Working Man's Burbon

[HO455]

Today was the start of the headliner installation. I went with FRP from the big box store. I looked into sheet ABS but I wasn't overwhelmed with it and I was able to get FRP cheaper. There are some nice FRP options out there, both in color and texture but an additional 3-500 hundred dollars for delivery put them out of my budget. After picking up five sheets and some joining H strips. (If all goes well I will only need three sheets but just in case.)
The first thing to do was to install the bows that the support trim snap on to. My Burban did not come with any installed. I believe the PO had removed them and after covering the factory perforated panels with a grey felt material they screwed the panels in place. Fortunately I was able to get two of the bows from a wrecking yard with three of plastic support trim pieces. After cleaning them up I noticed that the bows are slightly different in size and shape with the one in the back being longer and taller. I didn't have the center bow so I don't if there are three sizes or if the back two are the same. ( I believe there are three sizes.) The first 3 photos show the bows and how they attach. The red X is where the center bow would have been installed at the factory.
Using one of the old panels I laid out the cut lines on the back of the FRP. I decided to start with the back of the truck first hoping that by the time I got to the front I would have a better idea of what I was doing and it is easier to access the back. As this was the first panel I cut I didn't take any chances and laid it out slightly oversize. To keep things as true as possible I marked a centerline on the pattern and on the FRP then aligned them before marking the cut line. Before cutting anything I remeasured the area inside to make sure that it all made sense and would fit as expected.

[HO455]

Once I was satisfied with the lay out I cut the panel. Staying outside of the lines (just in case) I made the cuts using a jig saw with a metal cutting blade with the orbit setting at zero. After cutting I cleaned up the cuts with a long sanding block(with 80 grit) to remove any wandering of the free hand cuts. I also rounded the corners to prevent chipping and beveled each edge so it would slide easier. Before trying to install the panel I took a small screw driver and went made sure the inside of the channel the panels sit in was clean. It took several attempts to get the panel in place. Each time I had to make the panel smaller. Basically going 1/8" at a time getting the panel to fit correctly. You don't want to get it too narrow or it will be held up out of the side channels by the plastic support trim. As the side channels on my Burban end at different points from the rear hatch header I had to just get it so it looked good across the header and ignore the bit of FRP hanging past the end of the channel on the one side. Once I got it to look reasonable across the back, I then concentrated on getting the front edge to match the dimension of the support bow.
By now I have installed and removed the panel at least eight times. When I needed to reduce the size in small amounts (1/8" or less) I found that sanding the material away worked better than trying to cut it. As I had the rear of the panel to size each cut was a long wedge. When installing the panel you have to let the center droop while you put the edges into the channel then push the center up until it pops in place. If the size is too large the center won't stay up so you need help to hold it up while you measure and mark. I didn't have an extra human around so I used the piece of PVC you see in the picture to hold it. (Photo 1) ( It was about 8' long and I recommend covering it with masking tape it where it contacts the FRP.)
Before installing the panel for the last time mark the center line of the roof stiffeners. I did three screws on each stiffener. (You know, more is better!) I only marked the ends and didn't think to check the center and it came back and bit me. On the rear most stiffener it was bent and the center was at least a 1/4" closer to the back than the ends were. Which in turn caused me to miss the stiffener when I drilled it for the screw. Of course none of the rest were bent but I had measurements for all the rest.
Once I felt confident about the size I carefully fitted the support trim in place and snapped it down. I started at on end but that turned out to be a mistake as the center must be in place so the support trim will push the FRP up and follow the bow. Photo #2 shows what happens when you don't start in the center. Once the trim is snapped down I was unable to get the FRP to slide side to side and so I had to carefully unsnap the trim. Fortunately it has been in the 88 to 93 degree temperatures here so that helped as I just had to set the pieces out on the asphalt for five minutes to heat them up. The down side was using the heat gun inside the Burban to help with the support trim. Hot hot hot!
Just for clarification I drilled and screwed the panel after the support trim was installed.

[Average Joe]

Nice work!
Great headliner how to. Folks will benefit from this thread for years to come.

[HO455]

Thanks Joe. That's really nice to hear. I just hope I didn't leave something important out.


