I noticed the "tufting"

I redid my headliner with a $40 kit from eBay.
Six years on it's still looking good.

Where do you buy your SEM prep cleaner and paint?

 

Yes, you were the one. As the Brit's say, well spotted.

As for the headliner, did your kit include the fabric and the foam?

Edit: Forgot the question. May have been Amazon. Will look.

2nd Edit: Yep, Amazon.

 

Headliner fabric comes with the foam attached.

You just have to get all the old foam off and use enough glue on the cardboard side to wet it out.


I'm pretty sure my kit came from Ebay, but I think the same auto upholstery places sell on both platforms.

 

Ok. I think I'm going to run without a headliner for a bit, and then redo the interior at a future date. That would include the headliner, dash cover, door panels, and painting the rear panels that I'm currently cleaning. So, I may order in a kit at a future date.

But now I want to get the truck back on the road. My intent had been to fix the fuel pump wiring to prevent a fire and then drive it. However, all sorts of alligators keep raising their ugly heads, so I've repaired the trailer wiring, removed the tach, rewired the voltmeter, rewired the choke, installed LED's in the dash and rear lights, will be painting the gauge needles, removed the headliner, cleaned the corner panels, and probably many other things. So, it is time to get back to Dad's truck.

 

Didn't get much done today, but still got some things done. First, I got the corner trim pieces cleaned up. They are pretty, but they are far better than they were a few days ago - see below.

Second, I reinstalled those trim pieces as well as the others I had to take off to get the headliner out - except for the dash pad. I'm leaving that off until I check out the HVAC system because it doesn't seem to go into all of the modes, and it may be easier to see what happens with the pad off.

And, here are the trim panels:

 

Wow!
That is a pretty amazing transformation.

 

Thanks! And since the "before" was on a previous page, here it is again. All done by mechanically removing the dead plastic. In other words, I sanded the goodie out, or off, of them. And that took quite a bit of 80-grit paper because it loaded up instantly if it wasn't sanded wet. But the cheap Chinese paper I had fell apart when it got damp. Finally I found some good American sand paper and a 1/4-sheet strip of that did both trim pieces.

Edit: I should say that for the first time in many days I ended the day with cleaner hands than I started it.

 

... wish I could say the same!

Panels look much better! ... 80 grit wet/dry?!?... don't think I would have thought of that
... better than having them dissolve in carb cleaner!

 

It rained almost 3" last night and I think it all went into the swamp. And that appears to have awakened more alligators.

Today's plan was to discover which vacuum motor in the HVAC system was bad as it wasn't working correctly. So I turned the blower on Low to see where the air was going to come out - and nothing happened. I continued to turn the switch up a notch and nothing happened until I got to High, and then there was an awful shrieking sound. I quickly turned it off and pulled the blower motor - essentially frozen. So I lubricated it and it started spinning nicely. And, as I was re-installing it I found the connector to the resistor pack unplugged. I put it back on, went up to the attic and found a spare "hose" that goes from the motor to the housing and installed it. Sure enough, the blower motor now works perfectly and operates on all speeds.

But, with air flow I quickly found that you get air out of the vents or the vents. No defrost nor floor. And yet the vacuum motor to the panel door was moving perfectly. Hmmm, all that can mean is the hinge is broken on the panel door.

And, after removing 12,357 screws and most of the duct work I had proof.





That door goes here. The top two arrows point to where screws hold it in, and the bottom two point to the remnants of rivets that held it in. The plan is to use two small hinges, with the top hole of the top hinge attaching via the top green arrow, and the top hole of the bottom one attaching via the other green arrow. And holes will be drilled for the other hole on each hinge. But, I'll 'splain all that in excruciating detail when I do that.





And here's what all had to come off to get to that:

 

I guess I shouldn't be shocked & surprised, I've already seen the turtles crossing the highway and the baseball-sized bugs in the swamp, I guess alligators come with the territory.

And some people refer to Oklahoma as not real humid... uh huh....

 

My ventilation works the same way, vents only. I haven't had the heart to go in looking at why

Maybe I'll do it this fall, I won't be needing anything but vents around here for 8 months.

 

Okiehoma has plenty of humidity at certain times. And can be quite dry at others. Just depends on where the wind is coming from that comes sweeping across the plains.

I wish we only needed vents for 8 months. But in five months we will start having frosty nights, so I know I'll need defrost and while I'm in the area I'll fix it. Plus I can clean the ductwork, which is filthy.

 

And you'll accurately document it all, which will help me out later on!

 

Yup. That's the plan, Stan.

Question for y'all: I'm planning to put the door back in without any foam on it. Apparently from the factory it had foam on both sides, but that is as gone as the foam on the headliner. And I haven't found anything that I think will work, so I think I'll put it back without. Anyone see any problems?

 

NAPA carries an all metal replacement door for the 90's Explorers and Rangers. I wonder how much if any size difference there is...hmm.