Ryan Buck
Full Access Member
Update to my interior update on the 2002 LT.
I got the dash wrapped and ready to put back in.i am really happy with the way it came out. I'm curious how long it's going to last tho in th is Arizona heat! I was hoping there was a spot that I could put a French seam across it but there's no where I think it would have worked out because of the bezel and grab bar. I got the console lid done and ready to go on also. Only a few more things left including the headliner and the grab bar. I still have to paint all the plastic trim pieces tho which is going to take some time. Most of them are all sanded and ready to shoot but I want to do them all at the same time. Haven't got to put the dash back in yet because I noticed the ground wire on my radio got pulled out somehow from the harness so I had to take it all apart full of pinout resolder it and put it back together and I don't really care for the way it's wired so I'm redoing all of that tomorrow and then hopefully get in the dash in. I picked up five more leather hides tonight so I have plenty of material to wrap more pieces if I want. I'm thinking about doing the A&B pillars. There's just no way to wrap the back two pillars though because you have to do those whole panels. I'm sure they could be done but probably wouldn't turn out that great. So they're getting painted. Oh and I got all the seats back along with all of the armrest. I just have to paint the back seat frames because they are shale colored right now and need to be black. When I'm done there will be no shale color st all inside just the color of the leather and black! Carpet kit is all installed and ready to go also! It came out good. The front passenger section is from ACC. The first kit I ordered there was no way I was able to make it work it was completely out of whack I tried for days and just gave up. The company I bought it through wouldn't return it either because I had trimmed on it so I contacted ACC direct and sent them photos and instantly they got back with me and said that that kind of quality was unacceptable and they were sending me a new one which I thought was awesome of them. So this time I went with the mass backing which I recommend for everybody it's so much easier to trim to even though it's thicker you can cut it like butter with a razor knife just be careful because it'll go quick like wrapping paper once you get it going. The whole floor inside panels are all done with a Dynamat Style barrier and the side rear panels of the body are double-layered even. Also I put down a layer of the double sided insulation heat barrier The one that has a silver layer on top and bottom of the insulation. Plus the carpet has the mass backing which is really thick rubbish stuff along with the insulation that comes underneath it so there are three or four layers and some spots LOL hopefully that things quiet inside in the stereo should sound awesome. This has became quite the project when all I needed to do was change the bottom of the driver side seat lol. I started buying purchasing all of the Interior out of a wrecked Escalade. In the long run I really didn't need it because the only thing you were going to notice now he's the little wood strip on the door panels two seat covers have already been all taken off and redone with new ones so it was pretty much a waste of time and money I should have just covered all of my stock stuff. But oh well you live in you learn. It's just money that's what we work for right! At least I do a lot of side jobs to pay for all that stuff. The seats are worth more than the whole truck alone LOL the leather I used in it goes for right around $12 a square foot. I also replaced the seat bottoms with the seat shop heavy duty durafoam which is really nice and on the bottom of the driver seat I doubled up the spring set and wire frame and mesh so hopefully that side stays pretty tough and can handle a beating and off-road. It's taking me over 3 months already just to get to this point. I work on it a few hours after work most days when I can. Have not had a full day yet to spending it which I wish I did so I could get a lot done. The only part that sucks is I cannot find anywhere a set of vent covers for the dash to cover the defroster vents. The ones on the Escalade Dash work cracked so we just cut them out and I'm going to have to make some at a metal that just drop down and sit in there. Also pulling out the headliner was a journey in itself it has a million miles of wire on it and they all start at the driver pillar there is 23 wires in that damn bundle I tried to unplug it from up underneath the dash and pull the plug up and out but was unable to because the tight space I tried for over an hour I ended up having to label every single wire and then cut them in staggered sections so I can solder on quick disconnects when I put it back in. I'll post up some more photos as I get parts of it done if anybody wants to see them. If y'all have any questions about doing anything let me know because I figured it all out now LOL in my truck is a 02 and I put the interior out of an 04 in it and none of the wiring works on the two of them which was a big pain begin with but I was able to make it all work in the long run. Don't listen to these people on here that tell you stuff doesn't work because what I have found out is most of them have not even tried it they've just heard from somebody so then they go and give you false info. One last thing I have to figure out is the steering wheel. I have one out of the newer Escalade but they changed the splines so it does not go on there. once I get the interior and I'm going to figure out if I can just pull the shaft out of the column and swap it with the newer style if not I'm going to cut the end off of mine drill hole through it and cut the ends off a newer one drill hole through it tap some threads into the shaft on the truck so that I can Bolt the part with the splines change my truck with a Allen head machine bolt that sinks down inside it and I will bevel the edges on both parts then TIG weld it together as well just for added strength. What a complete pain in the ass I could have bought a nice Escalade by now with what I have and just the interior but I like my truck I've had it almost since brand new I'm the second owner and the only thing I've ever had to do with it is put a tranny in it at a hundred and twenty thousand and a new carrier in the rear end but that was on me for driving like an ass. not bad for a vehicle so old has 200,000 on it now and it still runs perfect smooth as could be that's why I decided to rebuild the truck instead of spending $50,000 new one after the interior done I'm going to put a coilover conversion on the front end of it and get rid of the nasty torsion bar setup. Then a paint job and finally I'm going to do something with the motor in it to give it a lot more power either a6.0 swap or rebuild mine and supercharge it.
