Interior & Upholstery project questions & progress updates

[Ohmess]

Wow. Two layers on the floor. I have the original carpets, a set of aftermarket carpets over those, and Cocomats on top, so I only have one layer on my floor.

Not sure if you have done so, but I would also do the parcel shelf, either from inside the car of from inside the trunk. When I did mine, I had to fill two gargantuan holes that previously had been cut for speakers. Doing the parcel shelf and seat back area shields noise that would otherwise seep in from the trunk.

 

[boonies]

Not sure if you have done so, but I would also do the parcel shelf, either from inside the car of from inside the trunk. When I did mine, I had to fill two gargantuan holes that previously had been cut for speakers. Doing the parcel shelf and seat back area shields noise that would otherwise seep in from the trunk.

I hadn’t thought of the parcel shelf, good call!

 

[boonies]

Pulled the trigger last night and ordered the carpets and leather from KHM. Will share photos upon arrival and eventual installation. Also purchased a zero crack replacement dash on ebay in Germany, and in the process exchanged some messages with a fellow coupe owner with a very nice 1970 and invited him to join us here.

 

[boonies]

Spent the weekend on related projects.

Pulled the wood off of the front and rear door hardware, found and treated a little surface rust with the wire wheel and paint. Ordering some thin felt to replace the old stuff that was on top of the surface rust. Polished the chrome and looked for some replacement felt...could not find a good match yet.

Unboxed the replacement dash, it is in very nice condition!

Took apart the speedometer. I have had a problem with the odometer not working. This turned out to be a result of the gear described in this post. After talking apart the odometer, cleaning the old grease off the gears, I was able to remove the offending aluminum gear and tighten up the mounting hole with a little pressure, but also scratched (knurled) the hole to tighten the friction attachment to the mounting bar.

 

[boonies]

Making some slow, but steady progress, but also have a question.

I pulled apart the heater box several weeks ago and replaced all the old neoprene on the control flaps inside the box. I am having trouble with the flap indicated with the arrow and wanted to see if anyone has thoughts on the position and travel of the lever indicated as it doesn't move very far. I am wondering if one of the flaps is not clocked correctly inside the box.

Any pictures of the full range of movement would be helpful.

Some of the before pictures of the inside of the heater box are below.

Here is an image with several of the flaps re-covered and the box ready for assembly.

 

[HB Chris]

Lever must need to be at 90 degrees to the cables it appears

 

[boonies]

Thanks Chris, I agree that the cable and the position of the lever will not work effectively, but really trying to prevent opening the box again to just check if the clocking of the inner "paddle" is off. It is a real hassle to open the box and get all the pieces back in place!

 

[bavbob]

Search for heater box renew and also in parts as I believe one was sold recently and there were pics that may help. You may need to open the box with the side opposite the levers, down and check the excursion of the flap. Either the flap is upside down or flipped left to right. I wish I could recall because I had a similar situation.

NB: Just found this ebay listing, take a look at this image

 

[boonies]

Thanks Bob and Chris,
I popped the box open again and got the paddle re-positioned and that appears to have done it. I am not getting ready for the pre-fit before installation. I want to find out if there is room for any additional padding for the sound deadener.

Installation of firewall ceramic coating went down first across the firewall and floors, then Damplifier pro (sound deadener) across all panels and outside door skins on top of which this picture shows the final layer before carpet of Overkill pro, a closed cell foam (sound absorber). I still have firewall to do with sound absorber, but am going to wait until the heater box is fitted for that and the transmission tunnel. Also refreshed the coroplast tape in the interior wires.

.

 

[bavbob]

Just watch the tunnel covering. If too much, when you install the central console panels, they will sit a bit outward, not much to notice until you put the seats back in and see if you go forward, you jam into the center console side panels. Also the seat may hit the tunnel itself against the carpet once installed. Not much room there.

 

[boonies]

Just watch the tunnel covering. If too much, when you install the central console panels, they will sit a bit outward, not much to notice until you put the seats back in and see if you go forward, you jam into the center console side panels. Also the seat may hit the tunnel itself against the carpet once installed. Not much room there.

Thanks for the advice, now that I think about it the covering that came off was just factory tar and paper sound deadening. I hadn’t thought about the console or the seat clearance!

 

[boonies]

Installing the dashboard and I am wondering if I got installation out of order. I installed the instrument cluster with instruments in place first and left somewhat loose so that it could be adjusted if needed. The dash cap with instrument hood is in the car, but I find that the studs on the back of the padded instrument hood will not line up with the metal dash structure (pictures of this not possible). The studs do go through the wood, but are slightly out of alignment vs the metal structure behind the wood.

