New interior install question

[traut811]

Hey guys.

I'll try to upload some installed pictures tonight, so you at least have something to look at.

I just got my interior back from the shop and all was good. I went to install some more components last night and went to bed with my head hung low as I ran into several snags.

The seat is from Snowden, and looks fantastic. It is very comfortable as well. Install took about 10 minutes.

It is everything else that lended a few problems though-

INTERIOR DOOR PANELS
I can't get them up high enough to fit my 4 bottom screws in. These were JEGS panels drop shipped straight to a shop to recover. Maybe they are bent, maybe they are oversized from stamping. Now thinking about it, maybe I need to bend the top trim channel open some though?

All of you aftermarket door panel guys - is it OK to run an aftermarket door latch/window crank handle without a escutcheon? I just don't think the big semi-gloss escutcheon looks "good", but it would help with wear if that is a concern. I had a few extra boxes of Clayton PT202/PT203/PT204 handles so I'm going to use the crank and door latches.

I'm still on the hunt to find replacement hardware/contour washers for the bottom 4 on the panel.

Does anyone know where the heck I could find these interior handles in saddle? They're what I had on my truck before, in blue, and really prefer them over the larger blocky ones.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/OER-W646601-1964-66-Chevy-Truck-Custom-Arm-Rest-Black,136088.html?sku=92632786&utm_matchtype={match_type}&msclkid=dafa0e58b3d419a863956ca462646b53&u tm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SMI%20-%20Shopping%20(CSE)%20(Bing)&utm_term=4577129468977168&utm_content=All%20Products%20II%20(Feb28_2020 )

DASH PAD
I remember reading on this before, on here somewhere, but the dash pad was covered straight over the 4 front mounting screw pockets. Ideally they would put some glue in the pocket when covering and fasten down so when finished, material covers the mounting screw pocket. I don't have that, and am afraid what'll happen when I poke a screw though. Any of you guys who have recovered dash pads, think I could just use a finishing washer as big of OD as I can find to fit and try to suck the material down?

Everything was covered in an automotive grade vinyl. There are several (4-5) corners that are cut or wore through. It could even be a matter of setting them on those corners when being worked on, and it just made a small cut on the corner.

This sounds hokey, but can I just put a drop of some sort of glue carefully on it to keep the crack/cut from opening up more hopefully?

VISORS
Finally the visors - the LH/RH visors are the same, right? My left side sticks way down, right side fits very nice. I can try to bend the rod just haven't gotten to it or figured out a way to do it cleanly.

Thanks in advance!

[Grumpy old man]

Interior door panels that have been recovered/padded require the wider chrome upper panel retainers like these from Classic parts for the panel to fit all the way up .
https://www.classicparts.com/1967-71...ctinfo/19-195/

Nobody sells the 4 lower screws with the washers , Send me a PM and I'll send you some washers to use on the screws . https://www.classicparts.com/1967-71...ctinfo/19-429/

The 67 style door handles have to be color dyed to match your interior color .

When the dash pads are recovered there is no glue that will hold the material into the "screw pocket" and even with a larger screw washer it's going to leave a puckered look when installed , Without a washer the screws will just pull thru the material .

You can try a drop of glue on the door panel corners , There should be enough "give" in the material to carefully loosen them and pull the material tighter around the corner and reglue them .

You can use these escutcheon behind the door handles to protect the panels from wear Just don't cut a big hole in the panels With the panels being padded they should work fine, Use Some draft isolators on the door handle shafts to help hold the panel out and not end up with a gap behind the handles . https://www.classicparts.com/1972-77...ctinfo/18-046/

Send me your shipping address in a PM and I'll send you some washers and draft isolators .

[traut811]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Interior door panels that have been recovered/padded require the wider chrome upper panel retainers like these from Classic parts for the panel to fit all the way up .
https://www.classicparts.com/1967-71...ctinfo/19-195/

Nobody sells the 4 lower screws with the washers , Send me a PM and I'll send you some washers to use on the screws . https://www.classicparts.com/1967-71...ctinfo/19-429/

The 67 style door handles have to be color dyed to match your interior color .

When the dash pads are recovered there is no glue that will hold the material into the "screw pocket" and even with a larger screw washer it's going to leave a puckered look when installed , Without a washer the screws will just pull thru the material .

You can try a drop of glue on the door panel corners , There should be enough "give" in the material to carefully loosen them and pull the material tighter around the corner and reglue them .