I got the dash wrapped and ready to put back in.i am really happy with the way it came out. I'm curious how long it's going to last tho in th is Arizona heat! I was hoping there was a spot that I could put a French seam across it but there's no where I think it would have worked out because of the bezel and grab bar. I got the console lid done and ready to go on also. Only a few more things left including the headliner and the grab bar. I still have to paint all the plastic trim pieces tho which is going to take some time. Most of them are all sanded and ready to shoot but I want to do them all at the same time. Haven't got to put the dash back in yet because I noticed the ground wire on my radio got pulled out somehow from the harness so I had to take it all apart full of pinout resolder it and put it back together and I don't really care for the way it's wired so I'm redoing all of that tomorrow and then hopefully get in the dash in. I picked up five more leather hides tonight so I have plenty of material to wrap more pieces if I want. I'm thinking about doing the A&B pillars. There's just no way to wrap the back two pillars though because you have to do those whole panels. I'm sure they could be done but probably wouldn't turn out that great. So they're getting painted. Oh and I got all the seats back along with all of the armrest. I just have to paint the back seat frames because they are shale colored right now and need to be black. When I'm done there will be no shale color st all inside just the color of the leather and black! Carpet kit is all installed and ready to go also! It came out good. The front passenger section is from ACC. The first kit I ordered there was no way I was able to make it work it was completely out of whack I tried for days and just gave up. The company I bought it through wouldn't return it either because I had trimmed on it so I contacted ACC direct and sent them photos and instantly they got back with me and said that that kind of quality was unacceptable and they were sending me a new one which I thought was awesome of them. So this time I went with the mass backing which I recommend for everybody it's so much easier to trim to even though it's thicker you can cut it like butter with a razor knife just be careful because it'll go quick like wrapping paper once you get it going. The whole floor inside panels are all done with a Dynamat Style barrier and the side rear panels of the body are double-layered even. Also I put down a layer of the double sided insulation heat barrier The one that has a silver layer on top and bottom of the insulation. Plus the carpet has the mass backing which is really thick rubbish stuff along with the insulation that comes underneath it so there are three or four layers and some spots LOL hopefully that things quiet inside in the stereo should sound awesome. This has became quite the project when all I needed to do was change the bottom of the driver side seat lol. I started buying purchasing all of the Interior out of a wrecked Escalade. In the long run I really didn't need it because the only thing you were going to notice now he's the little wood strip on the door panels two seat covers have already been all taken off and redone with new ones so it was pretty much a waste of time and money I should have just covered all of my stock stuff. But oh well you live in you learn. It's just money that's what we work for right! At least I do a lot of side jobs to pay for all that stuff. The seats are worth more than the whole truck alone LOL the leather I used in it goes for right around $12 a square foot. I also replaced the seat bottoms with the seat shop heavy duty durafoam which is really nice and on the bottom of the driver seat I doubled up the spring set and wire frame and mesh so hopefully that side stays pretty tough and can handle a beating and off-road. It's taking me over 3 months already just to get to this point. I work on it a few hours after work most days when I can. Have not had a full day yet to spending it which I wish I did so I could get a lot done. The only part that sucks is I cannot find anywhere a set of vent covers for the dash to cover the defroster vents. The ones on the Escalade Dash work cracked so we just cut them out and I'm going to have to make some at a metal that just drop down and sit in there. Also pulling out the headliner was a journey in itself it has a million miles of wire on it and they all start at the driver pillar there is 23 wires in that damn bundle I tried to unplug it from up underneath the dash and pull the plug up and out but was unable to because the tight space I tried for over an hour I ended up having to label every single wire and then cut them in staggered sections so I can solder on quick disconnects when I put it back in. I'll post up some more photos as I get parts of it done if anybody wants to see them. If y'all have any questions about doing anything let me know because I figured it all out now LOL in my truck is a 02 and I put the interior out of an 04 in it and none of the wiring works on the two of them which was a big pain begin with but I was able to make it all work in the long run. Don't listen to these people on here that tell you stuff doesn't work because what I have found out is most of them have not even tried it they've just heard from somebody so then they go and give you false info. One last thing I have to figure out is the steering wheel. I have one out of the newer Escalade but they changed the splines so it does not go on there. once I get the interior and I'm going to figure out if I can just pull the shaft out of the column and swap it with the newer style if not I'm going to cut the end off of mine drill hole through it and cut the ends off a newer one drill hole through it tap some threads into the shaft on the truck so that I can Bolt the part with the splines change my truck with a Allen head machine bolt that sinks down inside it and I will bevel the edges on both parts then TIG weld it together as well just for added strength. What a complete pain in the ass I could have bought a nice Escalade by now with what I have and just the interior but I like my truck I've had it almost since brand new I'm the second owner and the only thing I've ever had to do with it is put a tranny in it at a hundred and twenty thousand and a new carrier in the rear end but that was on me for driving like an ass. not bad for a vehicle so old has 200,000 on it now and it still runs perfect smooth as could be that's why I decided to rebuild the truck instead of spending $50,000 new one after the interior done I'm going to put a coilover conversion on the front end of it and get rid of the nasty torsion bar setup. Then a paint job and finally I'm going to do something with the motor in it to give it a lot more power either a6.0 swap or rebuild mine and supercharge it.