The O-rings for the air bag control valve arrived yesterday. Yeah! Three and a half days at no charge. Great service!!!!
So I pulled the valve set out and gathered some tools and supplies on the bench and started in. I took a silver Sharpie and marked the 3 pieces of the valve body to make sure I reassembed it in the correct way, but it wasn't necessary as it will only go together one way. Took a small box and cut a slit in the bottom to set the valve set on during disassembly.
First things to remove are the finger pads (?) from the control levers. They have two small Allen screws that have to be loosened, then grab the pad and turn while pulling off. Then remove the four screws that hold the front plate on and set it aside. Now set the valve body on the box with the controls through the slit. There are 11 screws in the back that hold the valve body pieces together. (Photo 1) Ten of them go through all three pieces. The one on the short side, between the supply and exhaust ports, only goes through one of the pieces. It can be removed first. To remove the other 10 you have to take them out together. This will prevent binding and or stripping of the threads as two of the pieces are spring loaded. I used a Tee handle Allen wrench and went 1/2 turn on each screw and worked my way around and around until all the screws were completely loose. Then I finished removing each bolt individually. As you remove the screws the front piece of the body will separate from the center part due to the springs. There is no danger of the springs launching themselves into never never land. You know that place where small parts go when you really need them but somehow manage to drop them anyway. And no matter how much you swear or pray you never, never see them again. But when separating the center and back pieces there are six O-rings that are more than willing to jump off. So be aware and limit handling of that piece.
Photo 2 shows the front and center pieces apart notice one of the spools in the center piece is not in the same position as the rest.
Photo 3 shows all three pieces.
Photo 4 is a close up showing the O-rings in the back 4 larger oval ones and the two pesky round ones that will try to escape. You can also see the cool little rollers that ride on the spools to prevent wear when pushing on the brass spools.
Photo 5 shows the problem I was having which is an O-ring is stuck in the valve seat. Somehow the O- ring has popped off the spool and is trapped holding the spool open.

[HO455]

The spools can be removed by pulling them out but the spring side. I don't have a reason why the O-ring came off. The spools have been lubed with a silicone grease which is very sticky I don't know if that was contributing to the failure or not. I had prelubed the valve set as per the manufacturer's instructions with some air tool lube and it is possible the two different kinds of lube didn't play well together. I have never seen a silicone grease in an air valve so I removed as much of it as I possibly could. (I have rebuilt untold numbers of air control valves in a previous life as a tug boat repairman.). Under careful examination I could see no defect on the problem O-ring, the spool, or in the valve body. I replaced both O-rings on the problem spool. They fit very tight as expected. After lubing I installed the spool . Then I inspected the rest of the spools one by one and lubed them all with Pink Grease from Systems Engineering. It is a special grease developed especially for use in air controls.
Photo 1 shows the spool with the O-rings installed. After the O-rings are in place you have to carefully slide the spring over the O-rings and seat it against the lip on the spool. I initially thought this may have been the cause of the failure, but I didn't find any burrs on the springs and they are barely snug as they pass over the O-rings. The last thing I did was to remove the extra grease on the rollers and reapply it where it seemed to be lacking.
For reassembly I lined the back and center pieces up and put the #11 short bolt in to hold them together. Then in reverse of disassembly I inserted the other ten screws and snugged them down and then in half turn increments I tightened them in a circular pattern until all were "Tee handle tight". Don't use a long Allen wrench or socket to tighten these down as they would strip easily. Use a Tee handle or the turn with the short end of the Allen wrench. I plan on calling Aire Jax this coming week to discuss what I have seen and to thank them for the quick service on the O-ring delivery. If there are any insights I will share them.

[HO455]

The list of "must do" things is pretty much done so on to the "it would be nice if" list. On the pot of that list is music. I am not a fan of new radios in old vehicles. I located a stock AM radio at the NWDRA swap meet in January. I sent it off to Gary Tayman for the AM/FM/USB upgrade last month and it has returned looking nice and new. I didn't expect it to be repainted. That was a nice surprise.
The PO had hacked a hole in the dash for the din style radio so 20 minutes with a file got that cleaned up. My plan was to make a plate and glue to the dash to make a new cut out for the radio. At the same swap meet I picked up a center section of a dash for a pattern. I have a friend with a CNC laser cutter so we got together and made a CAD drawing, cut a few test units out of card stock until we were happy with the fit and then cut two steel plates. I picked up a pair of speakers for the doors. The PO had already cut holes in them so I'll use them. I had prewired the doors when I did the door switch installation.

[HO455]

Okay sorry for the delay. Life got in the way. Now where was I? First I hooked the new radio harness into the truck, then I snaked the radio into place under the dash and got the rear bracket fasteners snugged up. Now the original plan was to glue the plate in place with some panel adhesive, but there isn't a tube to be had in the shop now. (They installed a new roof in a big sprinter type van this morning.) So I will try using some top quality double sided tape (not the foam style) instead. After cleaning with prepsolv I applied tape on the entire back side of the plate, then painted the plate. While it dried I installed the 6x9 speakers in the doors. They got installed with foam baffles behind them. I know that lots of people say that baffles affect the speakers sound in a bad way but I am looking for them to help keep the speakers dry on the back side. Having seen the how MUCH water runs down inside the doors I am willing to take the trade off. Maybe down the road I will build some kind of enclosure in the door if the sound is just too poor.
Okay catch up photos from the previous post.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work once again! I would like to add some more speakers to my truck. You can't hear the 6x9's behind the seats near the cab corners.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice work once again! I would like to add some more speakers to my truck. You can't hear the 6x9's behind the seats near the cab corners.

Thanks! If you're interested and your DIN radio has the room you are welcome to the enclosure I wasn't able to use.

