Justwondering
Well-Known Member
What would I do differently?
1. Tape the vinyl on the bonnet while the bonnet is on the car. Use the opera window inserts to figure out where to cut the material that is going to cover the inserts. Cut the material and set it aside with the opera window inserts.
2. Get a piece of plywood and put it on two sawhorses for a worktable you can walk around. Working on the back of the ford was no fun. I finally had to get up in the bed of the truck and work most of the top and sides bent over at the waist working from knee height down to the bed of the truck.
3. Don't even try to use gloves. Once the cement gets on them they rip and tear. Just use your hands.
4. Use a t-shirt to put your hand in so you can rub the air bubbles out of the vinyl and make it lay flat.
Pictures:
Backside after I was done with the cement. Notice I cut a slit at the bottom corner on each side so I could let it cure sitting on the car.
I should have cut the excess material that is going to be used on the opera windows before I started.
I put the 1x4 on the roof so you can see how much excess material you have at the top.
The left side seam looks good at the top, but has extra material at the bottom. I could not get this to lay flat at the bottom.
The right side has a great seam at the bottom, but the top has puckers. I pulled it up several times, used extra glue but could not get the bumps to lay flat at the top.
My thoughts are that I have the top on there at a very slight angle and this causes the two opposite corners to telegraph the issues. Its possible I should have more closely check the backside of the top seam to see if I needed to debulk some of the excess seam material.
But the hard part is now done. I have another day of contact cement to finish the opera light window inserts and the rest of the interior trim. I already put the new headliner material on the headliner yesterday. Just have the interior plastic trim that needs new liner material on it.
Would love to have all this back together this week, but since I just realized I don't have my stainless steel replacement screws it might be later rather than earlier. Most of the screws I removed from the interior trim were rusted.
My husband says it looks great. Particularly since the old vinyl roof was almost all gone and the bonnet was showing through. But, of course, I see every single bump, ripple, alignment issue, etc.
I think if you did this more often than once in your life, you could get really good at lining things up and pulling the material into place. Getting the adhesive on and waiting for it to get tacky, knowing how to best way to flatten the vinyl onto the bonnet.
1. Tape the vinyl on the bonnet while the bonnet is on the car. Use the opera window inserts to figure out where to cut the material that is going to cover the inserts. Cut the material and set it aside with the opera window inserts.
2. Get a piece of plywood and put it on two sawhorses for a worktable you can walk around. Working on the back of the ford was no fun. I finally had to get up in the bed of the truck and work most of the top and sides bent over at the waist working from knee height down to the bed of the truck.
3. Don't even try to use gloves. Once the cement gets on them they rip and tear. Just use your hands.
4. Use a t-shirt to put your hand in so you can rub the air bubbles out of the vinyl and make it lay flat.
Pictures:
My thoughts are that I have the top on there at a very slight angle and this causes the two opposite corners to telegraph the issues. Its possible I should have more closely check the backside of the top seam to see if I needed to debulk some of the excess seam material.
But the hard part is now done. I have another day of contact cement to finish the opera light window inserts and the rest of the interior trim. I already put the new headliner material on the headliner yesterday. Just have the interior plastic trim that needs new liner material on it.
Would love to have all this back together this week, but since I just realized I don't have my stainless steel replacement screws it might be later rather than earlier. Most of the screws I removed from the interior trim were rusted.
My husband says it looks great. Particularly since the old vinyl roof was almost all gone and the bonnet was showing through. But, of course, I see every single bump, ripple, alignment issue, etc.
I think if you did this more often than once in your life, you could get really good at lining things up and pulling the material into place. Getting the adhesive on and waiting for it to get tacky, knowing how to best way to flatten the vinyl onto the bonnet.