The PO installed one of those fiberboard, covered in vinyl, interiors. It's OK but I want something nicer.

Has anyone recovered one of those interiors with automotive upholstery material? What I'm thinking about doing is using spray adhesive to cover those panels with some headliner material that has a foam backing.

Any pictures or advice will be appreciated.

 

We did our own interior. To me it is a never ending project, my son ans I always seem to come up with an improvement we want to do.

We didn't have very good luck with the spray adhesive and the headliner, after a couple years it started to sag. We are now planning to put an ABS headliner in that should match in color (at least close) and there is nothing to sag.

Good luck

 

I assumed the ABS only served for a backer to glue on the head liner material??? Is that correct or not? Thanks.

 

The sagging may have been caused by a faulty adhesive. From what I have been told, do not use an aerosol. So they can be sprayed, they are too thin.

The experts are telling me to use a HHR (High Heat Resistant) adhesive like DAP Top and Trim or 3M Top and Trim. Application can be by brush or roller.

 

I just ordered the ABS, it is supposed to be "vinyl textured and the proper color to use without a covering. We will see.

 

I used the spray stuff made for headliners and it eventually failed, hopefully the stuff you are talking about works better.

 

Here is a good place for information:

Hotrodders Bulletin Board - Interior

 

I just got my 1950 F1 and thedoors are all metal yet I see the kits that show upholstery Is my truck different? I am new at this and still learning.

 

Back in the day when our trucks were new, they were strictly utilitarian. If your daily driver was a pickup you were a poor laborer or a farmer (also poor), so upholstery was something used between the seat springs and your butt only. Any trucks you see with upholstered door panels were added on custom work. You can go to an automotive upholstery shop that does custom work to have panels made. There are also kits you can buy or you can build your own with the backing panels cut from upholsterer's chipboard, ABS plastic sheet or thin plywood "doorskin" from your local big box DIY store. Padding is added if desired using fiberfill batting or stiff upholstery foam before covering with whatever material floats your boat from Mexican blankets to exotic leathers. The panels are then clipped or screwed to the doors.
As soon as you reach the "magic number" (somewhere between 15 and 25???) of posts count you will be able to use this forum's search function to find a large number of posts about how to do upholstery yourself. Meanwhile take a look at user's galleries (click on the user's name at the beginning of a post and a drop down menu will appear, click on view gallery) of any user that owns a truck of the same era as your and see if they have any upholstery pix for ideas.

 

thanks for the information. Right now I have bigger issues to solve so when i finish asking all the questions I am sure I will need answers to I am going to re-address this upolstry issue.

 

I did mine with abs sheets and it worked out fine. The headerliner is a stock repo kit, no sagging issues. I made the door panels, kick panels, the the curved panels behind the seat. Use heat to shape or bend. Use hot air not a torch. Cutting can be done with metal shears for curves and a razor knife for the straight lines. Score the abs with a razor knife on one side and bend the abs along the score line until it snaps. Alittle file and sandpaper work will clean it up. I use mine with the textured side showing. The nice thing about abs is it can be the base for further upolstering with whatever because it will adhere to the abs with a good 3M spray adhesive.

 

nice work. what seats are those???? I also noticed that you had arm rests, they are from where????

peace
jim

 

Thanks for the kind words about my truck. The seats are out of a 300ZX turbo. I don't know what year, as they were out of the car when I bought them. The power driver seat works. The arm rest are repo stock for 51 and 52 just covered them in black. You can see how easy it is to glue any design on to the abs once you have the panels cut and fitted. I put speakers in the kick panels and I plan on a traditional tuck and roll on all the abs panels....some day

 

Thanks. I saw someplace and i can't remember where but there were kick panels already made for speakers for the F1. Wish i could remember..............

 

NPD, National Parts Depot has them, I was just looking at the catalogue last night and noticed them. NPDLink | National Parts Depot. They make them for 48-52, 53-55, and 56. Kind of pricey $214.95. All the abs I used plus speakers cost less and I still have abs sheets left over!!