1987 Chyrsler 5th Avenue - Exterior Trim

Justwondering

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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:
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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.

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I should have cut the excess material that is going to be used on the opera windows before I started.

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I put the 1x4 on the roof so you can see how much excess material you have at the top.

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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.

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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.

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Justwondering

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Had to get another yard of headliner material for the interior trim. I originally bought 3 yards, but this is going to take more like 3 1/2 or 4 yards.

While I was there I discussed the vinyl roof retail cost and the interior trim cost. His said they used to rework the interior/headliner/trim all the time back in the day but not so much anymore. Said the amount of pieces and labor to clean and cover all of them plus the headliner would run about $900 or so. Also guessed that vinyl roof recover would be about $700.

Said that even when they did rework fifth avenues, they never fixed the opera lights. Nobody wanted to pay for the fix so he never found a way to do it. Was really interested in the EL Tape solution. So his final estimate for the lights, interior and vinyl roof was around $2000 to $2100.

Only a little more to go and I can see that $1800 savings waiting for me. Too bad its imaginary instead of real....Funny. But it gives me a good feeling to know that a little sweat equity and time gave me such a good savings.

More pictures tomorrow.
 

gporeilly

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Please let me know where you purchased the headliner material.
I need a little "Twilight Blue" to repair a split of the material on the driver's door frame.... a common problem with the door constantly closing against the material on the door pillar.
I know I can purchase a close match but would much prefer the exact "Twilight Blue" if possible.
 

gporeilly

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Thanks for the prompt response. All I could find on the site was the vinyl tops.... I am trying to find the interior headliner/trim material something like velour. {not the Kimberly velvet on the seats and door panels}
 

Justwondering

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My mistake. I am so focused on the vinyl I missed the key word of headliner.
I got my headliner material from a local guy (84 miles away). Arnold's in McKinney, Texas.

I tried several other places with poor results:
1. JoAnne Fabric - very limited supply but cheap
2. Most shops refused to talk about selling material, they wanted the bucks for the material and installation.
3. Bring the car by and we will give you an estimate in a few hours (say what??)

Arnold's let me bring in my visor and compare it to the book which had the original colors in it (although the newer fabrics might not match those colors exactly). He then brought out several bolts of material and let me pick what I wanted. Took things outside to look in the regular sunlight and back inside to see what artificial light did to it. Great guy.

He will tell you the same thing he told me. Yes, you can patch the interior; however, the fabric colors will have faded a bit since they are exposed to UV light and aging. New material will not match-- it will look darker since it has not been exposed to light and aging.

I googled your twilight blue headliner material and found several links.
Here is one:
http://wholesaleusastl.com/Automotive Headliners.html

Since my car is silver/grey interior, you'll have to compare the online information you find to your color in your car.
 

gporeilly

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Thank you so much for your site suggestion. So hard to compare exact colors without doing as you did at Arnold's.
Think I will take a stop by local upholster.
 

Justwondering

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Either take the car with you, or pull the sunvisor off and take it with you. Assuming it is covered in fabric (oh assumptions). Anyhow, having a larger piece of fabric to use for comparison of the bolts of fabrics makes it much easier to find an acceptable match.
 
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Justwondering

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Alrighty, it was a beautiful day to spend outside working on the interior trim.

There are a total of 20 pieces of interior trim plus the headliner that needed to be recovered. I managed to get all the trim pieces covered except the inside rear cap. I ran out of daylight.

Of the 19 pieces I completed today, most were straightforward to cover. The front two vertical pillars to the left and right of the front window are a royal in in the a$$. I will have to buy more material and try recovering them a second time. This next time, I plan to use an old sheet and cut a pattern for each of them.

I did trim the vinyl roof and cemented down the inside area around the rear window opening. Three inside corners look good, but I cut my easement just a little too far on the fourth corner. I was soooooooo disappointed.

But, I still need to put the butyl tape on the inside. I've also decided to run a bead of caulk the interior opening where the vinyl meets the window. Since I have a repair to make on one of the leather seats, I do have some vinyl repair paint/material. So my plan is to use the vinyl repair on the 1/8 inch cut and then when I run the bead of clear caulk I think it will be fine.
 

