'67 Newport headliner, windlace, and trim

MYSINBIN · Apr 25, 2015

View attachment 50692 View attachment 50693 View attachment 50694 View attachment 50695I'm replacing the headliner in the 4DSD after evicting the mice. I have the entire interior removed. This car had all the windlace removed when I bought it.

After comparing it with the Custom 4DSD, I realized there are two different kinds of quarter trim.

The Newp has/had windlace all the way down to the rear sill plate. The Custom stops at the beltline.

The Newp has a quarter trim panel similar to a door panel. The custom has a plastic trim panel similar to the cowl kick panels.

First three pics are of the Custom. The rest are of the Newp.

Fratzog · Apr 25, 2015

Good reference info for those who need it. Thanks for posting.

MYSINBIN · Apr 25, 2015

Whoops, bear with me. Still figuring out how to post pics in a certain order. Long day today and my fingers don't work so good.

The attachments at the top are pics of the Newp quarter trim and windlace clips going all the way to the sill plate.

Now for a couple of questions:

1. Does anyone else have either or both of these types of trim in their sedans?

2. How well does the windlace to the sill plate set up hold up?

3. Has anyone installed new windlace? If so, did you glue it as well as install it in the clips?

4. Does anyone have a set of plastic quarter trim panels available for sale?

Headliner, insulation, and windlace are on their way, so I'm prepping everything now. The glue from the old insulation is the toughest thing I've come across.

Any input is appreciated.

John

MYSINBIN · Apr 25, 2015

Ok, so the attachment thing didn't work.

Here are the pics of the Newp set up:

commando1 · Apr 25, 2015

Sonovagun.

MYSINBIN · May 16, 2015

Update:

I've been chipping away at prep work for the new headliner. The perfectionist in me took over and I decided to remove all traces of glue, rust, and primer. Tried a bunch of different ideas for glue removal. Every chemical I tried was slow and high labor. A wire wheel on a drill ended up being the fastest. Messy and dusty but effective. My ultimate goal with all this is to completely eliminate any trace/hint/smell of the evicted mouse houses, and to never have to go back into the headliner again.

I got a new presewn headliner from Original Auto Interiors. Expensive, but very good quality and an excellent company to deal with. My five attempts to contact SMS resulted in busy signals and dumps into general voicemail. Never reached a human. I read a lot of horror stories about dealing with them as well. Too bad.

The new fabric is not an exact match as far as pattern, but color and double perforation (called snakebite) are pretty much spot on. Kevin at OAI was very helpful with info and updates about everything.

I also bought enough windlace from OAI to do all the black interior Newps. From what I can tell, the windlace must be installed before the headliner. The tack strips that hold the edges of the headliner cover the clips for the windlace when they are installed.

After a lot of internet searching, I've learned that there is basically no info for replacing the headliner or windlace on a 4 door sedan slabsider. So I'm going to do it all myself and try to document it for future reference.

Most of what I've read about headliners falls into two categories:
1. Leave it to a professional. There is no substitute for experience.
2. You can do it yourself. Slow and steady wins the race.

My thoughts:
1. I would leave it to a professional if I could find one that I felt comfortable with. I've talked with a lot of Mopar guys in my area and none of them can recommend anyone without some reservation. I don't want to get my car back with issues.
2. I figure that if I was able to strip the dash to the firewall in the Silver Newp and rebuild all the electrical systems, then I can install a headliner.

Besides, if I mess it up, I can buy another headliner. It's only money. I can make more of that.

I'll try to post pics of all the steps and describe what I come up against along the way.

Stay tuned.

John

commando1 · May 16, 2015

This has been invaluable info for me. Thanks.

MYSINBIN · May 16, 2015

Made some good progress today. Got most of the surfaces done. Need to do a detail lap next.

I figured out how to remove the windlace retainers. Bending outward on the tabs above the hole releases the inner tabs securing them.

Progress pics:

It took me almost 2.5 hours to remove the glue from this sail panel using chemicals and rags.

It took just over 15 minutes to do this one with the wire wheel.

Last pic is of the old headliner on top of the new one.

More to come. Stay tuned.

