[M35]

My ‘Scorp’ will celebrate his 7th anniversary this July. A couple of months ago, I was seriously thinking of an upgrade until I read this thread of GTO. Sent in the ‘Scorp’ for a detailed inspection at my usual A.S.C. In addition to the scheduled 1 lakh km service, got a new battery and 4 brand new Michelin ATX2. Did a detailed waxing job on the body and painted the drums and the callipers yellow.

Was free for a couple of days, hence thought of spending some serious time with ‘Scorp’. Thanks to the shoddy job at the A.S.C/Theni, while addressing a clutch slave cylinder failure, the dash/ panel around the Gear stick and the middle AC vents got dull and stained. Took the plunge and took the bold decision to give it some premium feel.

Materials used:

• A good quality black Rexine mat, 1 meter = Rs.290
• A solution/ glue purchased from the same shop = Rs.70
• Super glue
• Cutter/Scissors/ Metal ruler/Pencil
• Black Paint/brush
• Newspapers for templates

Firstly painted all the storage compartments on the panel. The cover around the gear stick was showing its age. Carefully pulled off the frame on which this cover was fixed around the gear stick. Stripped it off and got a new cover stitched at a local tailoring shop = Rs.100. I made sure that he double stitched in white matching the seats.

Covering the entire panel around the Gear stick/ Miidle AC vents took the entire day, with carefully making newspaper templates, cutting the mat and then gluing them on to perfection. Taking the entire panel out would have made the work much easier but I didn’t want to take any risk as I wasn’t sure if they would fit in back properly after work. Really impressed with the output and the entire area, now, has transformed in to some thing different from the usual.

Let the pictures do all the talking now.

[M35]

Typing this from Hyderabad now. Covered some 1500 km after the DIY. Totally satisfied with the job. Since the material is quite soft, there is no rattle from coins/phones etc, looks great too.