PA28R-200 Air Tex interior

Jake Simpson

Jake Simpson

Filing Flight Plan
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cvgaviation
Considering upgrading interior with a partial or full Air Tex interior, biggest things I need are seats/carpet/wall panels. Has anyone done this in an Arrow and can share their experience installing it yourself? Along with that, what's the cost for a full interior on a PA28? Will get a quote from Air Tex as I consider my options. If I were to order the interior pieces and have a shop do it, how much would they tend to charge? Again, just scratching the surface here and wanted some advice from people that have experience doing this. Thanks!
 
Haven't done it in a PA28R but in a PA28-140. I didn't go with Airtex due to their long lead time back then (something like 8 weeks at the time but that might have been a COVID thing in 2021). I bought the carpet from SCS Interior for $376. I bought the side panels from Texas Air Salvage (around $500). They sometimes have "as new" interior parts. The ones I bought looked modern and were in outstanding condition with no rips, tears or the likes. I cleaned the headliner to make it look like new so no $$$ spent there. The only thing I didn't do is redo the seats so can't give a PIREP on that. I had my mechanic do the install during the annual. Seats had to come out anyways, side panels had to come out anyways as well so it didn't cost me any more than a regular annual inspection because it didn't really matter to him if he installs the new side panels or the ones he took out. The only additional cost was putting in the carpet but that wasn't a whole lot. Don't remember exactly how much but it didn't even push the annual into "oh crap, that was expensive" territory. Maybe a few hundred dollars at most.
 
My friend had his arrow done by a local shop. Seats, wall panels and carpet in custom colors for 7000. No Airtex.
I used Airtex a few years ago in my 172. I was happy with it. I only did seats and carpet and I think it was around 3k with me doing the work.

I think my buddy got the better deal?
 
I have done my Warrior and helped a friend do his Arrow IV. I prepared the attached notes. Hope they are helpful. My friend also replaced his wooden floor underneath the rear seats. He took the old floor to a local woodworking club and they did a fantastic job. They just moved the old hardware to the new floor and we had no problems replacing it.
 

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  • Interior Restoration-My Tips.pdf
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Airtex wall panels and carpet is an easy self-install. The seats can be more challenging, depending on how much needs to be done. I did the wall panels and carpets in my plane, easy-peasy. The front seats, which are an unusual "horseshoe" design in the AA-5, I shipped back to Airtex and they rebuilt them in their shop from the ground up. For the price I paid at that time (maybe $200 labor?) it was WELL worth it to have it done by a pro. I did the back seat pan and seat backs myself. They were tricky and took a little time to get right. In the end they look great, but a pro could have done it much faster.

The quality of the Airtex stuff is very good. I don't think you will be disappointed if you go that route, but I suspect a good auto interior shop could do a bangup job as well. The interior of my plane now looks better than new, especially after I also replaced all the plastic trim. If I did it again, I would probably go the custom route and engage a professional interior installer. My work is OK, but I shouldn't make it my day job.
 
Airtex website has a pricing sheet on their website. I got my headliner from them. It was very nice, and not overly difficult to install. Their lead time is still a bit long, so I got wall panels for my Decathlon from the company that does them for the factory. I got custom leather seats from a local shop. Seats were $2K, wall panels were $1K, and headliner was under $500. An easy DIY project IMO.
 
Home field FBO put an AirTex interior in their rental Arrow and into several other planes on the field. They and the owners are happy.

They did say that sometimes it takes a good bit of work to get the seats right.
 
Not an Arrow but I just did the seats with Airtex full leather in my PA28-180 a couple of months back. Very doable on your own. It is a bit tedious and much more physical than you would expect. Took me about 12 hours over two days to do. Materials and stitching were top notch and it turned out beautifully
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Anyone know how scs carpet is? Have experience with airtex, but was curious on any scs pireps.
 
Racerx said:
Anyone know how scs carpet is? Have experience with airtex, but was curious on any scs pireps.
Click to expand...

I only have samples but can tell you SCS doesn't have the nasty foam backing that disintegrates and makes a mess that Airtex has.
 
Racerx said:
Anyone know how scs carpet is? Have experience with airtex, but was curious on any scs pireps.
Click to expand...
I ordered a set of front floor mats from them and the quality was excellent.
 
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