Land Rover headliner install/option part 2

 23 Oct 2020

I know this is dragging out , but I am moving along.

14 Oct 2020

Got up the next day with the intention of putting in the front section and hopefully the back too.

The front is also difficult due to the sloping section and the complex curve in the corners. So I started out by cutting down the overall length and fitting the side to side  and then worked on the front corner until I got one to fit.

I sprayed glue on one quarter of 1 side and fit it. I thought it went well, little did I know that I had not gotten the rear section even with the drip rail, I didn't find that until I put the roof on......sucked.

Carefully I moved across the top spraying and sticking and when I got to the other side I trimmed up the front corner and glued it in. Eventually getting it in.

Just now I realized I took no pictures that day. It was a long hot day and the job was way more fiddly than I thought, IIRC it took me 4 hours(and still I f'd up).

15 Oct 2020

Now to do the last section the rear! This should be quick and easy as it is just a rectangle, right? No is the simple answer.

Using the old liner I cut out a piece for the rear above the door.

I didn't realize that the old liner was smaller because the headliner dropped off the roof due to insulation. So I had to make another larger one.

Then I glued in the top piece working in 1/4 sections as I glued it down, then I ran out of glue and had to go get another can,   sheesh, always something.

But I got it in.

I didn't glue down the ends at the ribs because;

1) I wanted to run wires for lights

2) I was not sure how I was going to finish it off with trim

Don came over on the 17th of Oct and helped my lift the roof back on

Then started the long process of bolting it all back together over the next couple of days. Overall it went well except I had to modify the overhead bins a little to fit the ribs.

Then it was time to tackle the electrical; Back up lites, interior lights. I looked around online looking for better interior lights and found a LED pivoting light, and ordered 1.

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JAJ7Q68/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In the front rib I drilled a thru hole into the light holder and set a grommet. The blue tape is to prevent the drill from marking the vinyl.

I ran a hot wire for the light it will connect over by the drip rail. A ground was screwed in under the fixture.

I spent a frustrating hour chasing power. It went like this;

Couple days earlier I bumped the hot wire and caused a spark.  When I finally hooked up the new light it came on bright and then dimmed. Repeatedly.?? My 12v test lamp showed no power. WTF? So I thought it was a loose connection and started chasing it down the line. I checked the fuses all good! (Missed one). Took apart the dash to trace wires, grrr. still no power. Rechecked the fuse box and saw I missed the 1 that was blown. 

That was when I found out that the Blue Seas fuse box I have sends a small amount of power through the fuse box some how. When I hook my 12v test lamp to neg on the battery and touch the out side of the blown fuse the test lamp will light and the blown fuse light in the box will light. IDK the internal wiring on the box, but weird......

Replaced the fuse and the dome light worked as advertised. But I'm not happy with it as it doesn't shine into the seat area but will light up the cubby box. So the search goes on unless I shim the fixture to get a more useful angle.

28 May 2021 update;  I removed this light and installed one better for my needs, read about it here;

https://poppageno.blogspot.com/2021/05/land-rover-109-dome-light.html

My neighbor Bill helped me lift up the rack and I got that bolted down, installed the awning and the propane mount and roof light bar.

No pictures, but I put on the sand ladders and have to figure out where to mount the Hi-lift as the cross bars for the rack are now too far apart for the old mount. Why? Because I went from 5 bars to 4 since I didn't want the mounts breaking the Alpine lights. 

Land Rover headliner option/install part 1

 16 Oct 2020

Well it has been quite a last couple of months, what with the fire and Covid. It did give me time to think and research what I wanted to do about my headliner.

I spent time looking at stock replacements such as Exmoor Trim or Badger Coachworks and a multitude of online fabric headliner suppliers from marine and auto industries. Cloth or vinyl, Zebra or some other print? Padded or not, self adhesive or not. Overwhelming at times.

Finally I settled on an off-white vinyl with a 1/4" foam backing from Albright's Supply 

 https://www.albrightssupply.com/

That I bought through ;Amazon;  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MM3551D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Because the ribs in the roof are around a meter apart and the width is 65" it took some looking and planning to get the right size and have fewer seams.

Now about those ribs,,,grumble,,grumble..... mine are not on 37" centers, from front to back they were 36" 37.5" and 39 to the back wall. Then to top it off they are not even being some 1/2" off from one side to the other.

