I bought an interior kit from Hangar Bay Aircraft Interiors <http://hangarbay.org/> for less than $1500 and installed it myself over two weekends.

Great products at a great price.

Hey-
   I haven't started on my 172 yet, but if you visit www.airtexinteriors.com they have the best do-it-yourself products available. It costs a little more than 1500, but is EXTREMELY high quality and looks like it was done by a professional shop. Hope you find what you're looking for!
                                               -Pat

Jerry at Hangar Bay is doing my interior right now.  The front seats are done and look great.  100 times better than the Airtex interiors and half the money!

Eric; I will e-mail you a few pictures.

Stan; I will like ot see what you did with yours.  Can you send me a few pics?  I can send you whats been done with mine so far.

    Dave

Dave,

I e-mailed you a couple of photos of my interior.

Michael, the two previous owners were both CFIs and A&P mechanics, and they really took pride in maintaining the airplane. I was lucky to find it. There are a few cracks in the forty year old Royalite, but it still looks pretty good.

Barry,

e-mail with photos on the way.

Does anyone know anything on the following vendor for 172 seat covers?


www.arloedesigns.com

Eric,

My apologies. After all, it was you who started this thread.

Photos are on the way.

Appendix A to Part 43 of the FARs specifically allows registered owners who are holders of at least a private pilot certificate to perform certain preventive maintenance tasks provided it does not involve complex assembly operations.

Included is  "repairing upholstery and decorative furnshings of the cabin, cockpit, or balloon basket interior when the repairing does not require disassembly of any primary structure or operating system or interfere with an operating system or affect the primary structure of the aircraft" and "replacing seats or seat parts with replacement parts approved for the aircraft, not involving disassembly of any primary structure or operating system."

Pictures will be coming as soon as I type this message.

Jerry at hangar Bay is "doing" my interior and in return I am letting him use mine as templates for the 1956-1959 model years.  There are a few differences.  His kits are meant to be owner installed, I just happen to only live 80 miles from him so he is helping me

    Dave

Ian,

No 337 is required. You just make the airframe log entry and sign it with your Private Certificate number. Make sure the materials you use conform to FAR §23.853 (the kit manufacturer should provide you with a conformance certificate) and note the conformance as part of the log entry.

Barry, the requirements are spelled out in FAR §43.9:

§43.9   Content, form, and disposition of maintenance, preventive maintenance, rebuilding, and alteration records (except inspections performed in accordance with part 91, part 123, part 125, §135.411(a)(1), and §135.419 of this chapter).


(a) Maintenance record entries. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, each person who maintains, performs preventive maintenance, rebuilds, or alters an aircraft, airframe, aircraft engine, propeller, appliance, or component part shall make an entry in the maintenance record of that equipment containing the following information:

(1) A description (or reference to data acceptable to the Administrator) of work performed.

(2) The date of completion of the work performed.

(3) The name of the person performing the work if other than the person specified in paragraph (a)(4) of this section.

(4) If the work performed on the aircraft, airframe, aircraft engine, propeller, appliance, or component part has been performed satisfactorily, the signature, certificate number, and kind of certificate held by the person approving the work. The signature constitutes the approval for return to service only for the work performed.

In addition to the entry required by this paragraph, major repairs and major alterations shall be entered on a form, and the form disposed of, in the manner prescribed in appendix B, by the person performing the work.

(b) Each holder of an air carrier operating certificate or an operating certificate issued under Part 121 or 135, that is required by its approved operations specifications to provide for a continuous airworthiness maintenance program, shall make a record of the maintenance, preventive maintenance, rebuilding, and alteration, on aircraft, airframes, aircraft engines, propellers, appliances, or component parts which it operates in accordance with the applicable provisions of Part 121 or 135 of this chapter, as appropriate.

(c) This section does not apply to persons performing inspections in accordance with Part 91, 123, 125, §135.411(a)(1), or §135.419 of this chapter.

*******************************

Since the replacement of the interior upholstery is not a "major alteration or repair" and is specifically defined by Part 43, Appendix A as "Preventive Maintenance" and does not "involve complex assembly operations or disassembly of any primary structure or operating system or interfere with an operating system or affect the primary structure of the aircraft", no 337 is required, and the work can be performed by the registered owner if he/she holds at least a private pilots certificate.

Note that (a) 4 above requires the signature and certificate number of the person performing the work.

I feel it's important to staple yellow tags and conformance certificates furnished by suppliers to the log so that there's no question about whether or not the parts or materials are approved.

JimJ,

Your experience with Jerry Robinson and Hangar Bay sounds exactly like mine!