blog post #97

Here we are again, blog reader. You just keep coming back. That's what I like about you. This time we're working on the interior, same as last time, and same as next time. I don't think I have any good intro stories to tell this time (since the whole COVID-19 thing I haven't seen Frank, Barb or either of their useless children)  I'll just have to get right to it.

Early on in this build I decided that I  wanted to change the color of the interior. It came originally in taupe, which I am relatively certain is a color and not a country in east Asia. As you have seen previously, the front seats are a warm, almost reddish saddle brown and black, so I decided to go with this Rottweiler color scheme for the whole interior. I admit that it's a fairly conservative color combo, but I wanted something that felt like a modernized without destroying the original aesthetic.

But before I can do any of that, I had to take out the front and rear glass. Not only had the rubber of the seals cracked during the Carter administration, the front windshield had a large crack in it, and in order to install a headliner the front and rear glass must be removed. It took a little work to carve away the hard rubber, but eventually I got both windows out. The crack in the front windshield propagated when I removed it from the car, but I was already planning to replace it, and had bought replacement glass from a local Falcon enthusiast.

Hard, cracked rubber seal

Free at last!

On the operating table

Butyl sealer under the rubber seal

Now that I had full access to the dash, I pulled all the remaining trim off the dash, and sanded it down with 400 grit where the sander could reach, and scotch-brite on the more complicated curves. The intention was just to rough up the surface enough to allow the paint to adhere. I chose SEM satin trim black since I didn't want too much shine.

Worst windshield ever

I distinctly remember driving Grace around one summer day when I lived in California and noticing the overwhelming amount of heatt that came through the roof of the car . At that point I knew there was no question that I would find a good insulation to go above the headliner when I finally did the interior. I looked into hydrophobic melamine foam (it's the same stuff magic erasers are made of), and had initially planned to use it as a thermal barrier and sound absorber. Somewhere along the line I came across thinsulate's automotive insulation. It had similar performance properties to the melamine foam, but was half the price. I was able to get a 5'x5' sheet for about $50.
 

FLUFFY!

Mid install view of the dampener tiles on the roof

During install

Like a comfy quilt

The installation was straightforward. I cut it to width and then sprayed the back of the material with a general purpose upholstery adhesive. I sprayed the roof as well, and after both sides were tacky, I pressed it in place and used the headliner bows to hold it up. It came out nicely and the acoustics of the inside of the car were actually noticeably changed, with less reverberation and high-frequency noise.

 Next up was the windlace. I'm still not 100% what windlace is for in this application (maybe it's supposed to reduce wind noise?), but it's basically a 3/8 inch diameter foam rod with cloth sewn around it. It is installed into clips around the door openings. It wasn't a particularly hard job, but did require that I remove the tack strips on the sides of the car which hold the headliner in tension from side to side.

New windlace

Windlace clip, with old windlace

Finally I was ready to install the headliner. I found a headliner in a perforated vinyl on eBay, but when I tried to install it, it quickly became clear that this was not the right headliner. After some back and forth with the seller, they sent me a new headliner which turned out the be the right one. 

I had been fearing the headliner install for a long time. I watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to do it. In addition to providing good information, they also provided a great deal of fear and anxiety. Some guys were saying it takes 8 hours for a professional to properly install a headliner. I'm sure it took that long with the windshield removal and windlace install, and my install was far from perfect, but it's not all that bad. It just involves a lot of careful pulling and stretching.

The starting point

spring bows installed, headliner hanging in place

The magic schmoo for attaching the front and rear of the headliner

gluing the headliner to the front pinch weld

Front pulled tight

Rear pulled tight

Front and rear pulled tight from the inside

Tack strips

Pressing the headliner into the tack strips

All done!

It's amazing how much of a difference it makes to see a headliner in there. Its starting to feel like a car again, and not just an old tin can. As you can see, its not a perfect job, but the wrinkles in the upper left are not as bad in real life as it looks in this picture. I might be disappointed in the job if I had paid a professional for eight hours of labor for this result, but for a first time DIY, I'm ok with it.  I still have so much to do (thanks four-door car...) but it's coming along.

The other day, I walked outside and was greeted by this little creampuff. I was hoping it was a late birthday present from my wife, but it turns out a guy from a few streets away just ran out of gas while trying to get to the gas station.

That's all for now, but as you know, there's always more to come because this project will never be done.