restoration work on both cars. When the project is done I'll have a much better daily driver, and I'll sell the extra one. This build will contain upholstery and interior work, body work and possibly mild exterior modifications, mechanical modifications, and of course plenty of audio.

First tier of attack: upholstery, my first attempt ever. I need to remake the upholstery for four bucket seats and two bench seats. I started the upholstery this weekend and did one passenger seat bottom. For the most part, I'll let the pictures tell the story.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

....


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

....


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

....


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

....


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

....





































Yes I got a few wrinkles in the seat, I'm hoping those will work their way out with wear. I have another identical seat bottom to do for the other Nissan, I won't bore your with process pictures on that one but I will show the final product for comparison.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I thought it would be good to clarify where I'm going with this project, since I left it a bit open-ended in the title. Essentially, I'd like to take my old car and make it more livable. I need to reduce interior noise, redo practically everything in the interior including audio, remediate some undercarriage rust, and probably paint the vehicle. There will likely be a fair amount of mechanical work as well. I have two matching Nissan Sentras which are both going under the knife so to speak. When I'm done fixing both up I'll pick my favorite to keep, and sell the other one.

So here are some "before" pictures focusing on interior blemishes I hope to fix.

A busted-out door panel:










Extreme driver's seat damage:










Driver's seat damage on the other car:










General poor-condition interior:










Ubiquitous dashboard cracking:










So you can see I have my work cut out for me even on interior alone. I'm hoping to finish the entire project in 8 to 12 months, working between 4 and 20 hours per week. I think the interior work will naturally lead to stereo work when I get to the door panels.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Today I worked on a passenger seat back.

Reference pictures taking it apart, so I'll know how some of the more difficult parts go back together:


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

....


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Here's where I'll try to be helpful to anyone following in my footsteps. I found it extremely useful when stitching a piece with multiple pleats to stretch the fabric tight and do main pleats spaced roughly 4 to 6 inches apart before filling in the in-between pleats. This helps ensure the backing won't gradually bunch up on you. It is also helpful to stitch at least one pleat the opposite direction for the same reason:










Filling in the other pleats:










Layout for side pieces:


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Attached the inside wire-holding piece:










You may have noticed on the seat bottom and also this seat back that I added a few pleats to the side pieces. This is for two reasons: first, I think it looks better continuing the visual line created by the center pleats all the way across the seat. Second, the original seat covers used open-cell foam backing and I am using polyfill. Polyfill in large areas tends to bunch up, which I want to avoid. Considering I am not sticking with a 100% OEM restoration the extra stitching makes sense.










That's all for tonight. Perhaps I'll get in a few more hours tomorrow.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

For reference, the seat bottom took 18 hours including taking the old one apart. I've spent 6 hours so far on the seat back. Expect slow going if you've never done upholstery before!


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I finished the first seat this weekend. The seat back came out a little loose compared to the bottom, so I may shorten up my pattern a bit for the next one. I forgot to take pictures of the side pieces, but here are some pics of the finished seat:




























I haven't seen how it looks in the car yet, but I can tell you this - the seat is _very_ comfortable with the new upholstery, it feels much more supple than the worn seat did. I spent 6 more hours on it this weekend, so 12 hours for the seat back and a running total of 30 hours. I'm hoping as I get better at upholstery the process will become faster.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Installed the new seat in car #2.










I fully disassembled the next passenger seat, then started work on the seat bottom. I figure it's best to do the two passenger seats consecutively, then the two drivers' seats, then the rear benches so I can more easily learn from my mistakes.










Top area of seat bottom complete:










I also made most of the side pieces, but I promised fewer progress pics since the process is identical for each bucket seat. That's all I did for the seats this week, the car needed other attention.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Since I'm sure some reading this are planning to do their own upholstery someday, I'll try to sprinkle the build with hints as I learn them. First one, is you want quality tools. For hand tools you'll need a good set of hog ring pliers, a good set of diagonal cutters (a.k.a. dikes), and some sharp, sturdy scissors. Your wife's best kitchen shears will do the job, if you can steal them without her noticing.










I got my dikes at Auto Zone, and they proved to be a bit cheap. No worries though, as long as you get the Duralast brand they will replace them no questions asked when you do this:










(Note the chunk missing from the tip.)


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Since last posting, I made my second passenger seat. This came out a bit better than the first, so it will go in whichever car I keep.





































This entire seat took 21 hours, bringing the project total to 51 hours.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I wanted to comment on hog ring selection last time but never got around to it. So here are my observations. If you get the cheapest kind they will look something like this: 










And when crimped, they will look like this:










Using this style of hog ring on my first seat, I averaged 2 or 3 wasted rings before I got one to hold properly on every single location. A total waste of time and money. I knew something had to change, so I bought a new style.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

If you get a heavier gauge of hog rings (I believe these are 0.080" diameter), they should look more like this:










And when crimped, like this:










Note the contrast:










On the entire second seat, I didn't have a single hog ring crimp poorly or fail. These hog rings cost about twice as much, but considering they completely eliminated waste I recommend going that route. Be sure to get ones that are sharpened on the tips as well, that seems to help.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Here are some minor updates from the last few weeks. Also, I have the next two days off from work so there may be another update this weekend.

