Not to be a buzzkill but I dont think you are coming out of this under the $8900 they gave you for it.

 

im sorry what do you mean by that?

original investment was 6900 for the car, we all spend for maintance, but if i get 8900 back and repair the truck, of course its not free, nothing is free , but i'd say if this works... it was close

 

i would like to see how you coated the seats with that product. take some more pics when you do the other seats please.

 

Excited to see it when complete. Keep up the good work. Looking good!

 

my rover is worse off than yours and it didn't catch on fire. good luck with the project.

 

to do these seats you must clean with a soft soap that wont harm the leather and then use SEM products leather prep, which will remove the gease/wax from the surface of the seat. after that you tape off the seat portion that you want to re-color and make sure you wont have any bleed through the tape or over spray onto any other surfaces.

then use this product

http://semproducts.com/Catalog.asp?prod=242

or this product

http://semproducts.com/Catalog.asp?prod=190

classic coat has oem colors and color coat is a general color
both are the same product, just a different can!!

i found that GMC light oak matched my 2003+ alpaca tan the best
previous years (Bahama beige) will need to be matched up by eye!!

i have found that light coats , smooth long strides across the seat, 3 coats will do just fine.

it took 1 full can to do that 40% rear seat, and i still need 1 more coat.

so figure 1.5 cans per seat !!!


i have used this product on many cars and it worked fine, way easier that dying the seat and cheaper (13$ a can).

 

how does that product hold up to normal wear and tear? you said you had used it in the past... overall how much will it cost you to do all four seats?

 

i'd say to do the seats and the shifter handle i'm gonna use 6 cans of color coat.

and 1-2 cans of leather prep.

the seats hold up very well if you do the prep work, and as you noticed i only did the center, not the bolster sides to limit wear!!!

since my old seats were tan, and the new seats were black so i wanted to add some tan color to the interior to make the seats work with the tan console and headliner!!!

 

Maintenance does not count as a added expense in my book, it is a necessary evil and you always assume that you will be doing it, so you cant add $500 in oil changes to the price of the truck.

So here is what I mean, you paid $6900 for the truck, it was totaled by no fault of yours and you were paid $8900 for it.
So you are ahead by $2000.
You said yourself a engine will cost you $5000, plus the $600 that you have spent so far.
Your time we are assuming is free, this is a hobby we are going to say.
So right now you are in the hole by $3600.

Now if we were to look at it like you had gotten the truck for free and had the $8900 set aside to do a restoration, then you are ahead by $3300.
But again you are not done.
You still have to replace the headliner, all the electrics in the headliner, like sunroof switches, the Homelink, rear view mirror and windshield plus who knows what else that was damaged during the fire.

More power to you for taking on this project, I never would have.
I would have parted out the truck and ran.

And keep in mind that although the title is not a salvaged one you still have a moral obligation to let whoever buys this truck whenever you sell it know that it was totaled in a fire and that you did a complete restoration.

Think about it, how pissed off would you be if you bought a used car and found out later it had been in a fire?

And if the person were to take you to court you cannot claim ignorance because the proof is right here being cataloged.

 

never said that i was gonna try and lie about the truck, the point of me bringing up the no salvage title is that i dont have to have it inspected by the state which saves me money and time!!!

i know the engine cost is out there but i look at that as maintenance and its now ready to go back in, hopefully for good!!!

as for damage, i'm gonna redo the headliner and paint it, there is no damage to glass and i 've all the parts to fix this truck including the visors and sunroof trim, homelink was on the rearview mirror thank god!!!


anyways... the damage due to fire is almost all gone!! 6 more connectors and i'm done!!! ready to assemble and clean