T-Bird Car Restoration Project Part 6 - Two in One! - Page 3

Starting at the front bow we stretched and pulled the headliner to the side. We then stapled the fabric into the tacking strip, at first just where the seam was located. We worked our way from seam to seam, stretching the fabric to remove all puckers and droops.

The bows hold the seams in place, so once it's stretched the headliner starts to take shape.

You can see where the droops still remain, so the trick here is to remove some staples and keep pulling.

Our headliner installation was complicated a little by the portholes. These openings required that we cut the fabric that covers the hole, then stretch it into the opening and glue it in place. We cut out a small hole in the center area and made slits so that we could pull the fabric tightly. A quick spray of glue on the proper areas and we were on the way to a finished porthole. Once the edges were glued we covered them in masking tape to hold until the port hole components were installed.

Don't cut too much away or you won't have enough to cover.

Fastening the pieces of the finished porthole trim.

Next came the rear window opening. The headliner fabric was stretched and held in place at the window flange by several clamps. We then glued the fabric onto the flange and cut off the excess. This is how nearly all headliners are attached to rear windows, which means the window, with its rubber gasket and stainless trim) must be removed first. The rear window then had to be reassembled with its gasket and stainless and then fitted to the top.

Cutting away the excess material once the glue dried.

Getting all the pieces ready for assembly.

The trick to installing windows is to insert a strong piece of twine (nylon is best) into the rubber channel that will surround the body flange. Arrange it so its ends can be pulled from the center of the top and bottom. Once the window is placed gently over the opening - and held by a helper from the outside - you can go inside and gently pull the string. As you pull the rubber will fold out over the flange and fasten the window to the opening. In this case, of course, it holds in the headliner edges as well.

It's ready to put into the top now.

Not Quite Finished...

Our top was nearly done, but we still had to install a wire-on strip (this is a piece of finishing material that hides the staples and tacks along the edge of the headliner) to the inside of the top and then install all the rubber gasketing along its bottom (this is a removable hard top, so there's lots of weatherstripping to keep out the rain).

Pulling the string, ever so carefully, pulls the rubber channel out over the body flange.

A bit of the gasket is now in place.

After the gasket material was installed we were ready to install the stainless edge trim. The pieces of trim (7 of them) were either screwed in place or press-fit over the edge of the top. In the case of the press-fit, gentle persuasion with a rubber hammer was necessary, but we were very careful not to damage the paint.)

It's looking more and more like a new hard top.

We still have to install four of the hold-down clamps that secure the top to the body, but we don't have them back from the chrome plater. We also have to steam out the remaining wrinkles in the headliner but this is a waste of time until the top is actually fastened to the car's body, due to the overall flexibility of the top.

For now, however, the top is going to get covered in plastic and stored safely away.

T-Bird Car Restoration Project Part 6 - Return to Page 1