So Car #2 (the one I've been driving) had a custom plexiglass rear quarter window when I bought it, held in place with construction adhesive and duct tape. Very glamorous but it was worth what I paid. I drove 4 hours down to Utah for Thanksgiving, and the road noise was unbearable at 80+ MPH, plus the duct tape started coming off and flapping in the wind. So a trip to the junkyard was in order for my Black Friday shopping!

Removing some tape:










Removing the plexiglass:










Ugh - construction adhesive stuck to foam rubber (pardon the dog blanket in the back seat):










Removing it was a process, but I finally got enough off that the glass would seal:










If you were observant, you saw that I am now missing a black plastic trim piece. Yeah, that was glued on too. I'm going to figure out how to secure it with some proper brackets some time in the future, for now the trim is sitting on my workbench.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Since I was at the junkyard anyway, I decided to pick up "new" corner markers, headlights, and taillights. All of mine are chipped, cracked, mismatched, or damaged in some way. I started with the driver's headlight, which was actually from a different Nissan (possibly the Sentra Sport Coupe or Pulsar?) and didn't match. Also the driver's corner marker was mismatched.

Before (note the gap below the headlight):










After:










With the grille in place:










When I do body and paint I will go back and tweak this piece of metal so the mounting holes line up. It appears to be slightly out of alignment from a previous fender bender:


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Here's the rest of my junkyard haul:










Two tail lights, one more headlight, one more corner marker.

So over Thanksgiving break I spent 6 more hours on this. Three at the junkyard, two on the window, and one on the headlights. That brings the project total to 57 hours and counting.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Last weekend I made another bottom seat cover, but I haven't installed it yet.










I also learned - the hard way - that you must not stretch the backing more than the face when you are making upholstery pieces, or they will bunch up like this:










Those two pictures account for another 8 hours - 7 for the seat bottom and 1 for the mistake. Project total is now 65 hours. I'm nearly half done with the upholstery part, or will be by the end of this weekend.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

So my first driver's seat underwent reconstructive surgery today.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I had to go through the whole process of installing the seat cover twice, it kept wrinkling. The end product still has too many wrinkles but is much better than my first attempt. I think I'll put it in whichever car I sell...










I spent 2 more hours on the seat bottom, and 4 hours on the seat back. I don't have much to show for the seat back yet. Project total is 63 hours.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I put in five more hours on the seat back and finished it up.










This is to remind everyone that if you want to invert your pattern, just flip it over. As simple as it sounds, I've screwed up a few times trying to use my passenger seat pieces as stencils for the driver's side. The seats are symmetrical (across the exhaust tunnel) so it works if you don't forget to flip the pieces over.










Needed a bit of extra padding in the form of Dacron:


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I think this is the best seat back I've made so far, I'm pretty happy about how uniformly snug it is.

So I'll declare the upholstery half done. Three bucket seats down, one bucket seat and two bench seats remaining. The bench seats are larger but hopefully less complex. I'm at 68 hours.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I put in another 16 hours over New Year's weekend. 10 on upholstery and 6 on exterior. My mom gave me some old print fabric while I was visiting. It looks like early 1980s style to me, what better place to put it than inside my seat covers:


----------



## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

That's really nice. I'm basically doing the same thing with the interior, and exterior of my car.

As far as the two front seats I'll be buying some Black and Red Racing seats soon, however the back seat can't be changed.

Are you looking to reupholster the rear seat anytime soon? If so would you post a tutorial on how you would do it? If your nearby in California I would more than likely would like to take it to you to have it done, otherwise it'll cost me at least 300 to 500 Dollars to get it done.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Darkone121 said:


> That's really nice. I'm basically doing the same thing with the interior, and exterior of my car.
> 
> As far as the two front seats I'll be buying some Black and Red Racing seats soon, however the back seat can't be changed.
> 
> Are you looking to reupholster the rear seat anytime soon? If so would you post a tutorial on how you would do it? If your nearby in California I would more than likely would like to take it to you to have it done, otherwise it'll cost me at least 300 to 500 Dollars to get it done.


I thought about doing black and red on mine but then decided to be a bit more conservative. I guess I'm getting old...

Yes I'll get to the rear bench seat sometime. I have one more bucket to finish then I'll start on the bench. Will probably be a few weeks though because I am currently taking 16 credit hours, leading a job search, and building a winch bumper for my Land Rover. So progress on the Nissans is coming along slowly.