You can use these escutcheon behind the door handles to protect the panels from wear Just don't cut a big hole in the panels With the panels being padded they should work fine, Use Some draft isolators on the door handle shafts to help hold the panel out and not end up with a gap behind the handles . https://www.classicparts.com/1972-77...ctinfo/18-046/

Send me your shipping address in a PM and I'll send you some washers and draft isolators .

Man... a reply from the godfather himself! Thanks for the extremely helpful reply Grumpy. Long time no talk. I hope all has been well.

That's extremely generous of you for the offer. Let me know what I owe you and I'll send paypal or a check. Will send a PM shortly.

I will just purchase some black 67-style handles and go from there. I may end up dying (or having them dyed) closer to the final painted interior color for some accent anyway so that will work.

Do you have any recommendations on what to do with the dash pad? I thought about trying to leave the screws out all together and use a good double sided tape but not crazy about the idea. Or going full bore and a grommet or something over the hole to leave it "open" (I sent a new Saddle color dash pad to recover so not worried about color), but the front edge would need to be pulled loose to do this. If I could carefully cut the material in the pocket, use headliner adhesive and mend the material to the pocket walls then try to use a larger washer do you think it could work OK?

Any glue recommendation? Are we talking a super glue or something designed for vinyl upholstery?

Can you elaborate on the last part? If I'm thinking correctly, you said use it from the back, so does the raised center stick from the back through the front of the panel and act as a wear base for the clayton handles then? Pretty cool trick if so, I'd never considered those.

Here are the handles I'm using.
http://www.claytonmachine.com/product/window-crank/. I don't think there will be an issue of having a gap behind the handle as it can sink in pretty far. It was compressing the panel quite a bit when I slipped it over, but that was without the escutcheon as well.

Will send a PM shortly.

Thanks again for your time and help.

[Grumpy old man]

Glue , Stop by your local auto trim shop with a small glass jar and ask if they can sell you " give" you a small amount of glue to repair your panel corners ,Take the panels with you and they just might offer to fix them while you wait ? Or you can order some . They should have the brush on grade that comes in a five gallon can .


https://www.facebook.com/1954upholstery

https://www.yourautotrim.com/welatop...BEgK9LPD_BwEan

I would use the 3M tape before I'd cut holes in the dash cover .

https://www.classicparts.com/1972-77...ctinfo/18-046/

These escutcheons go between the handle and door panel you need 4

Any time anyone needs interior Dye work done rather than trying to find a spray can that somewhat matches spending more money than it's worth . The trick is to go to your local new car auto dealers detail shop NOT thru the service dept just go to the detail shop it's self and ask who they use to do their interior dye work and repair , They are usually on the lot and doing repairs daily , These guys are the pros at interior dye color matching , They have everything in their truck and most will take on a small side job while they are there , Even if you have to do it off the dealers lot They are the best at what they do you will be time and money ahead using them and it will match the rest of your interior , They can do their matching process right from the back of your door panels where its not seen . New car dealers won't spend the money to do repairs on their used cars "reconditioning" before they put the trade in back on the lot they repair steering wheels and small cuts scratches on the interior of the car rather than replace them it's cheaper and faster for the dealers to just use these guys .

[CG]

First off let me also say Grumpy is the man when it comes to interior work and generosity with all his free advice.

I just redid the door panels on my 71 C30 Cheyenne Super. I coated the back of the metal part of the panel with a spray on undercoating, not super thick but just enough so that my door panel wouldnt slide up far enough like yours. I took a wide scraper and carefully spread the chrome open a little bit at a time until the panel slid up. Worked great, didnt hurry the process so as not to damage the strip.

[Jason Banks]

Grumpy, my friend...can I PM you for some of those washers too?

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by Jason Banks

Grumpy, my friend...can I PM you for some of those washers too?

Sure ,

[notsolo]

Seat looks great. Door eschions I made some, cutting discs of 1/8" aluminium with hole saw both inner and outer, inside diameter was about same as OD of 3/4 copper pipe. JB weld copper to aluminum . Probably sounds hokey, but they are better than plastic....

[traut811]

Originally Posted by CG

First off let me also say Grumpy is the man when it comes to interior work and generosity with all his free advice.

I just redid the door panels on my 71 C30 Cheyenne Super. I coated the back of the metal part of the panel with a spray on undercoating, not super thick but just enough so that my door panel wouldnt slide up far enough like yours. I took a wide scraper and carefully spread the chrome open a little bit at a time until the panel slid up. Worked great, didnt hurry the process so as not to damage the strip.

Good deal. I will try that. These were uncoated (new from JEGS) but the detail led to a couple rolled seams that probably added a little thickness. I will see what happens. Thanks!

