So when I was originally looking for a Z last winter, I knew I wanted an Interlagos Fire, but they were few and far between. The ones I could find all seemed to be base units, which didnt have the features I wanted. Thanks to this site and so many users on here, I realized I could give my car the options I wanted for a fraction of the price. I went to work on the interior first, and am tackling the exterior (and LSD) second.

Here are some of the interior changes I have made in the past 6 months (and approximate costs if anyone wants to do the same). My personal taste is an updated OEM style without spending the cost of the car on upgrades.

Added burnt orange leather seats- $600 (I think) from leatherseats.com.
Installed myself- free
Added and installed leather shift boot-$50 or so from leatherseats,com
Bought and installed 06 navigation dash/button panel etc- approx $300 from tiresome ebay searches that lasted months
Bought and installed Magellen 1700 7" touchscreen GPS- $125 refurbished
Bought and installed Clarion CX501 CD/MP3/Bluetooth head unit- $200 or so
Also updated all speakers and added rear sub

The seats are a bit of a pain to pull off the old cloth and install the new leather, but if you give yourself 3-4 hours per seat you'll be good. The dash components/audio are all pretty easy, just following directions.

As you can see, its a pretty dramatic difference from the crappy stock cloth/dash/radio, to what it is now. I get a ton of compliments on the Interlagos Fire/Burnt Orange color combo.

I'm an iphone photographer lol... and have that fisheye/wide angle attachment they sell at the apple store... its really handy for taking pictures in our tiny interior cabins.

Pics:

Before:


After:




Pretty much all of those small wrinkles went away after a month.

Before Dash:


After:



The buttons are non-functional- the GPS is 100% touchscreen and WAY better than the stock one that cost like $3500.

The Clarion head unit is programmable to use the same colors as our dash (this is before the Nav was installed):


From a distance:


You can find how to install all of this stuff here on the site by searching. Sorry but I do not have the searches saved- but its easy to find with a little effort.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any future suggestions.

Also working on the exterior but not finished at all. So far have some bluebat overlays, painted wheels (I love the 06 stockers, probably wont change them ever), 25mm spacers and Eibach pro-kit springs. Will add body kit, paint door handles and hopefully open up headlights/paint them/iron man mod at some point. Teaser pic:

 

Nice job, looks great!

 

Nice clean oem look

 

awesome job on the interior.

 

Any pictures of the seats now? I want to order some covers but I really don't like those wrinkles. People say they go away a little but I haven't seen it.

 

what color did you paint your wheels?

 

Looks great!

 

Keeping it OEM is a .

 

Props on a great job!
Interlagos Fire is one of my fav Z colors.Wish it was avail in 03.
I did'nt
know brickyard even existed until after I bought my Z.
From my experience,interiors are hard to photograph.I think
you got this one right.Still in all,having a hard time with the
burnt orange seats matching up to your body color...
Just does not blend IMO.Interlagos is a hard match because
of all the shades in the paint&metallic.The original seats
sure did look dull in comparison.If it were me,I'd have gone with
a tan/Jaguar color for the seats.Maybe do the trim or cording on the seats
in a color to match the body.But,this would be a custom job&not a OEM
color.The choice of keeping the OEM wheels is a good one.If I were to change,
I'd slap on some bronze Work's.

 

did you just slip the gps in? or what?

 

That look is 100 times better. Great job

 

You are planning to paint your OEM wheels?
They'd look good in a hyper-black.Dupli-Color has a Shadow
kit that darkens alloy&chrome.I've seen some wheels with
this finish.Look great.Especially good for guys that want to keep OEM
wheels that are usually "silver/shiny".Another good thing about this kit is
you can control the darness you want.Just add another coat till you get
the desired finish.You complete the wheel with clearcoat that comes in the kit.
Still say bronze would be best.IMO,would not work with this design wheel.

 

Thanks everyone, for the kind words!

To address a few points specifically-

I can try to get a picture today or tomorrow if I remember. The thing about these seats is that you CAN install them without wrinkles if you wish- its just more work, you may have to undo the clips and re-do them. To be honest, you could barely even notice them in the beginning, and I've noticed some high-end car makers have wrinkles in their factory leather. I guess its a matter of taste. The main thing is, is that leatherseats.com makes them to fit perfectly, its just up to whomever installs them to really put them on tight enough not to have any wrinkles. If you see user Bmccanns seats, they are on there better than even OEM.

It was Duplicolor Dark Shadow Grey (Ford color) from OReillys. Really looks much better with my color than that bright silver. Also painted the emblems the same color and am painting the door handles the same. Used about 3 cans of primer, 5-6 cans of paint, and 3 cans of clearcoat.

Its hard to really show in pictures, but it matches very well. I was a little apprehensive before making the purchase, but figured I was worth the risk. Its the bronze in the paint that really matches well with the seat colors. Although even on overcast days, when the paint is dark maroon it looks good. I considered a tan color as you mention, but think it may have felt washed out a bit (too light) for the IF color. I REALLY wanted that red/brown color BMW uses, but passed because it would have looked to much like Iinter. Fire IMO.

I agree, bronze Works would be one of the only non-OEM wheels I would choose. I'm not a huge wheel guy, and the stock 06s look sharp IMO. Maybe once I choose a (mild) body kit they wont blend in so well.

Somewhat. You hardwire the GPS behind the dash, and yeah, basically used some outdoor 3m doublesided tape and pressed the GPS into the window. Its stuck in there like its bolted down.

 

Yep, I already did... I couldnt use the shadow kit though because I had to fix curbage from the previous owner- I had to use a solid color.

This isnt the best picture bc its in the garage, but I dont have many exterior shots in my photobucket right now:

 

very nice!!!
at first I wasn't sure about that color interior with that exterior color but I really like it

 

I wonder how hard it would be to install the new center console including climate control and entire armrest into a 03-05. Anyone have any info on the climate control plug being similar?

 

You can use HD electrical ties to tighten those wrinkles.
Maybe the color match looks better in person?
Did Nissan offer that match OEM?
I agree,your OEM wheels would not work with a body kit.
A quick/cheap add---vinyl overlays(smoke)for your side reflectors and rear
backup lights.Have e'm on mine.Look great.Would go well with your scheme!

 

The wrinkles are either non-existant at this point, or I dont notice them anymore... or a combination of both haha... It wouldnt be hard to pull the seats out though and tighten them all the way- this was my first pass and I just put them back in.

I always wondered if Nissan offered this combo, but I could only ever find base model Interlagos... I am not sure if they made any like this or not. It definitely looks better in person- in these pictures the leather looks more "colorful" than it really is.

I actually have overlays on the front reflectors now, and if you can see, I have the Bluebat GTR overlays on the tail lights- basically knocked out most of that red except for where the LEDs are for safety reasons... but the part of the tail that comes forward so far (and looked SO red) now almost blends in with the body color.

You're right, I do need to get overlays for those back up lights. I think the only reason I havent is because I thought I would get the body kit sooner than I am... now I cant make up my mind what I want... Maybe I'll order those this week.

 

I think the fitiment would be a bit off, and the curvature of the dash where the climate controls are is a little different. Not sure about the plug but I wouldnt think its different. You could probably make it work if you have any fabrication skills.

 

You did a great job on the leather install. Mine had way more wrinkles when I finished, but they definitely tighten up over time. Another way I reduced the wrinkles was to use a heat gun back and forth over the seats, being careful not to overheat any particular section. I also used a clothes steamer which was much easier, but not as effective as the heat gun.

Neither had a detrimental effect on my seats.