John

mcmlvii · May 16, 2015

Nice work. It looks very labor intensive. Good photos too.

commando1 · May 16, 2015

Yes! More please.

MYSINBIN · May 17, 2015

Made some more progress today. Got the detail lap done and put a seat in for yard driving.

I wanted to drive it outside to prep the front floors and blow everything out as well as vacuum it out.

After a whole bunch of cranking and some troubleshooting, I discovered it wasn't going to start. Apparently over the winter, this went bad:

So tomorrow I'll get a new fuel pump and filter and hopefully get it outside to do the rest.

Stay tuned.

John

Wollfen · May 17, 2015

MYSINBIN said:
Made some more progress today. Got the detail lap done and put a seat in for yard driving.

After a whole bunch of cranking and some troubleshooting, I discovered it wasn't going to start. Apparently over the winter, this went bad:

View attachment 52284

So tomorrow I'll get a new fuel pump and filter and hopefully get it outside to do the rest.

Stay tuned.

John

You may wish to check the fuel pump pushrod in the block as well, they have a nasty habit of wearing shorter and becoming ineffective.

MYSINBIN · May 17, 2015

Wollfen said:
You may wish to check the fuel pump pushrod in the block as well, they have a nasty habit of wearing shorter and becoming ineffective.

Cool, thanks for the heads up on that. I've not had to replace a fuel pump on any of the Newps before.

commando1 · May 17, 2015

Matt could build the entire interior of the new Detroit MOMA.
He'll be remembered for the fuel pump rod discovery.

MYSINBIN · May 20, 2015

Got a new fuel pump and filter. No one locally had the push rod in stock. So I took a chance with the original one and installed the new pump and filter.

Just a little cranking and she started and ran well. No leaks or other issues. So I got it outside and went to work on the front floors.

Passenger side worked out well. No holes, so a little more clean up and then paint.

Driver's side is another story. What started as two visible pin holes turned into several significant holes. The ones around the parking brake cable are the most disturbing.

So progress stopped there until I decide what to do. I do have a good floor in one of the parts cars, my gut tells me to just do it. It seems that a short cut here will be regretted. I've never done any metal work on any car before, but I do have a crazy Mopar body guy for a friend.

Like the headliner, I want to never have to address this again. At least as long as I'm still the caretaker.

So opinions and advice are welcome.

Thanks,

John

commando1 · May 20, 2015

In this situation, you really should replace it. For the peace of mind.

MYSINBIN · Jun 16, 2015

So I finally got back to this project. Got two coats on the roof and scrubbed everything else down.

Started cleaning up some trim as well

I put the car on ramps and jack stands to get a look at the underside of the front floors. When I got down on the creeper I was getting a whiff of mouse house still. (It was very humid here today)

So after probing these two holes on the frame:

I found this on the passenger side:

Which was nothing compared to what came out of the driver's side:

I pulled all of that stuff out of those holes in the framework. The last third of the driver's side was damp and really stunk.

I pulled a much smaller amount out of both sides under the trunk as well.

Once I get the interior back together, I'll put it on the lift and do a proper and thorough cleaning of all the under carriage nooks and crannies.

So I'll be checking the cowl vents and heater box as well now.

They are industrious little b*st*rds.

Stay tuned, floors are next.

John

MYSINBIN · Jun 27, 2015

Got the floors done.

After a lot of over thinking and talking with three body guys, I ended up using POR-15 and JB Weld to fill the holes. I taped the bottom side of the holes after one coat of POR-15 then skimmed over the voids with JB Weld. Two more coats of POR-15 and everything was covered and sealed.

Then I got back to work on the rest of the interior. I made a new template for the sail panels which will have additional lights from a 2DHT added. I've wanted to do this since I bought this car 10 years ago.

A little bit of customizing an existing hole and the 2DHT lights fit with no cutting of anything.

I took the harness from the 2DHT and added it to the existing 4DSD harness. No cutting or splicing, made up another harness to accommodate the additional wiring.

The original windshield had a star in it when I got the car. I figured now is the time to replace it while all the interior trim is off. New windshield is in transit.