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Old March 15th 04, 05:49 PM
Michael
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Mike Spera wrote
Well, finally decided the old Cherokee 140 interior is due for an
overhaul. Again, I am considering the Airtex route.


Why? The burn certs issue has long ago been resolved; your airplane
need not have them. All you need to do is use materials that are
industry recognized as fire resistant, and that includes all
automotive upholstery materials. Airtex has made a business out of
confusion about this issue, and the mistake in the old copies of AC
43-13 didn't help any.

The way to go is to take out the seats and side panels and give them
to an automotive interior shop. It will be half the cost (or less) of
the Airtex kit, better quality, and less work.

But, I still have some reservations. First, new seat covers, side
panels, and carpeting is somewhere North of $2400 for this bird (using
their "premium" materials).


I don't know what premium materials they have. On my Twin Comanche
(which is a bit bigger than your Cherokee), I paid less than $1200 for
a new interior. That included having the side panels and seats
recovered for me (I only had to remove and reinstall), having a carpet
made and assistance with installing it, and having a headliner sewed.
I was told that for $400 more I could have had it in leather, but I
didn't want the weight penalty. All materials were SAE certified as
fire retardant.

I have seen some Airtex jobs and they looked awful.


For all you know, they might have been installed right over the old
upholstery. That's exactly what the morons who put an Airtex interior
into my airplane (long before I bought it) did.

Then again, I can always spend $6k+ at
an airplane upholstery shop and get a perfect job.


Or not. A friend of mine did that, and wound up with a job that
looked no better than mine - despite the fact that I installed the
headliner myself.

Michael