1981 Safari wagon thread

I've got a lot of things I've done, and many I plan on doing to my wagon coming up. I figured I'd start my own thread in case anything I do can help others.

Since I bought the car at the end of 2012, I've done the following

Had the woodgrain removed and the car painted
Replaced the tires
Replaced the battery
Replaced the speedometer cable from the transmission to the cruise control transducer
Replaced the cruise control transducer
Had the A/C system evacuated and converted to R-134
Replaced the tie rods and center link
Replace the front brake pads, rotors, calipers
Replace the master cylinder
Replace the interior carpet
Replace the front coil springs, upper and lower ball joints

 

Headliner

When I got the car painted, I had the guy replace my sagging headliner. Within 6 months, my new one started sagging again, and the guy who did it had moved his shop, so I wasn't able to take it back to him.

Last weekend, I noticed I had some water staining on the edge of the headliner by the rear luggage rack support.
When I took off the luggage rack, I found that one of the rubber grommets had fallen through the hole and was letting water get in to stain the roof. In order to get the grommet to replace it, I had to take the rear portion of the headliner off.
As with every job, doing one thing quickly turns into working on 5 more things. Since I had half the headliner off, I figured I might as well replace the whole thing. Because of the water staining, I couldn't just spray more adhesive on it and reuse the fabric. I found headliner material at my local Pep Boys store, and bought it with a bunch of spray adhesive. The material was about $70, and I got 4 cans of adhesive at $12/can.

After ripping off the cloth, I used duck tape to reinforce weak spots on the board and to fix some breaks that had happened.

 

I found that the best way to put the headliner on is to put it on the board, fold one half back and spray the adhesive on that half. After letting it sit for a few minutes, spray a second coat on the board, and spray a coat on the back of the fabric as well. With a second person, slowly smooth the fabric over the glued side being careful not to get wrinkles.
Once you've done one side, move over and do the same to the other half.
If you do happen to get a wrinkle, a steam iron can be used to smooth it out
once you are done.
Since the old fabric was still in fairly good shape, I decided to use it again, and I glued it to the top of the headliner board for a little extra insulation.

After letting the glue dry for a while, I reinstalled the whole thing, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. There are some little spots here and there that aren't perfectly smooth, but I'm hoping that a couple hot days will make those little imperfections disappear.

 

Since I was replacing the headliner, I decided to go ahead and do something that had needed to be done since I had bought the car, update the sun visors. The same company that sold the headliner material also sells a kit for fixing broken and sagging sun visors with the same color material as the headliner.

I forgot to take pictures of the visors before I did anything, but you all know what old visors look like

The corners were broken off the particle board, and the metal support at the top was rusty, but other than that, they were structurally sound.

The kit called for lots of folding and glueing of the edges to make them look neat and smooth, but when I took the old cloth off, I carefully saved off the vinyl edging, so I could reuse it.
I needed to deal with the rust so it wouldn't end up staining the new cloth, so I prepped and primed the metal with rustoleum. I was only worried about keeping the primer off the important pieces, not the board itself.

 

The kit came with a clear plastic film to fix a broken visor board, and while my board wasn't terrible, I figured I might as well over-engineer my repair so it would last as long as possible.

I traced the board and cut out the plastic and used spray adhesive to glue it on.

For the passenger side with the mirror, it was a little tricky cutting out enough fabric to go around the mirror without cutting too much.

Once the cloth was glued on the board, and the excess was cut away, I tried using a sewing machine to sew the edging back on, but it ended up being too difficult, so I was left with doing it by hand.

My wife was saying that by the time I'm done, it will be a luxury car. Where else but a luxury car can boast of having hand stitched sun visors!

It really wasn't bad sewing it by hand, because the holes were already there so I used them and it went quickly and easily.

When I put the metal finishers on the end of the edging and whipstitched the openings, I ended up with visors that looked almost as nice and new ones.

 

The next thing I'm going to be doing is replacing the PVC and EGR valves. I got a quote from a local window tinting shop, and for $300 they'll tint all the windows, including the windshield (for UV protection, not to make it darker). That price is for their high end window tint that comes with a lifetime parts and labor warranty.
I'll probably get this done before summer, so that the kids don't have as much a problem with sun in their eyes, and so the A/C doesn't have to work as hard.

I also got a quote on having the seats re-upholstered, but that would be about $1200, so I'm not going to be doing that anytime soon.

 

Speaking of window tint, how hard is it to remove? Some bright spark decided to tint the front door windows of my 'new' 88 Grand Marquis, and I suspect they are too dark to be legal, and are certainly too dark for my liking.

 

Nice work, headliner looks great!, I did my Olds in 2009, only last fall a couple small areas are loosening up.... where the visors are attached. When I removed mine the liner was broken at both those spots, I used epoxy to repair them with alum foil tape. Maybe over time the epoxy and fabric glue had a chemical reaction?:confused: I also installed 1" acoustic insulation the exact same that is used in HVAC systems, feather lite and once the first heavy rain hit in was noticeably quitter inside the car. I used denim and had my daughter dye it to a shade that came pretty darn close to the rest of the interior. I will be doing my Buick's headliner this summer also, I purchased the material last fall. Would have cost me over $200 for the foam backed liner because of shipping and taxes so I went to a fabric store and spent $50'ish for a heavier material no foam.

