1972 Duster, 340/4, black on black (the endgame)

With Gibson shut down for the holidays I get some serious shop time and here's how the year ends.

Headliner is in:





There's still some shine on there from the heat gun and the sails still need some work-I'll wrap those up when the trim parts are in so I know just how much is exposed. And a scuff pad should take that shine out. Some observations for a first time headliner install-

1. There are a bazillion videos on youtube about putting bow headliners in. Watch them all, regardless of make & model. You'll pick up something different in many of the videos as no one out there covers every aspect of this job.
2. Don't try to get it drum tight. You can't. And you shouldn't. It's not supposed to be. Focus on making sure you don't have any stress creases or folds and work out the wrinkles as best you can knowing a heat gun can get the minor ones out when you're done.
3. I have seen much ado made about the bows-the colors on the ends and which goes where. The set I had were pretty faded-it was hard to distinguish the difference between orange & pink, green & blue. But when it comes to your Duster, it doesn't matter. She's got a fat ***, and the roofline tapers toward the front. The two long ones obviously go in the back and if you stand the rest of them on end you can see each one is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2" shorter than the next. Put them in with the longest one to the back and shorter as you go forward. If you struggle to get it in or it falls out it's in the wrong place.
4. We know the cloth headliner was discontinued in 1972 so this car was not set up for one. Some stuff was there as the parts carried over-the teeth around the windows to hold the cloth in place and the rearmost 2 bows had the 3 hole pattern punched in the side supports. I was not going to go with the bows that slip into clips as that would entail cutting rectangular holes and that could've been ugly. So I started this by drilling holes in the center of the rectangular "pockets" stamped into the side roof supports and test fitting the bows. The bows should come awfully close to the roof skin so they don't rattle and in dry fitting I drilled a second set of holes about 1/2" below the first. Once I started hanging the headliner for real it gave me some flexibility for best fit:
   
   
   
   
5. I also made sure to get screws in place for the visors, mirror and dome light so I could easily find them later. I skipped the seat belt and "suit hook" because the hook location is quite obvious (had I known I might have cut them out when it was on the rotisserie) and for the seatbelt hole I marked the channel around the window openings-it's also a pretty easy find when all's said & done. Then I made the retaining "clips" (wires, really) for the back. I started by getting that end bow in the best place and measuring the distance between the slots in the roof frame (which were also present) and it came out around 1 1/2". I made them out of good ol' clothes hanger wire:
   
   
   
   
   
6. With the back bow clipped in place I pulled the headliner forward and once it was all up and looking good I started gluing it to the teeth around the windshield. Once it was secure and relatively snug I pulled the wire clips I made out and pulled it all to the back window. I pulled them out because they go in through the cloth pocket in the headliner the bow goes through and I didn't want them to interfere with pulling the sides down and taut-those wires would've locked the headliner in place on the bow and there wouldn't be any 'give' when it came time to pull it down the sides. I did indeed test this when I dry fitted the headliner and it was a thing. For the moment I only glued down the rear opening along the top, leaving the sides for later.
7. Once the front and back were glued in (DAP Weldwood cement, but it seems any kind of rubber/contact cement will work for this application), I started on the sides. From the center to the front, switch sides, then to the back, switch sides. Patience, work it, don't rush it. If it's too tight the stress creases pop right up so back off and let it be wrinkled. It'll come out in the wash. Sails were last and of course this is the trickiest part with the plastic nut for the trim piece retaining screw as well as those hangers.

So it's in. And I like it soooooooo much better than the factory cardboard headliner-especially with the deluxe interior and the woodgrain on the dash.

Speaking of which-the dash & steering column are also refurbished and in:





The instrument cluster is just set in place for the photo op (and it's a safe place for it). The steering column was already assembled but it was just slammed together so I could steer the car around the shop and over the course of prepping for paint it got scratched so it came apart, got repainted and reassembled. The only thing I really missed last time was the spring for the key lockout collar which was missing. Ace hardware sells a spring assortment that had a few in it that worked. And I have a new signal switch on the way-the original one was probably still functional but the flasher 'knob' was broken and that's not replaceable. I have to replace the whole assembly.

So the headliner is in, the dash is in and it's ready for glass :thumbsup: I still need to get the gaskets for the windows but this time I'm definitely farming out the installation. Let the pros do it-glass is getting expensive and it's hard to ship. Meanwhile I'll start assembling the firewall/dash bits and finalize the front suspension.