Installing the Headliner

Today I was able to work on the car because Lauren had to work the day after Christmas even though most of the rest of the United States considered it an official holiday. Our mission today was to install the headliner and front/rear windows, but we were unable to get to the latter portion of the mission. I started by researching the order of the four headliner bows and which of the two holes they were supposed to mount into. After digging around on Vintage Mustang Forum I found out that the order from front to back was "natural, red, white, blue." Ford put paint on the end of each bow to know in which order to put the bows. I also found this:

"In order to maintain maximum headroom over the driver and insure wrinkle free headlinings, insert the support ends into the upper holes on the left hand roof rail except for the following: when body width variations are at maximum tolerance, use upper hole both sides or when body width variations are at minimum tolerance use lower hole both sides."

(source: 1968 Mustang Interior assembly Manual, page 48, Jim Osborn Reproductions Inc.)

Once we knew where the bows were going to mount, we slipped them through the headliner and centered them by measuring the distance from the end of the rod to the edge of the headliner.Once we knew where they were supposed to be, we cut a hole in the sleeve for the rod to come out through. We hung the headliner in the car to get started.

Next we used a lot of heavy duty clips to hold the headliner in place after we pulled it go get it where we wanted it. You're supposed to start in the middle of the front and back and work your way out pulling any wrinkles as you go.

We used some heavy upholstering glue to glue the headliner in place and even enlisted the help of some old windlace to act as a clamp on the headliner. We still haven't installed the clips the mount on the top of the front pillars which is why you see a wrinkle in the fabric. I was only able to find one of them which means that I'll probably need to buy a set of two; that seems to be the story of this project. The headliner isn't perfect, but I don't expect perfection anymore. It looks good.

I also installed the rails that hold the door weatherstrip along the roof rail. I had taken these home to polish which seems to have been pointless because 95% of of the metal is covered by rubber. At least the 5% will shine.

I also installed the wiper arms under the dash. I didn't really do much with these, but I did install new leather gaskets between them and the underside of the cowl. Unfortunately the '66 didn't have the chrome cover over the wiper arm so it looks a little weird. The actual stainless steel wiper arms will install over these once the glass is in. The last thing I took care of today was installing the window trip clips. I ordered new ones, but for the life of me I can't seem to find them! It's been very frustrating. I also can't find the rear fender extension gasket nor the engine wire loom clips. They were all in the same shipment so I must have misplaced the bag they came in. It's not the end of the world...just frustrating.