Some pics of my first headliner in 2009, post #28. Camera played some colour tricks, these pics make it look much darker than it really is.

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4477&page=3

I hope it holds well and smooths out, but I would have and did work out all imperfections while the headliner was out. I hope gravity doesn't do the opposite effect now that you put it back in. I also let mine cure over night before re-install.


Nice work on your visors also, I've yet needed to do that type of repair so good to get some pointers for the when and if. I couldn't find any info when I did my headliner, I just winged it and hoped there would not be a lot of swearing if I failed

You also mentioned not getting your front seats done just yet...... maybe wait then until you find something in a reclining seat as you mentioned wanting one for when your honey is napping on road trips. maybe search the wreakers for a whale wagon caprice, some even had bucket console.



Edit....

I did it once and it came off pretty easy exactly how the girl in the 3rd video with a hair dryer and with only a few problem spots that needed a plastic scraper. How ever it had only been on the glass a couple months.

The second video in the link I have seen done at a shop and was only used it as a last resort, that window tint had been on for years... it also took a freeken long time and with the steam it made a mess out of the door panels.

http://video.search.yahoo.com/searc...8x?p=how+to+remove+aftermarket+window+tinting

 

Actually, most of the imperfections are dimples from when I was smoothing the fabric onto the board. It looks like a whole lot of little fingerprint impressions all over the place, so I'm hoping gravity DOES have an effect!

Yeah, I definitely want to get a reclining seat before I do reupholstery. I got the quote more for reference. I had no idea that it would cost so much just to have someone put new cloth on the seats.
I did find out that for an additional $375 per unit this place will fully install seat warmers. I don't need one, but my wife may want one for her seat.

 

Nice work so far. Keep your thread going.
No comment on your wife's cold butt!

I've only installed three headliners. One was in a 1987 Chevy van. It had short sections with wood strips over the cracks so was easy to do in pieces. Since the enterior was light grey I used a cheap thin carpet which worked out great.
But the first one was in my 1955 Chevy wagon. I bought a vinyl headliner kit someplace. I waited till warmer weather and layed it on the drive way in the sun several hours. This seemed to help. But I still have some wrinkles after many years.
Almost forgot my friend's 1950 Chevy pickup that I did a full enterior including a glue in headliner. I had problems at first keeping it glued to the inner roof. The sun kept releasing the glue. I believe I should have made an inner cardboard type liner first then glued the material to it. In the end it came out nice. I still don't know how I got talked into doing that enterior.
Everything I've done encluding a top on my Model T touring, was trial and error. But for the most part, anyone can do a headliner with patience.

 

Looks great! I'm not big on needing to do interior work but I guess when mine starts sagging I will have to.

 

Ahhhh, I know what your talking about. I had the same concern when I was thinking about using the foam backed material prior to doing the Olds, especially in the corners/curves ( and I yet didn't have a clue as to what I was doing) I also chose the denim for the ease of keeping it clean of dog hair witch my Olds (then), and the Buicks factory headliner now is a lot of .... to much extra work come weekly cleaning day. Off subject but my Olds back seat witch is the original, I put leather buckets up front is a freeken B**** to vacuum out d-hair, then the Buick witch has a different cloth the d-hair doesn't hardly stick to it at all.

But I will ad, the material I got for the Buick although not denim was and should be tested if anyone wants to do similar with the spray on glue in any application. The fabric store gave me several extra large samples of a few different materials in the colours I liked, all with no foam backing. I tested pieces with the spray on glue and even after the flash time to cure before you lay the material, working it with your hand the glue still bled through a few samples. That left me with 2 shades of different fabrics to choose from. I had about a square foot of each left over so thinking dog hair clean up, I put both samples on the dogs beds for a couple days and then looked at them, the colour I liked the most was not only a magnet for hair but like trying to vacuum dog hair off a piece of tape. The sample I chose was a complete opposite.

 

I've always done it with a single edged razor blade just as it lays. No heat or other "aids." It peels off like Dick's hatband. I did the Pontiac last fall. Actually, the hardest part is cleaning up all those little strips of material that seem to stick in every crevice in the car.

As for using duct tape to repair your headliner and visors, I think you only hastened failure. It degrades pretty quickly, adhesive won't bond to the shiny side for long, and the adhesive on the tape itself will probably let go after the car sits in the hot sun a couple of times.

 

I've done it with a razor blade but as you mention "all those little strips", with the hair dryer I got at least 80-90% off in one piece and in just about the same time.

But I do agree about the duct tape, and thought exactly the same when I did mine. My corners were broken free at both visors, after 4 years it's still in one piece... and it lasted 4 years before some material separation started where I used the tape below. I glued the pieces back in with epoxy and used the alum foil tape to hold the pieces in while it cured.



But yeah, and sorry "xxx", I also think you are going to have problems sooner than later with the duct tape.

 

WHAT? You doubt duct tape?

I will have to agree. It breaks down in time, especially with heat.