Justwondering

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So far this morning, I've got almost everything recovered.

All the contact cement is used. That is 1 gallon and 1 quart.
All the fabric is used. That is 6 1/2 yards.

I've cleaned the backseat and floor as I get ready to put the interior trim back in as well as the back seat and the headliner.

Earlier this week I counted 18 interior trim pieces.
Yesterday, I laid everything out on the drive and discovered I had 20 pieces.

Today, I realized I forgot to include both sun visors. Therefore, the final tally is 22 interior trim pieces plus the headliner. You need a minimum of 7 yards of material. Of course, I have used all the fabric so back I go next week to get more.

Pictures later. Got to get all the contact cement off my hands.
 

Justwondering

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Almost got the bonnet on the car today.
I had scope creep and the realization that I didn't trim enough vinyl from the bottom of the bonnet.

Scope Creep:
The window trim over the passenger doors was loose. I used a putty knife and wiggled it loose. There was one rusty screw at the bottom of the trim (phillips head).

The butyl that held it on originally was brittle and dry. Someone came along and 'fixed' the problem using silicone bathroom caulk. Needless to say, it did not fix the problem. I cleaned the track off and cleaned out the channel on the trim. Applied new butyl and put it back on.

But, of course, I put the same amount of butyl the entire length and it was perfect at the back of the rear door---- but it was way too much at the front of the front passenger door. Then I spent another hour or so using a putty knife (carefully), acetone, and a rag to remove the excess butyl. Lots of gloves cause it was hot today and I kept sweating in the gloves and breaking them.

May I say that butyl can only be rivaled by red fingernail polish in its ability to get everywhere.

Bonnet Vinyl:
No way to say it but straight up. I left way too much vinyl on the rear bottom edge of the bonnet when I turned the excess fabric to the backside of the bonnet. It hikes the back of the bonnet up higher than the front which causes it to sit too far away from the side silver trim.

By this time, I lost daylight and called it a day. Tomorrow I'll pull the bonnet off carefully (cause its got butyl all over the bottom side of it and the top of the car. Then use a carpet knife and cut down the vinyl overage and pull it off the top because its already contact cemented onto the bonnet.

I did manage to get everything vacuumed and cleaned in the backseat area. So it is ready for trim to be placed. Used a razor blade to scrape some unidentified substance off the window. Auditioned my new stainless steel screws and I believe the shanks are too small (boo hiss).

Looking forward to the morning to get this done.
 

Justwondering

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Walked outside this morning and the dually was dripping antifreeze.
My 5th avenue got ignored all day while I figured out how to remove and replace the ford's radiator, upper hose, lower hose, thermostat, and thermostat gasket.

If only I had remembered to buy 3 gallons of antifreeze when I got the parts. Tomorrow another 48 mile round trip to get antifreeze. Sigh. Maybe they will sell me a new brain while I'm there.
 

Jack Meoff

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That sucks.
Unexpected surprises are always a pain.
Hope you get it done quickly so you can get back to the Fifth.
 

Justwondering

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Got the system recharged with antifreeze and everything I did to it looks fine-- no leaks.
BUT--
there is now a small leak between the waterpump and the water intake tube. Gag. I have 4 more pieces to recover before I can put the seats back in the 5th. He keeps whispering my name everytime I walk by to get another tool for the ford.
 

Justwondering

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Great news!
After 4 inches of rain, I have no leaks in the repaired window trim channel above the passenger side. None of the belt molding across the top let any leaks through. And although I don't have the vinyl opera lights in yet nor the molding across the bottom of the window, there was no water coming into the car.

Passes my test. I can finish this up.
 

Justwondering

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Just don't stand too close when you look at the vinyl roof or interior trim. There was a lot of learning going on during this project. More pictures once the trim is finished and seats are back in. Needs to happen soon its getting colder now. High was 71 today and rainy. Yuck.
 
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