Stick with 3 for me (plus it rhyms ).

 

well we are sticking with three, I need to know right now before I continue this very important question, the reason being is it could make this a lot easier on all of us as well as look factory and stock. With that mold that I posted yesterday even though I am working on perfecting it today, I would have to put in about 20 hours PER pillar. to top it off it will not be textured like your other pillar it will be smooth ready for paint.... I want people to see this and go what did you? I do not want the reaction wow you have a pillar pod that you threw in there. Ok no more suspense.

WHO WOULD STILL BE IN FOR THESE if they were covered in the same fabric as the headliner??? MEANING no painting, no messing with anything elese just get it in the mail pop it in and install you gauges, looking completely factory.

Go look at your pillar it is already textured to look like the headliner, these would be wrapped in that same fabric. Now here is the kicker, this can be done one of two ways. One I make the pillar pod covered in fabric I send it to you, Two You send me your pillars PLURAL and I HAVE them both covered making it the best possible look. Now this may come at a little bit more of a price but I Think this is the best and only option. I am throwing this out there now because I Want to know who would still be in and who would be out if this was the only option. Reason being the more we have for this option the cheaper it is going to be I mean significantly. The guy quoted about 70 dollars because of fabric prices I told them what If I had ten he said probably about $30-$40 maybe less......

I might be jumping the gun, I am still working on the design from yesterday no worries A few more hours and I can make that work just fine. But It will be so much easier on my life if I could make an overlay double side tape it on to your pillar and wrap the whole thing in fabric. Main reason I am throwing this out there this would eliminate the need for the edges to be rolled, it could just but right up against it because the fabric would hide it >>>

Below are some pictures of what I am talking about with the overlay, minus the pillars it is a much smoother easier process to work with....

 

I think I am good with either option. The more factory it looks, the better. If that is easier also, that's great. Thanks for all the effort in getting this moving so quickly.

MikeR

 

I'm in this till the end man! Whatever you think will look and work best.

 

+1 Agreed

 

Do what looks best... if $40 - $70 will make it look factory, lets do that.

 

Alright I will total the build cost to date see where we are at estmate the remaining material cost, then get an estimate once I have the mold completed and then fabric cost I will see what it will cost I hope total won't be more then $80-$90 per person

 

Are you making these so the outter most edge recesses under the black rubber molding closest to the driver side window, just like the stock pillar does? If so im not sure it needs rolled edges. The pillar edge facing the front window as well as the botttom is not visible to the eye(well you can see it from a side angle but not back up under it).

I dont mind a nice smooth piece ready for paint i assume it will be black gelcoat right? But im also up for the additional time/cost if its really gonna look that much better.

I want to make sure im understanding the options correctly. You are saying you could send the completed pod with fabric that matches our headliner in color and texture ready to sticky tape onto our existing pillars. Or...we send you both our pillars(left and right) so you can attach the pillar pod to our existing pillar piece with sticky tape yourself, then have them both wrapped in matching fabric so its 100% identical. Sound about right?

If the above statements are correct im in for doing it that way if you feel thats what will look the best. I dont mind spending more money if its done right the first time and i never have to look back. Keep in mind you are the one looking at it so you can visualize whats best, i think you have gained all our trust.

The way i think:
185 pulley...DONE!
HE...DONE!
Exhaust...DONE!
Pillar pod completed looking 100% perfect because we did it the right way...DONE!

 

Hey 240, I am not going to be saying much until it is done, I come on here excited as a school girl to post pictures, and then I second guess myself. I look at the pictures, even though I can see the hard product in my hands, I look through the pictures and hate how sloppy it looks.You guys should all be happy you have a perfectionist on your hands lol. I am on what looks to be the final and possibly production mold stage. This set up will not wrap around but it will come damn close. The reason I tossed in the fabric Idea was it is so tough to make a mold that wraps around one side and the top and be able to pull the original out from, It is almost impossible, I have to do a ton of trimming. When trimming If I take too much it is start over take to little fitment is a *****. I figured If we just did an over lay with fabric, the bondo would not have to be 100% perfect or the sanding, because it would be covered in fabric, also it would wrap the edges and the look would remain stock.

