Don't Do This

[Justwondering]

Picture says it all--

Recovered the trim on the interior since most of it was disintegrated. Looking fine. Right up until I installed the back seats back in to the car and I scraped the trim on the driver's rear side.

Notice those two fine looking holes in my recently recovered trim.

I should have covered it with a towel, painter's tape, an old shirt -- something.

 

[Aspen500]

Ouch! Sometime's no matter how careful a person is.........

 

[Jack Meoff]

Yep. Never fails.
But consider it that one ouch you were dreading out of the way.
Still looks great.

 

[Cordoba1]

That's totally a "Damn it" thing. I try not to cry too hard when that stuff happens, it's part of car ownership. I just noticed the chrome trim on the trailing edge of my hood is chipping... I just installed it a year ago!

 

[80 Aspen RT]

That's sucks, I'm pretty used to it, stuff like that always happens to me!

 

[Justwondering]

Good to know that I'm not in this boat all alone. lol

 

[metallicaman0258]

If it makes you feel any better, my kids like to "make it snow" by rubbing their hands all over the headliner and making foam dust fall to the ground. Your car still looks good though.

 

[Justwondering]

lol -- that is too funny. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

I learned five things from doing this interior:

1. Take the time to remove ALL the glue, every tiny speck.
2. Buy extra fabric (at least 1 yard). You'll cut something wrong and have to do it twice.
3. Buy enough felt to cover the entire headliner... the side that faces down. It provides a smooth base to glue your fabric to and will not telegraph depressions and rips.
4. Do not get creative. I thought I was going to be soooo smart reinforcing my visor corners with leftover vinyl roof material. Works wonderfully-- right up until you try to find the screw holes. You can't poke anything through it easily.
5. If you need to put holes in the material, go get a cheap solder iron with the pointy tip. Find the hole with a punch then punch it with the solder iron. Careful not to let the round barrel hit the material, just the pointy part up to near the barrel. It melts the fabric quickly and 'self heals' it so it won't get runs.

Thanks for the compliment.

If I did this again, there are a few things I'd do differently. Kind of like life, no doubt.

 

[Justwondering]

Like returning from the dead, let me resurrect this thread to finish the interior trim story.
Somehow I've lost my way with the thread that details how I recovered the interior trim.

I finally finished the vinyl on the roof and today finished the opera lights and vinyl piece it sits in. Which means I can now finish the last 2 interior trim pieces and the 2 pillows in the back.

The last pillows have the little circle 'chrysler' logo.

I have carried these little decals around for almost a year now. Safe and secure in a plastic baggy in the glove box of the car.

NOT

I have looked everywhere and those dang decals are gone. Now where in the heck did I put them so they would be safe? I do not know. I cannot finish because I cannot remember what I did with those little decals. Dang it, dang it, dang it.

Meanwhile, I decide to put up what I can while I start turning over every stone for those decals.

Thats when I notice this:

These two pieces are what the triangle pillows sit it. This is the backside. These should be symmetrical. They are not. Look closely:

Why did I leave that press fitting in there? That is supposed to be on the back of the pillow.

And by golly, I did it again on the upper part on the other side.

Get your box cutter and longnose pliers and remove the press fittings.

After I removed the press fittings, I put them on the back of the pillows like they should have been.

I poked two holes through the trim pieces where the screws go so I could screw these pieces to the two metal brackets already in the window.

At this point I realize, I don't have the Chrysler circle decals.

My husband smarts off that I need to go put all this on the forum as my act of atonement. To which I replied he obviously has been watching too much Game of Thrones.

Yet here I am posting all this...lol ... enjoy.

If anyone finds my decals, please send them so I can finish this marvel.

 

[metallicaman0258]

Ive read your interior threads a dozen times over and thoroughly enjoy them. For the sake of my laziness (I don't want to go searching again) how many yards of material were used in the recovering of all the interior trim bits?

 

[Justwondering]

lol -- totally understand.
I started with 7 yards. Then went back twice for a total of 11 yards and I'm still 1 yard short.
So you'll need 12 yards if you are doing the headliner as well. The headliner is not quite 2 yards.

You'll need to buy 2 yards of felt (any color) to cover the headliner in first. Then cover the felt with your final material.
I say that because the old headliner will have divots and rips, gouges, tears and wrinkles once you get it out. The felt covers up all that. If you are using new foamboard, I'd still cover it in felt. First time the kids sit in the seat and put their feet on the ceiling, you will have shoe impressions unless you have the felt in place.