Cutting 3 x 66" pieces off in 2 x 40" and 1 x 37" I was set to do the job. Now the roof needed to come off.

I contacted fellow Rover owner Don from nearby and arranged a day/time to take it off. 

13 Oct 2020

The day before I disconnected the 'lectric's and unbolted the roof. In the morning Don came over and we went over the plan and I climbed inside and lifted the top on my back and turned it 90°.

Once outside Don and I carried it over to the sawhorses flipped it on its top and Viola! Ready to go.

First thing was to clean it up by removing the PO's paint on the drip rail.

I tried a variety of methods, acetone, various wire cup and wheels, a worn out fine wire wheel in a corded drill worked best;

 Once that was done and some burrs taken off some edges I used my air compressor to blow the dust out. That's when I saw a puff of dust come out the side if the front seam. Investigating further I found all the original seal was gone! Using a flashlight I could see through the seam. So on the inside I used Permatex blue gasket maker and on the outside I used a small screwdriver to cram some waterproof ductseal in. It is a malleable waxy stuff I got a fistfull of 50 years ago. Just to be safe I did both sides.

While the goop was drying I set up to do the center section. I figured this would be the fussiest and the key to doing both ends, especially since I didn't know how I was going to marry the sections.

I had to fix the strips that hold the ends by the Alpinelites and fit the bolt holes for them and the sunsheet as they go through the fabric.

Next came locating the trim pieces for the vents, to do this I lifted the edge and used an icepick to approximate the hole in the fabric, then set the fabric back down and poked the icepick until it found the hole and jammed it in.

Then the trim was located using the icepick.

The pick was replaced with a screw loosely holding the trim, gingerly poking around I found the next hole and jammed the pick in. On the first one I worked my way around.

The trim ring next to it was also done so I could glue down one side.

Before they were glued though I cut out the opening for the vent, I used a safety razor, but wish I had an Exacto blade for the handle and point.

Once all trim pieces were done and openings cut out the end strips located I was pretty set for gluing, but first I used a hole punch to make the holes more visible and the screws easier to place.

I taped off for overspray and doing one side and then t' other I sprayed 3M 77 adhesive and fought the fabric into place, attached the trim rings and end strips.

And that was about 5 hours work! I needed a break,

Land Rover delay------Fire!

 27 Aug 2020

Well, there is going to be an undetermined delay on the next project.

On 15 Aug 2020 the State of California experienced an unusual lightening storm with over 4000 strikes setting 650 fires.

One of these fires, the CZU fire, tore thru long unburnt forest in my County. Because of so many fires resources were limited and many of them could not be stopped. Every County in California had a wildfire except San Francisco County.

The fire raged and eventually 77,000 peoples were evacuated including me. I was evacuated Tuesday 18 Aug 2020 actually leaving around 0300 on the 19th with most of my camping gear and those valuables I thought of at the time.

As you regular readers will know My roof was just painted and I was researching doing the headliner and because of this work my roof rack is not on. I did grab my OZtent RV3, but had to leave my Rhino Rack Batwing awning as well as the gearbox I just picked up from Timm Cooper. I left my trailer since it is full of junk right now, plus I was going to a motel and didn't want to have the added hassle for parking a trailer would bring. Besides, it was just going to be for a few hours, right? Then they would have the fire out, right? Right?

Wrong. The forest was dry and the flames hungry, they ate through California's first State Park, Big Basin, Then climbed the side of the Ben Lomond Mountain, pluton heading South towards Santa Cruz and down the Hwy 236 towards Boulder Creek and my house, while the West side devoured it's way to the Pacific Ocean. Eating the 1909 Park Lodge and so far 634 structures and 81,000 acres with 1 death.

I am OK my 109 and I got out, but not my motorcycle and many family heirlooms.

As of today it seems they have started to gain control, this morning 19% containment, and are starting to repopulate some of the more distant evacuations.

Right now my house is OK, it is 1/2-3/4 mile from the fire front and the town of Boulder Creek is in between. It will probably be a week or more before I can go home.

Here are a couple of pics. 

From my neighborhood Wed.

Smoke over Monterey, California

The fire went through Swanton Pacific Railroad; https://sprr.calpoly.edu/

And that's if for now !