[Hart_Rod]

The headliner came out nice!

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

The headliner came out nice!

Thanks! After a couple of hundred miles the back edge started sagging ( There was nothing supporting it). So I put five screws across the back edge to suck it up tight.

The WMB has been well accepted by the neighborhood insects. Every evening there are hundreds of gnat like bugs on the white parts ( The odd part is sometimes most of them are facing the same direction) and I had to eradicate an ant colony from under the carpet in the back.

[Advanced Design]

Really good work and sharing of details. I agree, headliner came out nice! Wish mine looked as good.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Really good work and sharing of details. I agree, headliner came out nice! Wish mine looked as good.

Thank you!
You guys are great!

[LT7A]

I had fun reading through this one. I'm glad you got a good deal on the purchase since that previous owner was a liability. Bad custom work is just bad work. Just because they made it look cooler doesn't mean they can cut corners on installation and fabrication. They had just about rendered it unusable. So glad you saved it!

Now that you're driving it, it would be cool to see some pictures of it out and about.

LT7A

[HO455]

I'm glad you enjoyed the thread. I took WMB up north to Castle Rock on Saturday which was about a hundred miles round trip. I got to run it at a steady 70 mph for most of the trip without any unexpected adventures. By playing with air pressures for the front bags I was able to get a decent ride quality after about twenty miles. It still wanders more than I would like, but haven't really looked at the steering box yet. The reason for the trip was to get the second row seat set up out of a 77 Burban. The donor truck was an ex county sherriff rig so who knows what may be on the seats. But mechanically they are sound.
I got reasonable gas mileage but with the speedometer reading about 8-10 mph low at 55 it is hard to get a good number on that. And here is a couple of pictures. Two of the new seats. One of some trucks at a shop in Castle Rock. And one from Sunday morning. I do think I may have a drive line issue developing as there is an ever so slight vibration above 55 I don't think I had before the trip north. But still less than a thousand miles on it so it just may be me. I will try to get more photos of the Burban about town. My notebook camera isn't very good for quick candid pictures though.

[Average Joe]

You will really like that fold down rear seat. I put one in my 'Burb and love it. It was a pretty straight forward install. I made some panels to hold up the back and welded nuts to those. I had to shim up the bottom of the seat on the outside edge IIRC. The "piano hinge" bolted down on the nose of the step down.
The only draw back I have is having to slide the front seat most of the way forward in order to lay the rear seat completely flat. I got short legs though so its not really a problem.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

You will really like that fold down rear seat. I put one in my 'Burb and love it. It was a pretty straight forward install. I made some panels to hold up the back and welded nuts to those. I had to shim up the bottom of the seat on the outside edge IIRC. The "piano hinge" bolted down on the nose of the step down.
The only draw back I have is having to slide the front seat most of the way forward in order to lay the rear seat completely flat. I got short legs though so its not really a problem.

On the hinge did you bolt the stationary side of the hinge vertical or horizontal on the step down? And what is IIRC? Being 6'2" the drawback maybe an issue for me. Any photos you have would be appreciated.
Thanks for taking time to post the info.

[HO455]

We went to dinner tonight at the Sextant. Nice little tavern on the Columbia river. Took a couple of pictures. The second one is on Marine drive in front of the tavern. I had to zoom in the last one to get the mountain to show. It looked much larger in real life.

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by HO455

On the hinge did you bolt the stationary side of the hinge vertical or horizontal on the step down? And what is IIRC? Being 6'2" the drawback maybe an issue for me. Any photos you have would be appreciated.
Thanks for taking time to post the info.

IIRC is short for if i remember correctly


I beleive the hinge was horizontal if i am understanding the question correctly.

I will try and get pics in the next couple of days. The wife is currently in the hospital.

[HO455]

I got lucky last night in the good way. The PO had half dozen or so old truck part catalogs along with a box of receipts he gave me when I got the WMB. I had looked through the box of receipts but hadn't paid any attention to the old catalogs. I was in the process of tossing the catalogs last night when I noticed there was some thing stuck in the middle of one of them.
Score baby! I was so close to tossing them away!
Other than locating a replacement engine not much action on the WMB due to lots of hose projects needing to get done. (Like hand rails on the stairs.). Still some more to do in the house but the final inspection is over and done with so if the weather give me a break around the first I will dive into the swap.

[HO455]

Here are a couple of shots of the new 350. MASSIVE upgrade from the 305!

[Average Joe]

I posted some pics in the fold flat seat thread. I hope they help

[HO455]

Excellent! Thank you!

[CG]

I really like the fold flat seat ideas. I would be cool if you could have two rows of fold flats. Kind of like an old station wagon. Figure out a way to get a set of old wagon rear facing seats that fold flat configured to fit.

Taking seats in and out is a pain.

[LT7A]

Looks like your camera is doing just fine. Good pictures of the rig out and about. Good luck with the fold-down seat.