Now realize that I've recovered 1 part 3 times and 2 parts twice so I probably wasted 1 to 1 1/2 yards.

Unless you want the original look, don't go with a fabric that has an obvious 'direction' or weave. You waste a lot of time and fabric trying to get everything laid out so that it runs in the same direction. Waste of time and since its in the car it doesn't get the same kind of light and shadow.
Do not waste your time and fabric to do that. I regret wasting both.

Also, realize the first time you do this you will make mistakes: cut corners to short, drip glue, wrap and unwrap a piece several times to get it lined up which causes dimples since it pulls apart the foam backing a little each time.

If you look at the interior of something contemporary (suburban, truck, whatever), you'll notice they have a fabric which doesn't have an obvious directional weave. Its what I'll redo everything in the next time.

That being said.. if pocketbook is driving the decision ... go cheap (Hancocks, JoAnn fabrics, etc.) I was paying between 11 and 14 dollars a yard for mine at the upholstery shop - depending on yardage. JoAnn's was much cheaper (coupons on line, watch the sales).. Like 8 bucks a yard.

Doncha love asking a simple question and getting a 500 word answer?

 

[metallicaman0258]

500 or 5000 you covered the material so well (pun intended) I have the confidence to go out and buy some. I once recovered the headliner in my 1990 dodge dakota so other than it being bigger, it should be the same process.

To get the residue off of the backer board, I used a utility knife blade perpendicular to the surface to scrape off the bits of old glue. Time consuming yes, but very thorough and it doesn't damage the board as much as a wire brush or any other method I tried.

Pro-tip: use a 2 part epoxy to glue the fold over onto the backside of the board to prevent the fabric loosening up as quickly over time. Same applies to the plastic bits. It helps a ton on the plastic bits.

 

[Justwondering]

Clever ... very clever.
My board had already been recovered before I got it and it appears the fiberglass board had been compromised in a couple of places.

Like you I found the wire brush on the headliner to be too aggressive. I used a plastic bondo card? smoother? heck I don't know what its called. That pulled a lot of the glue off.

I should have said the wire brush was for the plastic trim not the fiberglass header board.

 

[LyonAdmiral]

I'm curious, could or would a professional body shop do this kind of work, or no?

 

[Justwondering]

an upholstery shop would. I think a body shop would probably farm it out.

Arnold (guy who owns the shop I bought the fabric from) said they used to do hundreds of these cars a year -- all new interior, new headliner, fixed the opera lights. He hated doing the opera lights.

Then when the fabric covered interior fell out of favor and folks moved on to jellybeans, they rarely do one at all anymore.

Said is is very labor intensive to get everything out and cleaned enough so you could put the new fabric on. No one wants to pay for that at the going rates.

Could you get it done? Yes
Will you pay dearly for it? Yes

So if you are game, doing a couple of pieces every weekend for several months will eventually get it done... much cheaper but more sweat equity.

 

[Aspen500]

You do know when you'll find those decals don't you? It'll be when you're looking for something else and POOF, they will appear out of nowhere. It's a guarantee. I know this because it's happened many, many times.

Other way to find what you can't find but know you have is, buy a replacement. You WILL find the original 2 minutes after coming back from the store.

This seems to happen more frequently as the years go by.

 

[Justwondering]

I'm thinking I'll put everything back up without the decals. Then continue to look for them.

Who knows, I might sweet talk someone going to a boneyard to score me a couple.

 

[lowbudget]

I just looked at the paperwork in my 87. In 2002 it cost $350.00 plus tax for Lone Star Trim, in Irving TX to do mine. I would figure double or more in today's dollar. My new 84 has a chocolate dash and carpet, champagne seats and flesh colored headliner. Needless to say I ordered samples of the material to see what matches the door panels. I've got the glue and figure around $100.00 - 125.00 for the foam backed fabric.

 

[lowbudget]

Did you 2 piece around the back window? There was a seam on both sides of my 84 hooking the bottom piece to the top/sides and the guy who did my 87 used another piece across the bottom without any seams. I did get the headliner covered and back in. Now its time to pull the dash and get the front pillars out and then start gluing when it cools off.

 

[lowbudget]

I got my headliner at yourautotrim.com at 6.995/yard when I ordered 10 yards. plus 29.95 for another gallon of glue. Freight at 47.76 less 10% on the material and glue making it 138.00 total. Just don't order the headliner swatches from them as the freight was higher than the sample card.