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| The soft trim of an interior gets more than its share of abuse
throughout a car’s life. It is also an area where most owners can do
the restoration work needed themselves. We wanted to re-new the
interior in our 64 Corvette Coupe project car so we called the good
people at Zip Products, Inc.,
8067 Fast Lane, Mechanicsville, VA 23111, (800) 962-9632. With their
experience, they were able to guide us in finding just the items we
needed. Follow along as we restore the interior in our 64 Corvette
Coupe project car. |
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01: One of the easiest items to replace is the
headliner. First remove the visors and mirror bracket. Then remove the
upper windshield garnish moulding and windshield pillar mouldings. Now
remove the roofrail mouldings and also the two rear roof panel to roof
rail moulding screws. Now remove the compelte old headliner. Glue some
type of ½” insulation to the roof and slide the new headliner into
place. You will find it is a perfect fit. |
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02: With the items we received, we got the Interior
Screw Kit. This gave us all of the correct interior screws we needed.
They were all marked with their location which made installation a
snap. We also got new visors and pivots to compliment our new headliner. |
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03: Before the headliner and visors are installed, it
is a good idea to refinish the windshield and roofrail mouldings while
they are out of the car. This way everything will look new when they
are re-installed. Here is what the finished product looks like. |
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04: To install the carpet you are going to need one of these types of glue.
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05: Start by removing all of the old carpet. It may
be a good idea to number each piece as to where it belongs in the car.
Also make sure you scrape off all of the old carpet backing. Remember,
your new carpet has to be glued directly to the carpet underlayment.
You do not want to glue it to the old backing. Make sure that the
underlayment is also glued in place. If the underlayment is loose, your
new carpet will be loose and give you a poor fit. |
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06: Zip supplies carpet sets of top quality with the
correct colors and binding. Here we are pre-fitting each piece so that
we know exactly how it will fit. Remember once you glue it into place,
you cannot remove it if you make a mistake. So always glue one half at
a time and be patient. Do not rush. |
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07: Start at the rear of the car and work forward. A
helpful hint to remember is any bound edge will show. Unbound edges
will be covered. |
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08: Backwall section with glue applied and ready for installation. |
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09: When you get to the storage compartment area,
glue the carpet to the back then lay it over the front. Now mark where
it will have to be cut to fit over the transmission tunnel. Then glue
it into place. |
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10: Before you cover the rocker panel area, use a tap
in the seat belt mount holes. Since most States require seat belts and
this car is driven frequently, we are going to install seat belts from
Zip. |
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11: Now glue the rocker panel carpet into place. Here
you can see how we are doing one side at a time. After you have done
the rocker panel areas, then do the transmission tunnel. |
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12: Now lay the floor carpet into place and mark the
area for the seat track mounding bracket. Cut this out and then glue
the floor carpet into place. |
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13: Take an awl and poke it through the seat belt
bolt mounting hole. Use a single edge razor blade or utility knife and
cut out the area for the seat belt mounting bolt. |
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14: With the hole cut out, now install the seat
belts. The male belt goes to the outside. The female (or buckle end)
goes to the inside. Zip carries all of the correct seat belts and
mounting hardware. |
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15: Go under the car and push an awl up through the
front seat track mounting bolt holes. With the awl in the hole, cut out
the carpet over the hole. |
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16: We also ordered a new accelerator pedal and pedal
pads. Nothing looks worse than a new carpet and old worn pads. New
accelerator pedal screws were included with our interior screw kit. |
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17: While we were at it, we also re-did our console
with a new console kit and shift boot. The new die-cut pieces fit
perfectly and made our reconditioned console top look new again. One
helpful hint: Make sure all of the areas where the new die-cut pieces
fit are thoroughly cleaned. The adhesive on the new die-cut pieces need
a clean area to adhere to. |
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18: Carpet installed. |
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19: Remove your old door panels and carefully remove
all of the stainless trim and ornaments. These will have to be
re-installed on the new door panels. The door reflector is removed by
loosening the two nuts and backing plate. The stainless trim is removed
by carefully opening up the metal tabs by using a screwdriver and
needle nose pliers and then carefully removing the moulding from the
panel. |
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20: Hold the door panel up to the door and mark all
of the holes that will have to be cut through the panel for door
handles and window cranks, etc. These areas are prescribed on the back
of the panel, but pre-fitting is just a safety precaution. Now take a
utility knife or straight edge razor blade and cut the prescribed areas
out. |
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21: Take an awl and pushing from the back, open up the armrest mounting holes. |
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22: While the door panels were off, we also replaced
the inside door opening mechanism and outer window beltline. This took
care of two areas that are easier to replace now than later. |
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23: Remember to put some kind of water shield on the door before you re-install the door panels. |
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24: Install the new door panel using the new screws
from the Interior Screw Kit. Our new panels also included the inner
whisker beltline (fuzzies) weatherstrip already installed which made
for a very easy installation. We also ordered new window cranks, door
handle opening bezels and armrest pad covers to finish off the panel
completely. |
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Notes:
I only recommend that seat
covers be installed by a professional. If you make a mistake on almost
any other area of the interior, it can be corrected easily but if a
mistake is made on seat covers, it is usually costly. I have seen
competent professionals spend 6 to 12 hours on one pair of front seats
before they got them perfectly fitted, so just imagine what would
happen to a novice.
Instead of giving you a step
by step on how to install seat covers, I will give you a checklist to
help you get a correctly fitted product and pictures as our covers were
being installed.
- When you
receive your new covers, compare them against your old upholstery,
provided the old ones are original. Make sure they have the same grain
and pattern.
- If ornaments are installed in your
old upholstery, take pictures and measurements of their placement. New
seat covers do not come with any ornaments and you will have to re-use
your old ones. Now is a good time to either replace or refinish them.
- Check
on the seat padding (or buns). Make sure you re-pad the seats before
the new covers are installed. This will help eliminate wrinkles or low
spots. Nothing looks worse than a worn, broken down seat frame covered
with new upholstery.
- Check all of the seat framework for damage or cracks and repair it now.
- Check
all of the mounting studs or mounting holes. If anything is damaged,
repair it now. You and your passenger’s safety is riding on how well
the seats and seat tracks are secured to the floor.
- Check
the seat track mechanism for operation. Clean and re-lube the mechanism
and repair or replace any damaged springs or stops.
- Re-paint all of the seat frames and springs.
- When the buns are re-installed, make sure burlap is placed against the springs first.
- When
the covers are installed, make sure all the edges are even and are on
the edges of the seats. Make sure all of the pleats or seams line up
between the seat cushion and the backrest. Make sure the covers are
tight with no wrinkles. If the installed upholstery is wrinkled, the
upholstery shop should repair it now because the wrinkles won’t go away
with use. Make sure the front seatbacks stand upright and that the
seatback stops are in place.
- Re-install any side or backrest seat trim
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25: We recommend using a competent upholstery shop to
install your seat covers. This is not a job for a novice. These leather
covers were of top quality with the leather being vat dyed, not
sprayed. This meant that the covers were dyed in a vat where the color
was absorbed throughout the leather hide. Most other covers today are
spray dyed with the color being only on the outside of the leather. On
vat dye covers, the leather seats’ color will be constant. On spray
dyed covers, as the cover sweats, the dye wears off and the leather
hides natural color starts to show through. |
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INTERIOR UPGRADE:
63-67 CORVETTE INTERIOR REPLACEMENT
By: Greg Donahue
Photos by: Author
SOURCE:
Zip Products, Inc.
8067 Fast Lane
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
(800) 962-9632
PARTS LIST:
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