Saving a 73 from the crusher... - Page 17

wayner · 07-20-2012, 05:26 AM

Ok, so here is what we found in those boxes:

MORE big binders!!!

wayner · 05:49 AM

...and more parts. here is a small sample.

Mike will be glad when all of my piles of boxes are gone and he can find his Yellow 914-6 again that is buried behind them..

wayner · 07-21-2012, 12:59 PM

Interior coming together. Headliner is in (I now officially hate that job but it turned out fantastic).

Pics soon

Fricksman · Fricksman's Garage

Came across your thread the other day what a great project love what you are doing keep up the great work!!

wayner · 07-22-2012, 03:52 AM

Thanks!

Even at the pace that this project has progressed, I am staring to get discouraged once in a while. Posts like yours really help.

deshetlr · deshetlr's Garage

Just makes me want a '73 more than ever. Keep it going.

will hung · 07-22-2012, 05:57 AM

Coolio. Can't wait to see the pics.

wayner · 07-22-2012, 02:29 PM

Here are the shots I took when I temporarily placed the interior parts in place before final fit. I'll post better pics later with the vinyl posts recovered and headliner installed.

This was just rough assembly. We also have to dye the brown leather trim strip to black on the dash.

wayner · 03:09 PM

Mike watched me work on this for hours while he was working on another customers car.
It isn't a difficult job to get the headliner installed without creases, but it takes a long time, at least for me, but then, I was paranoid about screwing it up.

wayner · 07-22-2012, 03:16 PM

B-pillars with vinyl applied.

wayner · 08:19 AM

I know I am probably disappointing those of you that were hoping for an authentic seated 73 race car, but, seats are easy to change. Meanwhile, these suit my vision of a 1973 GT3-RS, if they had ever made such a thing. Spartan, yet nice materials, and I like the anti-glare properties of the dash. Conveniently, the seats match the other interior panels.

Detailed headliner install pics to follow soon.

ratpiper71T · 07-23-2012, 08:27 AM

Looking good! I wouldn't sweat those 'PP's they still look the part. Besides the few current photos I've seen of historic racecars being brought out and flogged-they weren't using the old stuff...pps or other recaros...

R K T · 07-23-2012, 11:53 AM

I personally think those seats look great!

wayner · 07-23-2012, 01:09 PM

They've found a good home :-)

wayner · 07-23-2012, 03:48 PM

Ratpiper, I updated the paint info on page 15 for you.

wayner · 07-24-2012, 04:34 AM

Here are the detailed headliner pics that I took to demonstrate the challenges and how persistence can lead to a perfect job.

The first pic show that the job isn't as bad as I first imagined (before reading up on it).
Somehow I had imagined sitting inside the car with this floppy headliner covered in adhesive goop while trying to stick it to the roof in one crease free shot.

Fortunately it is much easier than that. Since the headliner has channels sewn into it on the backside for the bows to pass through, the headliner is self supporting while you work on it.

I did waste almost a day sorting out the bows though. The car came unassembled and I had to guess which bows went where. To make matters worse, the bows didn't sit very snugly. I kept inserting bows, installing headliner, removing bows, switching the order of the bows...until I found out that the bows were supposed to have rubber tips on them. These tips take up the slack that I had.

Fortunately, when I ordered my headliner form Pelican many many months ago, apparently I ordered new rubber tips because that is what I found in my parts box. I also apparently had the foresight to order new bows. Unfortunately, I didn't read the fine print. My actual order contained ONE rubber tip and ONE new bow, rather than one complete set.

Rather than re-order and wait, it turns out that windshield washer tubing looks remarkably similar to the rubber tips.

wayner · 07-24-2012, 04:39 AM

With the bows installed in the correct order, I stretched the headliner front to back using the paper clips recommended in the pelican how-to article.

The next challenge of stubborn creases was overcome once I realized that even with the bows, the headliner could be crooked. I unclipped and clipped until I could trace the bow underneath the seam using my finger to determine if the seam and bow were parallel or not.

I'm sure a pro would have quicker techniques.

Starting over once the bows had rubber tips on them, I then spent almost another day getting this the way I wanted before coming near it with glue or scissors.

wayner · 07-24-2012, 04:42 AM

After much stretching, clipping, adjusting, here is how it shaped up. (Still no glue)

wayner · 07-24-2012, 04:46 AM

Lets go in for a closer look:

For the corners I trimmed back some of the material and then left a small half moon shaped tab that I then folded, tucked underneath and glued to itself to form a nice rolled edge where the headliner meets the A pillar. (Mike had already installed fresh black vinyl on the A pillar for me before I started this.

NOTE: I still had not glued the headliner in place yet or done any final trimming.

wayner · 07-24-2012, 04:50 AM

In the picture above you can see where I have added arrows to mark the imperfections that needed to be fixed before glueing.

You can see the small creases on the A pillar that need to be worked out, as well as the alignment issue where the headliner bow seam is not sitting properly.

I took a series of pictures as I stretched and clipped my way to perfection. Unfortunately, taking pictures in a dark car of a dark headliner in a bright shop using a cel-phone was not the best photographic technique. They were either too dark or washed out depending on how the phone sensed the light.

Here is one of the better ones the perfection progressed. you will notice when you compare this picture to the one above that as I stretched out the crease near the A pillar the seam aligned itself properly with the bow.