Interior- keep original or not?

[944cabby]

My cab interior is black with black leather seats etc.Now i've been fancying buying one of the chrome/alloy dial surrounds that seem to be on ebay quite a lot to make the dials stand out a bit but there also seems to be quite a lot available for the 944 interior ie alloy switch surrounds, gearstick inserts etc,etc, but is it best to keep the interior as original as possible or do these alloy bits actually improve the look.
I know it's a personal thing at the end of the day but has anyone converted theirs?
What's the general opinion?

 

[chrisdenton]

I'd say it depends on whether you intend to sell it or not. My S2 cab has very nonstandard upholstery which isn't to everyones taste. If you plan to keep and enjoy the car for a long time you should have it how you like it.

 

[Guest]

i had a go at covering the plastic trims in carbon, and even the bits that came out nice looked naff (so I took them off again)

udating the dials can look quite nice. (although if you ask John, just get blue LED's!) The trims do indeed look quite nice from the picture i've seen.

oh, i do have a kokeln alloy gearknob too, which I think is OK, and I have seen some pictures of poeples cars who have put on a boxster knob too which looked OK. The gearknobs can be a PITA though as the lever underneath is a "rectangular" shape (just a thick steel bar), so fitting aftermarket ones can be awkward. I believe there's a 928 place in the US which sells a converter to a round bar, which then fits all knobs, or find a knob which fits with 4 grubscrews rather than the 3 which most of the aftermarket people tend to use. certainly the kokeln is of that variety. I'll dig out some pics somewhere.....

 

[Diver944]

I think the chrome/alloy bezels around the dash dials do look nice and are very understated.

Personally I don't like the other chrome bits that come up on Ebay - the clock strip, the heater controls, electric window switches etc. I've seen pics of the clock strip, ignition surround etc painted body colour (similar to Fiat Coupes) and that did look nice

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Diver944

..... I've seen pics of the clock strip, ignition surround etc painted body colour (similar to Fiat Coupes) and that did look nice......

It looks great on Beaky..... but then he's black

I agree that, done badly, any upgrade can look naff. I tend to take the view of if the manufacturer would have done it, were the car still under production, it should look OK. Based on this, later model steering wheels are fine, as are later model leather seats. The original gear nob is really nice, so I don't see the point in changing it.

Dial rings are OK assuming they are of a standard equal to that of the car. A Porsche is an expensive car so anything of less than top end quality is going to look out of place.

To pick up on some comment or another on blue LED's - anybody been in a new Golf GTi - I reckon Porsche would do something similar if the 944 were still in production. I rest my case. BTW, stick on dial faces will never be anything but naff - and more so if you do them yourself. []

 

[Fen]

I tend to agree with the less is more school. I do have alloy bezel rings on my car but that was really juts because I bought them for my cab and swapped them across when I was selling it. They won't be in for much longer, not because they aren't nice but because a track car doesn't need dress-up bits on the instruments. I definitely agree on the gear knob; I really like the original one and have never understood why people change it to be honest.

 

[944turboS]

Heres an idea of what someone has done

 

[Guest]

If you have got full black leather interior I would definitely keep it, the only thing I have done is change the horrid plastic door lock buttons on the window edge...they just screw off. I got nice chrome replacement ones which sounds a bit chavbarry but the car is Zermatt silver with all black leather and they look very tasteful. Im no purist but have really struggled to think of anything that could improve this particular interior. I wouldnt even change the steering wheel.

 

[John Sims]

IIRC Porsche did silver trim on a 968 show car, very much as per the picture above. So this could be considered a precedent worth following.

I do quite like it myself (and have looked into it previously) but it is by no means cheap. Unfortunately, although not cheap, the finish isn't as good as I would like. So it is a bit of a close call. I would like to see one done "in the flesh" so as to make a final judgement.

 

[Fen]

[Andy Pipkin] Don't like it [/Andy Pipkin] It makes all the black switches etc. stick out like a sore thumb. What I really don't like is the stick-on dial faces with the cutouts for the warning lights - how on earth a bodge like that ever found any customers is beyond me.

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: Fen
What I really don't like is the stick-on dial faces with the cutouts for the warning lights - how on earth a bodge like that ever found any customers is beyond me.

I couldn't agree more. Those black windows in coloured dials look incredibly chav-nova-esque!

IIRC, there's an American company, sppedhut I think, that do a dial set that is actually a full cover for the dials, backlit, and has the warning light in them. I was considering a set myself but they only did them for a 160mph speedo (so I made my own!)

 

[danmason]

I'm afraid 'even' silver-coloured bezels are too much for me - they just look naff. Like Keith, I struggle to identify areas of my Turbo's interior that could use improvement. I have to say, there are more things I'd change about the Boxster/996/997's interiors than the 951's (mainly all that silver plastic, but the 951's seats are better too!).

[edited for disambiguation]

 

[944turboS]

Replacment alloy dial faces are available in both 160mph & 180mph from the USA. These are not stick on pieces but proper guage faces that are swaped for the factory black ones.
I have an e-mail address if anyone wants it please contact me direct.