Includes seats, trim, console, instruments, gadgetry and installation of sound and vision equipment. No exclusions on the customising scope.

From a Trimmers perspective
By Matt Gilkes
G-Trim

Custom interior and audio visual designs and concepts can vary considerably between cars depending upon several different factors. These factors include:

• Purpose - what are your intentions for your car
• Budget – how much are you prepared to spend
• Effect - what type of impression are you looking to create

But most importantly, imagination and planning is the real key to success.

Whether you are building a modified street car or a jaw dropping show stopper, the procedure remains the same. Plan your cars interior and audio visual set-up before you start building the car. You may want something that is subtle and classy or you may want to create an extreme cabin. Either way, the interior of the car must compliment the rest of the vehicle.

If done properly, the interior of a vehicle can sometimes be a car's strongest asset.

Planning
Your first decision must be – for what intention or purpose is the car being built. Are you building a cool street registered cruiser, or are you looking at creating a dedicated show car. There is a lot difference between building a street car as opposed to a show car, in both budget and practicality.

Once you have determined what your intention for the car is, you must then decide on a concept or “look” for the interior. The idea is to compliment, not overpower, the rest of the car, so be careful and wise in your selection of colour, style and design of your trim, and the size of your audio/visual system.

It is always a good idea to speak to an industry professional in order to gather ideas, and to understand what is involved in designing and manufacturing a custom interior.

And finally, select the tradespeople that you want to work on your vehicle. It is always worth visiting workshops and talking face to face with the people that will potentially work on your car. Insist on seeing the range of products available and above all, their workmanship, as at the end of the day, it will be their work – not yours – that may be the deciding factor at a show.

Streeters
A great way to create a stand-out interior, is to use a contrasting or complimenting colour(s) throughout the cabin. Without customising too many parts on the interior, a simple but clever re-trim in a different colour and products, and/or using a unique design can transform any interior.

Aftermarket components such as sports seats, gauges and lighting can enhance the visual impact of a cabin even further.

Expect to pay anywhere between $3,000 to $8,000 for a complete interior re-trim, not including any audio/vision equipment.

Showcar Interiors
If you are building a dedicated show car, it is imperative that a unique design or concept be considered for the interior. This may involve extensive use of fiberglass and/ or sheet metal and the use of top quality trim materials, i.e leather or suede.

More often than not, many show cars have lacked in the interior department. What is achievable is only limited by your imagination and the ability of the tradespeople working on the car.

Your goal is to create an interior that is both unique in its concept and design, and visually powerful with top quality workmanship.

Any custom interior that involves the construction of new components, e.g. Dash assemblies, door trims, floor areas etc… will not be cheap. Excluding the cost of the audio/vision equipment, expect to pay anywhere from $8,000 - $15,000 for a basic show standard interior, and even more if there are extensive custom modifications involved.

Conclusion
No matter what your budget, an interior transformation can be achieved. Using quality tradespeople and above all, your imagination, your cabin can be transformed into an admirable work of art.

From a car audio installers perspective
By Tony Doran
Doran Audio

Planning
First and foremost you need to determine the basic design of your car audio and/or visual display equipment and realistically address the estimated costs involved by getting a number of quotes from various specialist installation centres. Then work out if the design that you have thought up is actually the best design for sound purposes or is it more suited for show - which means that the sound quality may be compromised due to the fact that looks are the main feature. People often ask in what order should I build the stereo and interior trim. We usually suggest that it’s best to build the stereo first so that the interior installer can also trim any custom moulding work that may have been required to complete the car audio work.

Budget
The cost is often the foremost factor when deciding exactly what, where, how many, and brand of car audio/visual equipment that you can actually afford to install into your vehicle of choice. Also stores vary greatly in quoted prices, but you should not use price alone to determine the particular store of choice. There is also the issue of experience, expertise and also the particular achievements of the store in question. For example, awards won, general perception, cars in magazines and reputation. There is also the blame game factor, that is when you purchase a DVD motorized screen cheap from a discounter or ebay, then you take it to the store doing your install to fit, the screen has a problem and wont work properly, you take it back to the discounter and they tell you it was an installation fault, when in actual fact the discounter has sold you a unit that previously has been returned for a refund/fault and then not checked before being put back out on the shelf for sale, or you contact your ebay seller to inform them of the fault, and they don’t want to know you or, tell you send it back and make you wait indefinitely. So negotiate the product and price with your store and save all that unnecessary hassle.

Equipment Summary
Usually comprising the following:

Head unit:
Internal crossovers for front/rear/sub RCA outputs, high voltage RCA outputs, custom equalizer setting so that individual vehicle settings can be programmed.

Speakers:
Front splits with separate crossovers
Rear 2-way speakers for rear fill

Subwoofer/s:
One or more subwoofer/s will be able to provided that much needed low end bass response and more than one will make that vehicle audible from afar and also flex the vehicles body panels so that your friends will be impressed.

Amplifier:
4 channel amplifiers need to have onboard adjustable high and low pass crossovers on both sides of the 4-channel amp.
Subwoofer amplifiers are generally mono or single channel.
Amplifiers that can run one or more subwoofers of the correct impedance on the single channel bass amp.

DVD Screen:
Same rules apply as in the Head Unit section regarding RCA outputs from your DVD screen.

Slave screen:
Need to be high definition or have a high number of pixels per square inch of LCD screen, also need be able to reject electrical interference arising from alternator, windscreen wiper motor, injection system.

Custom Work
Firstly, tell your store how you want it to look, then ask if it can be done. Then you need to ask the important questions, such as can I still access my spare tyre?, how can I change a tail light/globe if required?, will the boot/lid rattle with all that panelling and should I get sound deadening installed to help prevent that from becoming an issue?, will my boot lid stay up with all that extra weight from the custom work?, how is all that custom panelling secured and will any of it come loose during heavy acceleration?

Conclusion
These are just some of the issues that will become important when tackling your car audio/vision fit-out, so make sure you have done your home work, and don’t think your bothering anyone by asking a lot of questions.

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