I'm in Idaho FYI. Probably not worth the drive but I could possibly make the upholstery and ship it to you then you'd just install it. Seriously 95% of the work is the sewing.


----------



## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

The Red Flame said:


> I thought about doing black and red on mine but then decided to be a bit more conservative. I guess I'm getting old...
> 
> Yes I'll get to the rear bench seat sometime. I have one more bucket to finish then I'll start on the bench. Will probably be a few weeks though because I am currently taking 16 credit hours, leading a job search, and building a winch bumper for my Land Rover. So progress on the Nissans is coming along slowly.
> 
> I'm in Idaho FYI. Probably not worth the drive but I could possibly make the upholstery and ship it to you then you'd just install it. Seriously 95% of the work is the sewing.


Yea that is true, I'm not a great sewer or anything, I took the back seat entire cloth off so yes if you someday get that done I'll be more than glad to pay you to get mine done for me. Here's a little progress I've made in my interior so far...










I'll try not to reveal so much for now. :] But any questions on how I did mine feel free to ask!


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

More reconstructive surgery:


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

When I bought headlights for this car, I had one small chip in this lamp. Apparently I picked up a large rock chip driving to the ski resort on Saturday, serendipitous that I hadn't replaced the old one yet.




























No broken lights on the whole front end!


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Picked up four brand new snow tires on Craigslist for $150.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Attacking the multiple layers of crusty old caulk and mastic on the taillights:


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

We don't have a glazing store nearby or I would have bought some Dow Corning 795 (silicone building sealant). This was as close as I could come to the good stuff:
































































Now I have all new lights front and rear. Also did an oil change while I had the car in the garage. Project total is 84 hours.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Darkone121 said:


>


That looks pretty cool. What kind of fabric is that on the doors?


----------



## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

The Red Flame said:


> That looks pretty cool. What kind of fabric is that on the doors?


It's all suede. However I need to redo the doors and do it a different way to make them nicer.


----------



## Regibus (Jul 8, 2006)

Very cool, good to see all the pictures. My interior is still in good shape, so I'm waiting on the stereo and engine upgrades...


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

Still no audio updates, but car #1 is getting ready for paint. I did some tin banging where I got hit buy a UPS truck years and years ago. This was smashed in nearly 2" before I started. I put the taillight back in for a test-fit:



















This will get covered with a couple layers of fiberglass and feathered down to nothing to blend with the sheet metal.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

A few updates for today, all of these are on car #1 AKA The Red Flame:

This is my "new" battery tray. Sand blasted, etched, rust treated with black POR-15, and top-coated with Rustoleum Sunrise Red:










It came out looking a little fresher than the rest of the car...










Cleaned and reinstalled the battery:










The body project has been ongoing, and it is nearly ready for paint. The latest step was eliminating surface rust inside the rear wheel wells, and coating the frame rails with POR-15.


----------



## ahardb0dy (Nov 9, 2003)

Very nice work on the seats ! But if you decide to do something else there is another option and it is pretty reasonable in cost, this is what I did on my 90 B12 and some before and after pics, I picked up brand new sport seat cushions from OEM Surplus Parts At Giveaway Prices!, I paid $25 each, but I ended up having to buy new bottom seat frames from a junkyard car as the stock "E" seat frames would not work with the sport cushions. Changing the seat cushions also had another benefit it eliminated the stupid seat belts that attach to the door, I added regular seat belts.

Oem-surplus also sells just the covers as well

Before:










After, with new seat cushions and matching new door panels:










new door panels, notice Pulsar steering wheel, thicker than stock feels better and is cheap to buy:


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

ahardb0dy said:


> Very nice work on the seats ! But if you decide to do something else there is another option and it is pretty reasonable in cost, this is what I did on my 90 B12 and some before and after pics, I picked up brand new sport seat cushions from OEM Surplus Parts At Giveaway Prices!, I paid $25 each, but I ended up having to buy new bottom seat frames from a junkyard car as the stock "E" seat frames would not work with the sport cushions. Changing the seat cushions also had another benefit it eliminated the stupid seat belts that attach to the door, I added regular seat belts.
> 
> Oem-surplus also sells just the covers as well
> 
> ...


That all looks very nice, and if I'd known sooner I would have gone that route. Unfortunately they seem to be sold out of most of the items i still need, but thanks for the tip. Great prices there.


----------



## The Red Flame (Jan 13, 2012)

I finished the body work, and The Red Flame is now ready for paint. I may not have time to paint it myself, unfortunately.


----------



## Darkone121 (Aug 19, 2010)

Very nice.

ahardb0dy - Where did you get the arm rest on the doors? Those look much better than the standard mini rests that the sentra has. I'm looking for something I can add a few buttons to. (Power windows, locks, etc)

I've made a few changes from my last picture. Gauges, painted the inside of the Gauge Cluster (Need to get a tach soon), didn't set the window vent covers since that's a pain in the ass to get out again.


----------