Does the instrument cluster need to come back out?

 

[bavbob]

I recall some play in the long cluster bolts. If no go with the nuts loose that hold the cluster, then just take them out and attache the cowl loose, then a little back and forth. I do not recall any order required. I looked at images under "Media" on the top menu ( a great source), images show cowl with no cluster, no cowl and cluster. Mine was similar, at first I thought (again) this car is possessed but I finally got it.

 

[boonies]

...at first I thought (again) this car is possessed but I finally got it.

ha, I can relate, I know it will come together, just not on my timing...

 

[boonies]

Okay, dash installation was successful! I ended up loosening the cluster and working the fitment for a while and got the hood bolts through the slotted holes. In all, I am pleased with the results. The seats are back in, awaiting transport to the upholstery shop. More on that in a bit.

I now have a question about the rear window adjustment. With the battery re-installed I was able to operate the windows with all the trim installed and have another "opportunity" to pull the back seat out on the driver side as the rubber sealing block hits the exterior mounting block and chrome trim at the area marked.

I am going to open up the blue books to look at adjustments, but I know from the removal of the glass to grease all the tracks and gears that there are two adjustable mounting points, one on the bottom and another a little higher up near the back wheel well. Will try adjusting, but has anyone had similar experiences and found a fast adjustment?

Update on the upholstery. I ordered from KHM at the end of February and wrote to them in mid-March asking for an update and was told it wold be 30 days from time of order. I asked for another update at the end of March and after several days waiting was told that production was delayed due to COVID case increases in Germany (we all understand that). I finally wrote again and was told that the items were waiting for customs clearance in Germany and this week received notice that the entire package is with DHL for shipping. Hopefully, shipping will be faster than other DHL experiences.

Also placed an order with SMS Auto Fabrics this week for white headliner, so all the parts should arrive in the next few weeks for delivery, along with the car to the upholstery shop.

 

[bavbob]

No quick way. You can play a bit with the chrome molding by removing the screw that sits in the front edge and then lift it up. There is the infamous plastic block which has little play in it so that limits the movement of the chrome molding.

This has to be one of the worst designs I have seen. The rubber block being pulled by the molding is a classic. You should not have to trim the rubber block however. The cover that holds the wood panel has some screws that allow adjustment of the top of window in and out while the "L" brackets you refer to are left/right and in/out for the bottom of the mechanism. The in/out at the bottom really alters the glass trajectory as it goes up and down, I found it did not do much for clearing the rubber block from the molding. The kicker is that you may alter how the rear glass vertical rubber gasket meets the front window. Basically this is a system with .3 degrees of freedom.

 

[boonies]

No quick way. You can play a bit with the chrome molding by removing the screw that sits in the front edge and then lift it up. There is the infamous plastic block which has little play in it so that limits the movement of the chrome molding.

This has to be one of the worst designs I have seen. The rubber block being pulled by the molding is a classic. You should not have to trim the rubber block however. The cover that holds the wood panel has some screws that allow adjustment of the top of window in and out while the "L" brackets you refer to are left/right and in/out for the bottom of the mechanism. The in/out at the bottom really alters the glass trajectory as it goes up and down, I found it did not do much for clearing the rubber block from the molding. The kicker is that you may alter how the rear glass vertical rubber gasket meets the front window. Basically this is a system with .3 degrees of freedom.

Thanks for the quick reply, I am looking forward to digging in tomorrow and will play with the top mounting assembly first!

 

[mark99]

let me know your experience with SMS Auto Fabrics
do you have a sunroof?

 

[bavbob]

SMS headliner. I used it and I like it but it is a bit thicker than the OEM so it offers some challenges wrt getting the aluminum "U" that runs along the edge of the headliner to seat well. It is particularly challenging where the two tiny rivets are that hold the front molded portion of the headliner to the car. I used a lot of WD 40 . The person who helped me (what he does for a living) had me put the screws etc for the dome light, grab handles in before the headliner so I could just feel them and rather than finding the holes later to fit the screws. I actually used a small phillips head and would step away from the car, heat the tip, then apply the tip to the headliner to make a hole. This seals the edges rather than making a cut that in theory, can extend if stressed.

 

[boonies]

No sunroof for me, but I had obtained samples and it seems to be the closest (not perfect) to the OEM that is in mine. I would keep what I have, but there is a rip dead-center of the headliner and there is really no way to fix that I am aware of.