Originally Posted by notsolo

Seat looks great. Door eschions I made some, cutting discs of 1/8" aluminium with hole saw both inner and outer, inside diameter was about same as OD of 3/4 copper pipe. JB weld copper to aluminum . Probably sounds hokey, but they are better than plastic....

Those look nice. Without a lathe I think what you did was the next best thing and should hold up just fine. Nice pieces you made.

[traut811]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Glue , Stop by your local auto trim shop with a small glass jar and ask if they can sell you " give" you a small amount of glue to repair your panel corners ,Take the panels with you and they just might offer to fix them while you wait ? Or you can order some . They should have the brush on grade that comes in a five gallon can .


https://www.facebook.com/1954upholstery

https://www.yourautotrim.com/welatop...BEgK9LPD_BwEan

I would use the 3M tape before I'd cut holes in the dash cover .

https://www.classicparts.com/1972-77...ctinfo/18-046/

These escutcheons go between the handle and door panel you need 4

Any time anyone needs interior Dye work done rather than trying to find a spray can that somewhat matches spending more money than it's worth . The trick is to go to your local new car auto dealers detail shop NOT thru the service dept just go to the detail shop it's self and ask who they use to do their interior dye work and repair , They are usually on the lot and doing repairs daily , These guys are the pros at interior dye color matching , They have everything in their truck and most will take on a small side job while they are there , Even if you have to do it off the dealers lot They are the best at what they do you will be time and money ahead using them and it will match the rest of your interior , They can do their matching process right from the back of your door panels where its not seen . New car dealers won't spend the money to do repairs on their used cars "reconditioning" before they put the trade in back on the lot they repair steering wheels and small cuts scratches on the interior of the car rather than replace them it's cheaper and faster for the dealers to just use these guys .

I will check out Werner upholstery. Thank you for that.
and I may just try the 3m double sided tape on the dash pad as well. Not ideal, but it does look cleaner without the screw holes if anything. Some of those tapes are pretty mean and I bet it'd have no problem holding. Trying to pull it back off in the future may be interesting but we can cross that road later.

What would the difference between that '73-77 escutcheon and the 67-72 be? Other than looks obviously. Does the 67-72 stick out a little further? 67-72 a little larger outside diameter maybe?
https://www.classicparts.com/1967-71...nfo/18%2D045T/

And you are right on those guys from the dealership dying. They're impressive. I bought a Silverado SS a while back with a chunk ripped out of the passenger dash handle. It had teeth marks in it like someone ate it like an apple. They filled it, matched the grain, dyed it and honestly you couldn't tell. I was impressed.

Nick

[traut811]

Little update:

To anyone looking to put aftermarket handles in, the escutcheons grumpy recommended were 100% exactly what I wanted. I do not think they would work with the factory handles as the smaller escutcheon OD would not cover the base flange on them. In my case, they were the exact same OD and unnoticeable.

There have been several threads on this before, but I eneded up buying replacement door latch mechanisms. Mine is a 67 which apparently isn't reproduced, so bought the 68-71. The spline and nose is longer, but in my case it worked out with the extra panel thickness. Looks like you could grind the nose off the 68-71 splines to recess the 67 handle where it needs to be without using factory. Note, these will not work with a 67 handle without modification as the handle groove doesn't line up with the spline groove for the retainer clip.


My current issue: The darn door panels don't fit in the recessed section of the door. It is just hanging there from the arm rest and levers in the picture. The are barely too tall. I confirmed against the other factory panel it's ~1/4" taller. I have no idea what to do, as I really do not want to section the inner door to make this recessed area taller. I tried slightly cupping the ends with no luck. Any suggestions here?

My other issue is I "thought" the driver and passenger mounts/rods for the visors were the same so sent off two spares I had.. after putting them back in the truck, the passenger one mounts fine but the driver one sticks way down, maybe 2" at the end of the visor. Maybe it is a bent rod. I will need to address that.

[Grumpy old man]

You should have the lower trim screw washers in a day or two , I had to order more , Here is a thread about the 67 only handles I posted a few years ago .

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=787269

[traut811]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

You should have the lower trim screw washers in a day or two , I had to order more , Here is a thread about the 67 only handles I posted a few years ago .

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=787269

Awesome, thanks!
Still need a pm with your PayPal or something to at least send you something for them.

Any suggestions on how to make the dang panel fit? I'm bummed. They drop shipped directly from jegs to the upholstery shop or I could have worked them a bit and test fit before they were covered.