We are at about build cost $250 with a good amount of resin and material left, material is cheap resin is a little bit more expensive, but we should be able to keep this under $300-$375 as far as R&D and material to make them go..... I did not think it was going to be even close to this number when i first started it, But again I want this to look perfect, ever new mold requires brushes, respirator,material 6 feet squared, gloves, 6-8 oz of resin, sometimes 10, little things that start to add up when you do it 30 times. Just doing a rough estimate, if each person pitched in $75 that will leave us with roughly $40 dollars left for per pod per-person. I had a quote done on labor and fabric one yard of our headliner fabric is roughly $80 and it would be about $40 dollars to cover them, the fabric would wrap over and around the pillar, to look factory. Depending on how many we can do in a yard would tell us if that price is going to jump higher or lower. We ARE LOOKING AT OEM fabric as well, I do not want to go with something cheaper that just matches the color, for some of you really worried about price this could be an option.

What I was planning on doing, Is just busting one of these out I have a new mold almost done, it is just a matter of bondoing and creating the master mold from it. It is in the finishing stages, I want to come back here with that before We take any step towards fabric.

Just hear me out, The way I look at it still is this is not my money to really be spending, I am at the point where If I can come up with one for myself, and every last one of you hates it, I can justify returning everyone their money and be fine with knowing I spent $300 on an awesome product for me and I have a mold to make more maybe others will like it. That is the easy part, The part that is hard, Is me going and spending another $120 on labor and fabric totally $420 for you guys to hate it. I would have to eat that cost. ITs so tough coming back here with all my ideas that I know would look better and what I would do telling you guys this could cost you $90-$100 to have it, who knows maybe more, that is just an estimate on fabric and labor pricing. I don't know Maybe some of you get what i mean, its starting to sound like a ramble .lol

Anyway important question is everyone look at the picture from page 2, tell me if your pillar is that same color ?? Like i said I remember my limited being that color, even though the leather and consul was different color. I think we all have the same headliner color and pillar color. I have gone through a bunch of pictures on here and ebay, As far as I can see they are all the same regardless of roadster or coupe or SRT

Anyway Give me till next weekend to get this done I am not going to post and update or anything anymore I am going to come back with product and a price, and see who still wants in, Is that cool? I am learning as we go, I am still going to check the site, and your input is still very important.

Chas Got your payment the list is complete.....

 

Both of mine look the same as what you have.

MikeR

 

I just looked at the pic (which was at the top of page 3 btw). My pillar appears to be a shade darker when i hold it up to the computer screen. I thought it was just the lighting so i took a flash picture and compared...it still looks darker.

I really cant confirm its the same color, maybe you can call the dealer and ask if there is multiple colors or just one?

 

There is only 1 interior available for the SRT, so everyones pillar should be the same color.

You are the one working with the prototype, so you will know what looks best. I have not heard anyone concerned with cost... just design and look. If it costs $80 or $150 and $80 will look like crap and $150 looks perfect, it's not even a question. For a piece like this, its worth the extra cash to get it looking GREAT.

I don't care if it only costs $5... if it doesn't look sweet, it's not going on my car.

 

Make it look great and let me know what I owe ya!
I will go with whatever your decision is!
I will not be posting as I am only near a puter once a week and will be in Vegas tomorrow for another week so will not be reading til mid-week next week...so if I owe ya money let me know and I will catch you the on the one day a week I am home.
By the way THANK YOU for doing this!

K.K.

 

Didn't forget about you guys updates later this week sorry I am swamped

 

Crazy, crazy, crazy!!! I just found this thread and can say that although you are goign about it from a totally different approach, I like what you're doing. I bought one from a parts yard for $25 and have been tinkering with it. I thought about mountig the guages one the face of it vs the side. Only thing I'm havign trouble with right now though is gettign the factory texture so I'm now going to just reupholster the entire interior in black and get rid of the tan/beige on the top. I'm so picky when it comes to stuff liek this and cannot find guages that match perfectly. Any ideas?

 

AEM are green and red. Our factory instrument cluster is green and red. Not to mention ive never heard one negative comment about AEM.

Last wekend i went to valet my car at a high end club and the guy saw my ghetto removed pillar with 3 cluster f--- gauges taped to the dash and he was giving me hell, good thing i know him.

 

Any update? I don't want to rush you, I'm just anxious!!

 

I looked on their site and only found digital ones. Do you have a link to where they have the electric analog ones that would match our instruments?

Thanks!

 

Sorry the digitals is what im running. When you say electric analog are you saying you want the readout to have needles like on the factory gauges?

 

You got it! They are hard to find and I am so f'n picky about everything matching. I made the guages last time around for my caliber and they turned out fantastic but I bet I had over 20 hours invested in making them and my time is way more valuable than that this time around.