[Mikelonis]

Not sure if this qualifies as the art of upholstery but it got the job done and there is some knowledge to be shared here. The sail panels in my Torino were all shot to hell. Sail panels sit between the headliner and the rear seat. You can see them below. I've never been concerned about concours quality interiors, a small tear here and there doesn't bother me but I do like the interiors of my project cars to be clean and consistent. The following pictorial will show you what I did to correct my problem by creating my own sail panels. Consider this an intro project to DIY upholstery.

Here is the area to be corrected. The old sail panels have been removed in this shot. This is the driver's side.

There are the two sail panels, you can see they are in bad shape

Some water damage in the back.

I picked up some very similar green vinyl and some very dense 1/8" thick cardboard from our local fabric shop. Here I am tracing the old sail panel shapes onto the new carboard.

The two sail panels ready to be cut out.

I'll take you through doing one sail panel. Step and repeat for the second. I rough cut a segment of the green vinyl, enough for one sail panel.

Here's the green vinyl. It was not an exact match in color or texture but it was good enough for my standards. Come on, it's just a 73 Torino guys.

Here I am hitting the first new sail panel with some 3M Super 77 spray adhesive.

Then I firmly pressed the panel onto the rough cut vinyl.

Next, I traced around the panel shape about a 1/2" out.

Then cut the vinyl again.

The 3M adhesive remains in a tacky state for about 15 minutes so I applied a little more pressure after the second rough cut.

There may be a more "pro" technique for this but this works for me to get a good "wrap" around the corners.

A close up of one corner. I did this to all the corners before getting out the adhesive again.

I sprayed a light amount of adhesive on the back of the excess vinyl and wrapped the long segments first.

Once the long segments took hold, I worked on the corners.

There's the new panel wrapped and set next to the old panel.

The panels are held in place by outer trim and one "mechanical june bug" clip. I'm not sure what the proper name is of this style of fastener, but they are used on many 70's Fords to hold down door panels. This factory panel uses two small pieces of cardboard sandwiched together and glued to the back of the panel. I simply re-created my own. Here I am cutting out the old location in order to trace it onto the new panel for proper location purposes.

There it is removed and ready to serve as a template.

I set the old panel (template) onto the new panel.

And traced the location.

Next, I began cutting out the squares to make a sandwich that would hold the "mechanical june bug" clip.

There are the two peices.

The sandwich would need an accomodation for the clip. I needed to trace that location onto one of the squares.

After tracing, I cut out the segment.

With the clip installed, I sprayed adhesive on the segments and stacked them on top of each other.

I set the sandwiched peice into a vise and let it set for about 20 minutes.

Now, with the location traced onto the new panel, I shot some adhesive down...

And set the sandwich into position.

I used a weight to apply pressure for 20 minutes.

When dry I used a staple gun to give the sandwhich added incentive to stay in place.

The backside of one finished panel.

The frontside of one finished panel.

Installing the panel was a snap.

The finished product.

 

[topdeadcenter]

Rock on! Thanks for the simple how to. Interior work always scares me.

Mike

 

[rmousir]

that is great. I have thought about doing the same thing my self. thanks for sharing.

 

[Ralphw]

Thanks,,, My 68 came with no sail panels.

I'll be doing something similar,,,cool

 

[Mikelonis]

My 68 came with no sail panels.

Ahhh, "sail panels". That's what they are called. Thanks for the term, I updated my article.

 

[torinomary]

I Only Have One Problem With Your Article, You Said It Was 'only' A 73 Torino, Come On Man!!!!!!

 

[eliteman76]

Jon, Nice write up...and yeah it's "just another '73"....

I think that was a pretty nice, straight forward tech bit.

Nice to see you have Jr. out there giving you a hand.


Andy

 

[DaveBoyer]

Nice Work!!
I wish my car had sail panels, it would have been much easier, when I replaced the headliner

 

[jonsainz]

wow man ur amazing helping me out on alot of stuff they look exactly like my 72 torino they have a HUGE scratch going across it wut color green is that?

 

[Mikelonis]

Thanks for all the nice words guys. I was proud of that one. My boy seemed to be into too, hope I can keep him interested in the hobby.

The color is just a green I matched at the fabric store, no ID or part number, just took an old panel in and matched it as best I could. Really though, if you look closely at the interiors of these cars there is a lot of variation in color between carpet, door panels, dash pads, headliner etc... so there's some wiggle room on the color matching.

As far as the "it's just a 73 Torino" comment, well I've learned you gotta be into this model for your own personal glory.... no love out there... except for you guys of course!

 

[Mikelonis]

I went ahead and applied the same techniques/materials for the package tray. A little tricky because I didn't have an old package tray to make a template. Just measured/estimated and cutout the cardboard freehand. See attached.

 

[rmousir]

I have been planing on doing that as soon as it warms up as well. In addition I am going to do that for the side panels beside the back seat.

 

[Shark]

It looks like it came out nice but something you may want to know is that all the waiting clamping and repressing are necessary because you are not using the adhesive properly. Read the side of the can........... the directions are your friend, LOL. 3M 77 is a rapid set foam based trim adhesive. If there is any drying time you are using too much glue.The trade off is the loss of ability to shift and work the panel as with a rubber cement for the faster setting time. Regardless with any upholstery glue foam or rubber based you spray a thin layer on each surface to be bonded, wait to tack, and then assemble. To check the surface is ready for bonding, lightly touch the surface if the glue is tacky but stays on the panel instead pulling off on to your hand, it is ready. If you let it go too long and there is no tack left you must reapply the glue.

 

[Mikelonis]

"It looks like it came out nice but something you may want to know is that all the waiting clamping and repressing are necessary because you are not using the adhesive properly. Read the side of the can........... the directions are your friend, LOL."

Sounds like some good tips based on experience. Be great if you could take that same knowledge and put an article together on the subject.