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Didn’t have a lot of time this weekend but was able to get the headliner in place. I still have to work out a few small wrinkles and the apply some contact cement to areas but a good start. It should save me some time. I steamed some areas and will let it be until next weekend.
Had my original Harrison heater core re-cored. Hard to find good people to do this but I got lucky locally. Just another thing to add to the list but the list is getting smaller.
I got the rest of headliner installed and glued. I got most of wrinkles out. I also installed coat hooks, rear view mirror mount and dome light with NOS lens. I'll be honest, the reproduction dome light lens looks exactly like this NOS piece I bought.
I'm planning on re-using my headliner wind-lace but need to get a new driver side door wind-lace. Whats the gen consensus on reproduction wind-lace and who sells?
Last edited by scrappie; April 9th, 2022 at 06:37 PM.
I did my Chevelle headliner ages ago. I did just what you did using a gazillion binder clips. This was my first attempt at this task. I couldn't get all the wrinkles out and determined the headliner must have been sitting around folded up for a long time. Got a manufacturer (I think it was PUI) to send a fresh one rolled up, instead of folded, and that worked excellent. Not too hard a job if the glass is out.
I did my Chevelle headliner ages ago. I did just what you did using a gazillion binder clips. This was my first attempt at this task. I couldn't get all the wrinkles out and determined the headliner must have been sitting around folded up for a long time. Got a manufacturer (I think it was PUI) to send a fresh one rolled up, instead of folded, and that worked excellent. Not too hard a job if the glass is out.
Superb work on your car, very impressive.
Hey thanks Briane. Your correct when saying its not too hard but glass being out definitely helps and one has to be eager for the task. In today's day and age, there is so much info out there that puts guys like us in touch with each other who share the same interests. A lot of people like us share the same interests in Oldsmobiles and cars in general. This is where the internet is a good thing. I've watched a lot of stuff where I probably would have tried looking in a magazine or book before the internet. There are a lot of youtube videos out there also of guys doing the same thing. I probably watched 10 videos along with Andy's build on this site and it loaded me with a lot of confidence to do this headliner. For me this is a hobby that is "hands on" and getting your hands dirty and getting stuff done is very rewarding for me. Trading ideas and experiences is what its all about. There are tasks that are not so good but I take the bad with the good and learn from both. I hope people take what they can from my build to give them the confidence or info to do theirs much like I have done with stuff I've seen or read.
With the glass out, this is the best time to do a job like this. I couldn't imagine glass being there and having to work around it. Doing stuff myself if I can, not only saves me $ but stimulates the learning process and builds confidence and is very rewarding. Its a win, win, win.
Hey Scrappie, way to go with the headliner install. I don't see the first wrinkle in any of your pictures, even though you say there are some. I suspect you are pulling our leg about that. I bet you are digging working with all the trim stuff at this point?
Question: Your car is a 12/69 build; did your car come with the starburst dome lens?
Hey Scrappie, way to go with the headliner install. I don't see the first wrinkle in any of your pictures, even though you say there are some. I suspect you are pulling our leg about that. I bet you are digging working with all the trim stuff at this point?
Question: Your car is a 12/69 build; did your car come with the starburst dome lens?
Its a nice change but maybe a bit more detail oriented for sure. Yes 12A 69 build. My car came with the smooth, no pattern lens but it was faded and I came across the NOS one thinking it was a special but its really no different from reproduction and I also found out Fusicks sells the smooth one.
Last edited by scrappie; April 11th, 2022 at 06:03 AM.
After applying the headliner material to the sail panels I'm trying to be in front of any problems that may arise such as: The sail panels being too straight and not contoured to the inside of the roof thus making for a challenging fit. The material I used seems to be the exact same as original? I cant see GM contouring these prior to fitting? I'm thinking these went in flat as a pancake and the attachment points kind of held them in place in order to mold them to the interior shape through all the climate cycles and years. Regardless of all that I decided to help them along the way and give them a little bit of a curve for ease of installation. Its hard to find something with that radius so I used the best I had on hand. I strapped the sail panels to a trash barrel with tie downs and once secured I steamed them to soften them a bit. After a good steaming I let them dry a few days in place. They now have a small contour or memory of the radius which will hopefully make for a better install? We shall see.... I'm still a bit off from that point.
Love it. Use the things around you to make it work. Once you tuck them behind the windlace and stick the Velcro like squares together they will adhere just fine. Good job.
Isn't that a travel clothes steamer to take wrinkles out of your clothes? I used the same thing to work wrinkles out of my headliner installation. That was quite a while ago but I think it worked at the time. I continue to use it for raising dents in wood trim, shrinking stuff...handy little item.
