# Interior Progress (deconstruction)



## Erikh425 (Sep 24, 2013)

I figured I'd throw an update on here of my progress and if anyone has ideas or opinions I would welcome learning from the experience of others.

This is a 70 Tempest that had sat for a few months before I bought it. I had a mechanic replace brake lines and look at a transmission leak before I brought it home. Seeing as the windshield and the rear window had small leaks there was water in the carpet, and living in Southeastern Georgia, it really never dried out, so it is fairly musty and smells. So, I put on a mask and tore out the seats, the carpet, and the interior panels. I am leaving the dash in for now because that is going to be a project in itself. Here is what I have learned so far:

The original color of the car, and the interior was gold. The interior was painted blue to match the outside of the car. I also found that the interior was painted without removing the pieces. Any place that was covered, or not accessible is still gold. The carpet also looks like it was painted, or just wicked dirty. Any place that was covered was still a gold color. 

With the leaks I was afraid the floor would be rusted through. I found some surface rust where water had settled. I put a fan in the car for a day and dried everything out. The rust came off with a wire wheel and I am going to just spray primer over it. I am also considering covering it with POR-15 instead. I just need to find an auto paint store to get it from.

The headliner was just hanging by threads and was fairly nasty. I took it out and left the bows in the roof so I remember where they are supposed to be. The bonus here is that the PO had bought a headliner, but never had it installed. After looking at threads here and videos on Youtube I am pretty confident that I can install it. If not, I am really no further behind than I was.

The front seats are fairly nasty. I have another thread going right now to help me decide what to do with them.

I also have a new carpet sitting in a box waiting to go in. So I figure I am going to wire wheel the rest of the surface rust (Hope that I don't uncover anything too nasty). Then I am going to vacuum all the crap out of it and seal whatever areas I wire wheeled. Once that is done, I will throw the headliner in, lay the carpet down and get started with switching all of the upholstery over to black. Somewhere in the process I am also going to pull out the windshields and replace the seals in them (and the side windows) so I don't have this water issue again. 

I have a guy that wants to trade my weld wheels for a set of torque thrust wheels. He is bringing them over tonight so I can see how they look. I am hoping to restore this to more of a stock stance, so I am hoping that they are what I am looking for. 

I am attaching some pics of the work, and one of my 7 year old helping me get one of the wheels back on. He loves working on the car with me and wants to paint U.S.A. on the side...maybe I am raising him right


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

For the headliner buy a few bags of the small binder clips at office depot, use them to clip every few inches and hold it centered in position while you work from middle of windshield front to back down each side. when done it will have some small wrinkles...wet it with a spray bottle and blow dry it to shrink the wrinkles out. It's best to lay the liner in the sun or a warm flat spot until the folds flatten out before install. Torque thrust will look better on that car than the welds...anything 5 spoke looks killer on pontiacs.


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## Erikh425 (Sep 24, 2013)

I spent a couple evenings working on the headliner. It is not really the color I want, but it was in a bag in the trunk of the car when I bought it. I am not sure it is even the right headliner for the car, but it was free, so I thought I would give it a shot. If nothing else, this will give me some practice for down the road when I find the right color 

I laid the headliner across the top of my wife's car in the sun for a couple hours and then started pulling the rods. I pulled the rods one by one, sanded off the surface rust and inserted them into the sleeves. At first it was nearly impossible to get the bows through the sleeve and then I figured out how to snake them through bit by bit. Once I had them all inserted I reinstalled them where they had been previously. Last night I spent a couple hours in the garage. I used Crustysack's method of using binder clips, and watched some videos. I marked my center point and then moved from the middle toward the sides on the front and back, and then from the middle outward on the sides of the car. 

At first glance it looks like the right headliner for the car. I was a little concerned that the area near the rear window might be short, but looking at pictures it looks like the sail panel will cover that space.

It was a little cold in the garage last night and the fabric was still fairly wrinkled, so I pulled it somewhat tight and clipped it all the way around. I figure this will help stretch the headliner out and get some more of the wrinkles out. It is warmer today, so I am hoping that tonight I can go out there and work my way around and get it nice and tight. If anyone has any other tips or tricks, I am all ears.

I am attaching a couple pictures just for the heck of it.

E


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Also, use distilled water to spray on the wrinkles. It won't stain the fabric. You can dye the headliner black after it's installed (very easy) or you can leave it white and go with the Parchment interior option, which is ivory colored seats, door panels, and headliner, but black carpet, dash, steering wheel/column, and door panel carpets. It's a super sharp look, and cooler in the summer than black.


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## Erikh425 (Sep 24, 2013)

I really do like the black/white interior. Part of my reason for going with a darker interior theme is that I have kids and I am sure that the backs of those white seats would have marks from shoes and other things. Do people dye the headliner with the upholstery dye out of a can such as the Dupli-color Vinyl and Upholstery stuff?


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Yes. I had a '66 GTO many years ago that had had its blue interior dyed black. IT was a spray can job. I had the car 1o years and you couldn't tell it had been dyed. Held up perfectly, too. I would still go Parchment on the seats and door panels. A little 409 and whammo, the seats are clean again. I think the white seats 'pop' with a black carpet/dash, and add more flash than an all black interior. Cooler, too.


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## Erikh425 (Sep 24, 2013)

My seats are black now and my interior is a mismatch of black and blue. The blue is spray/dye over the original gold. When I have the time and money I might have the interior done in white. Right now I am hoping to get it put back together and drive it. I want to make it mechanically sound before I make it too pretty


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