1994 Cavalier LSi C20NE (was C18NZ) Work-horse

[Robsey]

Hopefully it will turn out as nice as the A pillar trims.







I am reasonably pleased with those.

[thomas]

They do look good, well done.

Material looks much like the foam-backed stuff I made the headlining for the Viva from and hope to use some of the leftover of for my own A-pillar on the Cav. Unfortunately right arm is in a plaster-cast for six weeks, then another after that after then breaking and resetting the wrist again to straighten the hand, which is turned inwards, so maybe 12 weeks, though the next 'plaster' might be fibreglass and not actual plaster like this one which weighs a ton. Might be able to do stuff in a few weeks, once I can walk -almost all of both legs being bruised and swollen, including even the sole of one foot, and will probably become quite adept with the current limited movement of my right arm/hand, once I've mastered wiping my behind.

These A-pillar trims though look like something light that I can maybe manage to undertake starting in a few weeks.

[3cav3]

I don't think I could ever work with material so light, as I'd be bound to get grease on it. Dirt seems attracted to me like metal filings to a magnet, not good when I work with hydraulic breakers lol.

[Robsey]

I know what you mean...
I waited for three days after I finished getting sooted up on the Vectra engine before doing them.
Especially as we have no surgical gloves to keep our hands clean.
All those at our centre were taken to the main hospital.

I just hope that I can keep just as clean for the roof.

[Robsey]

Well, it took me four days to build up the balls to pull out the roof lining.

I can honestly say that I have never seen such cheap flimsy garbage.

Here is the vanity mirror area.
Scrubbed of loose foam, sealed in household undercoat paint.



The lining is made up from two wafer thin layers of glass fibre sheet, with a thin piece of grey foam in between.

I pulled the vinyl coating off, which was only attached to 3/4 of the lining.

Past the point of no return.

Oh eck!! There are cracks, splits and delaminations everywhere.









I am not 100% certain that this can be fixed.

Here are the manufacturer's stickers.
As suggested here - "A "new level" of cheap and tacky.

[Mk3alan]

Ooh Eck! That looks like the textbook 'can of worms' situation!
When I did mine (I know, I emulsioned it!) but I could see that it wasn't in the best of health - and looking at yours I'm not sure it would have survived a removal process but I firmed up what was there with a few applications of unibond (PVA) solution.
This sort of stuck it all back together, enough for it to be rollered.
Best of luck, may your God go with you!

Alan

[Robsey]

I did think about laying on a few layers of a fibre-glass matting from a body filler kit in the worst affected areas.
Sunroof corners, and all grab handle locations.

The undercoat paint does appear to have given some extra strength and adhesion. We shall see.

Anyway, I have started to spray glue the covering on.
It looks very nice, but -
After two tins of spray glue, I ran out of glue.
From the back, I got as far as 8 inches (20cm) from the front.

It is very deceptive.
It looks big, but not as big as I thought.

It appears to have the most strength, and holds it's shape best when stood on its rear edge.

Unlike the original covering, I am going to wrap the edges over the lining by about 1 1/4" to 2" (3.2 to 5cm).
This should prevent it from shrinking back again.

Being a more "plush" fabric, I hope it will be a bit quieter in the cabin too.

Still plenty of scope for it all to go completely wrong.

[3cav3]

You're braver than me. Luckily my headlining is factory perfect, but will need to do the a panel trims soon.

[Robsey]

You're braver than me.

The thought in my head was stupid.
There I was, with the head-lining draped across two wheelie bins, peeling the pvc layer off.

I don't even know if the heat of the sun on the spray glue will cause it to let go and allow the fabric to sag again in due course.

All I do know, is that there are no roof-linings available to buy, so I have very little choice.

[cavalier1990]

I'm just wondering how I'm going to get mine out the saloon lol, think passenger seat out, then maybe front door off, turn vertically and out that way.

Is the base just a flimsy piece of pressed fibre glass?

[Robsey]

Yep, two very thin sheets of paper-like glass-fibre matting, with a thin piece of grey foam between them.

If you have a saloon, it will be a little shorter than the hatch version.

And it is all the holes that weaken it.
It would be a lot stronger if you do not have a sunroof and the additional large cut-out for the roof crank handle.

[3cav3]

Don't think I've ever seen a cavalier without a sunroof.

[Mazza]

Don't think I've ever seen a cavalier without a sunroof.

Ex police cars (Cavaliers) didn’t have any sunroof - simply to save weight and along with a few other Luxuries.

Also a good number of vectra a, abroad didn’t have it either...

[James McGrath]

Don't think I've ever seen a cavalier without a sunroof.

Ex police cars (Cavaliers) didn’t have any sunroof - simply to save weight and along with a few other Luxuries.

Also a good number of vectra a, abroad didn’t have it either...

The Envoy spec didn't have a sunroof as standard either.


Those A pillar trims look spot on Rob. Jolly well done

The guy who did my headlining said that he basically soaked it in adhesive to build up strength before putting the fabric on. Might be an idea.

[Robsey]

Indeed - that is why I was thinking of whacking on a few layers of glass fibre matting.