I had a 1970 W31 built 12/69 and it had a non-starburst dome lamp lense. I looked at a lot of cars and never concluded what was correct. So did the starburst show up sometime during the 1970 production year?
Love it. Use the things around you to make it work. Once you tuck them behind the windlace and stick the Velcro like squares together they will adhere just fine. Good job.
Isn't that a travel clothes steamer to take wrinkles out of your clothes? I used the same thing to work wrinkles out of my headliner installation. That was quite a while ago but I think it worked at the time. I continue to use it for raising dents in wood trim, shrinking stuff...handy little item.
I had a 1970 W31 built 12/69 and it had a non-starburst dome lamp lense. I looked at a lot of cars and never concluded what was correct. So did the starburst show up sometime during the 1970 production year?
Thats exactly what it is. I borrowed it from my mom who is a seamstress. I used it for my headliner also.
I dont know the exact date of dome light changeover but it had to be after 12/69 sometime because my car was also built first week of December 1969. If people chime in with their dome lights and production date, we may be able to narrow it down a bit if it really matters?
I also dug out the original windlace to complete headliner install. I knew it was filthy and a bit stiff but needed to give it a good going over and see what it looked like. I really want to use it because trying to find that color OEM replacement seems a tall task. Anyways, here is what I ended up doing:
I gathered the blue windlace and I also had a complete set of black windlace from my parts car. I figured I would clean both and if the blue was no good maybe the black could be dyed blue?
I sprayed the windlace with a cleaner/degreaser and let it soak a bit. I then power washed everything. I was happy with the way things cleaned up and surprised how good the blue looked. Most of the pieces looked good but one needed some dye and I decided to do them all so they would match. I let them dry out and blew them out with air. I then cleaned them again with a plastic prep and then applied adhesion promoter prior to dye. I think they came out good and will install as soon as I can find the time.
Well I'm happy to tell you guys that the motor is in the assembly stage and really shouldn't be too long now. Mark Remmel has been busy putting this thing together the past week and has the short block assembled. Mark has sent me some pics which I am grateful for but probably not the detail you guys are used to at this point in this build but these look pretty good to me and I still like to see them. Taking detailed pics of the process is very time consuming and not a lot of people have that kind of time.
Last edited by scrappie; April 20th, 2022 at 06:33 PM.
.....I dont know the exact date of dome light changeover but it had to be after 12/69 sometime because my car was also built first week of December 1969. If people chime in with their dome lights and production date, we may be able to narrow it down a bit if it really matters?
JoesW31 has accomplished some research in the dome light arena. He will probably chime in along with others too.
Scrappie it's reasurring to see that you do indeed have an engine for this car
I dont know the exact date of dome light changeover but it had to be after 12/69 sometime because my car was also built first week of December 1969. If people chime in with their dome lights and production date, we may be able to narrow it down a bit if it really matters?
Our car is a 12/69 build date, and has the "Star" type dome light cover.
The research that I have done with known original cars (with their original lens) with respect to the dome lens is the change from smooth to starburst occurred in March of 1970. There was a clear starburst lens and a frosted version. It appears the frosted version was the over counter replacement. FYI Fusick does make the correct smooth lens.
Ok if we go by that date, the changeover occurred in Dec 69. My car was built 12A first week Dec. How about yours hotrod?
Just went out and checked our car's build date, it's also a 12A (first week of Dec.'69 W-30). We have owned the car since '83, and it was a low mileage (30K), original paint car when we acquired it. Obviously not being the original owner I can't say for sure that the lens wasn't replaced before we bought the car. This is an interesting discussion though.
I would be interested in how close our 2 cars were in the production sequence, (maybe they were built the same day)....... I can understand if you would rather not share your VIN#, but if you ARE interested in comparing, I would be game. PM me if you are interested in sharing info.
Thanks, Dave
P.S. I should mention that the car I'm referring to is not the car pictured in our signature
Last edited by hotrod442; April 22nd, 2022 at 08:54 PM.
Looking great. The interior assembly was something I was looking forward to on my project and turned out to be the most tedious unenjoyable part of the whole build! They do looks so nice when you take your time and do it right as you are!
I may agree with you about the interior stuff but the jury is still out at this point. There is definitely a lot more detailed stuff that needs attention and for me anyway, its at a snails pace.
So hotrod's car and my VIN are 257 apart. If cars were produced at 1 per minute then an 8 hour shift would produce 480 cars? I dont know how it worked exactly? but its quite possible our two cars were built on the same 8hr work shift? It makes sense they would probably tool up for W30 production and produce a bunch at a time much like say convertibles or cars that are alike maybe?
April 2nd, 2022, 12:10 PM
