I'd enjoy seeing a few articles in here about restoring headliners and cracked dashboards.

These are subjects which affect us all at one time or another, and I would like to know if the average Z owner has any tricks available to allow him to repair damage to these areas, without having to pull the car apart and pay a fortune for new items.

For example, if water leaked thru your T-Tops and caused your headliner to crinkle or sag, can it be removed and taken to a drycleaner to be cleaned and pressed?

And is there still a viable way to fill and repair those ever-present cracks on top if the instrument cluster of the early Z cars?

Most of the factory-trained mechanics who specialiZed in the early Z cars have long since retired, and present mechanics are trained in the newer "computer" cars. Finding someone who still knows the early Z and can restore it to perfection is getting harder each year.

Frank

Hey Frank. Take a look at the following thread, for what appears to be a nice dash repair technique:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/show ... hp?t=23919

(You'll need a login there to see the referenced pics.)

Cheers,
Colin

I did my headliner over.

Not really much of a write up required.

Remove old material from the board.
Buy desired fabric
3m High Strength contact cement (Aerosol)
Scissors
Stapler (or Glue)

Cut out the shape, spray both the board, smooth fabric on to board taut, roll fabric over the sides and secure, staples or addition glue. I did pie cuts around the perimeter because of the t-tops and the padded material. Put some weight on the assembly and let dry for 12-24 hours.

Old Pic. Sorry. (Black padded vinyl Liner)

Now that's a nice job, and I see it went on really well. But you CHANGED your material, right?

What if you wanted to re-use the same headliner? Can it be drycleaned and pressed at the cleaners? Is there another way to remove watermarks or wrinkles?

We know a guy from Eastern CT who has a moonroof ~ it leaked a little and spotted one area of his otherwiZe PERFECT headliner. Over time, the liner began to sag and fell away from the roof at that point. He really prefers to keep the car original but doesn't know how to clean the waterspot out of the camel/mohair headliner and eliminate the wrinkles at the water spot. (His leak has been fixed, but the damage remains).

My liner was a "valour". It was trashed. No saving that.

Going to a auto upholster is his best shot as they can generally order any type of material to match the original. If they can't you need a better shop. There is onee here in Middletown, Ct on Washington Street (Route 66)

To redo the headliner myself would be my option. With a good peice of cardboard, (the original mold,) some fabric, vinyl, leather, suede, or replica materials, and some contact cement, scissors, and some patients. For the dashboards, leather wrapped is the ultimate, IMO. By the way, I have some headliners for the zx, and 1 280, I believe. Also, there is a good 75 dashboard here in N.Y. and do to connections, I should have this cheap and will grab it. (I'm in Z business no matter where I am,)