I probably need to inject some resin between the skins behind the sunroof opening.

Some velcro pieces to hold up the central section may help.

[cavalier1990]

Yep, two very thin sheets of paper-like glass-fibre matting, with a thin piece of grey foam between them.

If you have a saloon, it will be a little shorter than the hatch version.

And it is all the holes that weaken it.
It would be a lot stronger if you do not have a sunroof and the additional large cut-out for the roof crank handle.

Yep defo have sunroof. My headlining isn't that bad - yet, just curling up at corner of top screen above driver. Also replacement of the screen seemed to disturb the section along the top of screen, seems to be back almost in place after repair.

My big senator however has the whole rear of the roof lining hanging down, and the sunroof material is like a concertina lol. You can see all those little bits of foam falling out any time you take interior trims out or in, ends up all dried up and crumbly. That must be the "interface" between headlining material and fibre panel.

[Robsey]

just curling up at corner of top screen above driver.

If it is just the front edge where it curves towards the screen glass, then I would recommend brushing away any loose (probably orange) crumbly scrim foam particles,
and then bond the vinyl covering to the fibre sheet backing with some fabric glue.

It held the front edge of my lining up for the three years, since the restoration.

In fact is was very hard to separate the vinyl from the fibre layer without destroying anything. It was still holding very well.
------------------------------------
As an afterthought, I could have just poured a tub of fabric glue over the whole panel, before laying on the fabric.
There is no way it would ever have separated again. - lol
-------------------------------------
At the moment, the whole head-lining is just lay flat in my spare bedroom.
Until I pull out my finger, and get some more glue and glass-fibre matting.

[Robsey]

As per Robsey's usual standard.
Absolutely no progress to date.

The A Pillar coverings have peeled off again.
Darn spray glue and hot sunny weather in early May.

There I was last weekend full of enthusiasm to finish the roof lining.
The plan was to invest in a pasting table, some fibre glass resin and hardner and better spray glue.

Long and short is - the table took until Friday to find one.
Everyone seems to be decorating for something to do during lock down.

After the A pillar let-down, I decided to order the heavy artillary - proper brush on Evo-Stick.
Bugger - Out of stock until Monday.
Hmm -getting nowhere fast - lol.

I finally pulled my finger out and jacked up the car to fit the catalytic converter.
Bugger again, I have no idea how, but it looks like the nuts and bolts at the joint with the middle box are sunken into the flanges.
Despite being three years old, the cat is as rusty as hell.
No way that I could get a good grip on those rusty nuts and bolts.

I think I will cop out, and ask the garage to fit the cat when I can afford the MOT and service.

The other issue with the car being stood, is that I can just see some corrosion forming on the underside weld beads.
Still not bad for three years of Robsey abuse.

This is when I could do with a garage with ramps or a pit.

[3cav3]

I had the same thing happen to my a pillar trim. I sprayed it with contact adisive and as soon as the weather went hot it peeled off again.

[Robsey]

A bit of progress at last...

I managed to give the head-lining a coating of fibre-glass resin.



And also repaired the rear off-side grab handle area.





One other problem was delamination of the fibre-glass layers under the sun-roof cassette.
So I sliced one layer and poured a load of resin in the void between the layers to work it around, and hopefully bond the two layers together.



And yes, I did fill and seal up the slit.

The roof feels much more rigid and reassuring.

The wallpaper pasting table makes a huge difference in allowing me to work on such large piece of interior.

[James McGrath]

Great work there Rob. Should end up better than it ever was.

You could probably go into business repairing roof linings considering how common the problem is!

I've decided to do the same as you and retrim my A pillars.
What adhesive did you use to stick the new fabric on?

[Robsey]

I did use industrial grade spray adhesive, but the hot sun in May soon caused it to peel off again.
All this low odour stuff is pretty much useless.

So I recommend a good old fashioned smelly contact adhesive.
I am picking up some Evo-Stik adhesive tomorrow.

Just brush it on and gently smooth out the fabric from one end to the other.

Obviously the fabric should be way over size.

Only when the glue has dried / cured fully, should you trim and glue down the overlap to suit.
-------------------------------------------
Just for info, the fabric required for the full roof on my hatch is 1500mm long x 1100mm wide.
Much smaller than I expected.
If you are old like me, then I recommend at least 5ft x 4 ft (1520mm x 1220mm)

I got a 3 metre length of a 1700mm width, to allow two attempts.
I am notoriously bad at never fixing things successfully first time around.

Robsey's law is far beyond the worst Sod's or Murphy''s law.

[James McGrath]

Thanks mate, I'll see what I can find.

If you are old like me, then I recommend at least 5ft x 4 ft (1520mm x 1220mm)

Not old, Rob, just correct.

[Robsey]

You are so kind young sir.

On reflection, I would allow about 2" (50mm) excess all round on the roof lining fabric.

For the the A pillar trim, about 3/4" (20mm) overlap all round should be enough.

There are lots of spars and corners, so expect plenty of "V" darts / cut-outs.

[Mk3alan]

I seem to remember reading about using a high temperature spray adhesive for upholstery to withstand summer sun heat?

Alan