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Land Rover sunsheet refurbishment

 4 Aug 2020

I decided to start working on the exterior of my trop top whilst I figured out what to do about the headliner. Starting at the rear third I tried to remove the fungus/ tree droppings. Nothing worked that crapola had etched into the aluminum.

I tried acetone but that only proved good for a quick pre-wipe before sanding. Hitting it with #80 then #120 and finally #220. I had to hand sand around the rivets.

6 Aug 2020

    I made the mistake of letting it sit unpainted and the early morning fog and drizzle left watermarks that had to be sanded out again. With that lesson I covered it with Rustoleum 2x primer/paint in gloss almond. It worked out that doing 1/3 at a time did well for me at beating the Summer sun and heat.

7 Aug 2020

   Friday saw me doing the center section, the same way, wipe, sand w/80,120,220, hand sand, blow off with air hose and post wipe, paint. It was hot enough that I got 3 or more coats during a day.

You can see in this pic how 1) bad the spots were, 2) how I overlapped the sanding/painting  3) how banged up this top is.

Looking at the front compared to the finished back.

Interesting how much gloss the paint lost as it dried.

10 Aug 2020

   

The sunsheet was finished.  I had ordered new seals for the alpine glass from Trevor at Rovahfarm; Weatherstrip #302177 and locking seal #DBF500040  both x2. It seemed to take awhile for them, but when they finally got here I was ready.

11 Aug 2020

Probably the original seal.

 Very crumbly, This side had seen more sun. Came right off with the putty knife.

Chiseled out the outside and pulled the glass out.

This shows the shrinkage gap in the old seal at the top.

At this point with the seal out and the rooftop side empty, I sanded it down, again 80, 120, 220 and post blow down and wipe. This was going to be an all day job! Then a couple coats of paint.

While the paint was drying; 

With care I cleaned the glass, eventually I needed to use steel wool on the edges to remove the old seal.

Before steel wool on the left, after on the right.

The shape of the new seal, you can see one side is larger, that is the side the glass fit in. The weird shape in the middle is for the locking strip.

Testing the glass fit.

I fitted the seal and made it about a half inch too long and then crammed it in, this should help with shrinkage over the years

Using Dawn dish soap I lubricated the inner gap for the glass. It took a few tries as I wanted to start it in the top where the seam was, but eventually I came to the conclusion that it needed to start on the bottom.  I got it in and by now it was hot and I was in the full sun. I knew I needed to get some of the locking strip in---just in case.

    Well I didn't buy the tool, I've seen it done with WD40 and screwdrivers at my old job and used that technique on the rear windows on my 88, Ignotus.

Struggling in the heat I got it started. Using the bottom 180° from the seal seam. I had coated the locking strip with Dawn to allow it to slip in easier.

The heat was on but I got 1/2 of the strip in before I called it a day. Going around the curve was PITA. Along the whole strip I had to push one side and then the other into the seal: one screwdriver width at a time and often it would pop out.

12 Aug 2020

    The next morning in cooler weather I preservered. Again making the locking strip about 1/2" longer to account for shrinkage.

Done on this side!

My 109 has a 2 piece roofside, You can see the outside seam in the above pic. On the inside there is this flange and it has a no longer available rubber trim covering. After several websites and inquiries I found somethin I hoped would work. From McMaster-Carr I got 10' of EPDM rubber trim #8693K26. Here is the profile view;

A test to see if it will work, the old stuff is below it.

Not the look I was hoping for, but it will work.

Notches were required at the top.

13 Aug 2020

Rinse and repeat for the drivers side. Remove seal and glass, sand, paint, clean glass, install seal, install glass, install lock strip.

14 Aug 2020

Up early to get the last bit of sanding and painting done ; the rear above the door. 

This was probably the easiest, wire wheel the gutter and a light sanding as the paint looked really good.

Later that afternoon, on my back porch.

In the mail I received the rubber washers I ordered for under the sunsheet spacers. These were obtained from Primal 23 Industrial,  EPDM rubber washers, # EPDM70-101418-25

15 Aug 2020

Old ones on the top new on the bottom

With a spacer. And while we are on the subject of spacers; these are just pot metal, I don't think they were originally painted , but I am painting mine.

 

I did one side and then the other. While the spacer was out I removed the old washer and sanded and painted, I also wire wheeled the threads on the machine screws and sanded and painted where the washer sits on the sunsheet.

Lastly I replaced the top washers with stainless ones.

Not bad even if I do say so myself!