RE: Re: [VAC]Advice needed: Vinyl Interiors from the 60's

[Gene Williams <realty@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alex,
    I'm going to step out here a little since I have 
never covered an air stream panel but I have covered a 
lot of boat walls, floors, boat seats, car doors , 
headliners, car seats, walls in homes etc.
     The first place to check is one of your automotive 
upholstery supply houses. They will have all types of 
foam backed fabrics in lots of different colors and 
usually in 60" widths. Trim vinyl is a light weight vinyl 
that is very easy to work with for gluing applications 
and will probably come in 54" or 60" widths.
     If you want originals they may be able to order it 
for you if a suitable stock item is not found.
     Let's expand this a little bit. For side walls 
depending on use of the vehicle one might pick out a 
decorator fabric of ones taste if not too thick ( I'm 
assuming it has to be glued on the back side of the panel 
to complete the stretch) and there's not a whole lot of 
tolerance between panels. 
    Make a decorator board with your vinyls, fabrics, 
carpeting, counter tops and color coordinate all items. 
It's simple. Just get a piece of foam board and mark 
columns on it for floor, walls, ceiling etc and glue 
samples on of what you like. Pick your favorite color and 
paste a paint sample chip in the top left hand corner and 
start from there.
     Back to the walls. Peel all of the old stuff off. Do 
not leave any fabric pieces on the panel or anything that 
will cause a bump. Go to the discount store and get a 
cheap wooden scrub brush ( usually about $2)and a couple 
or three cheap paint brushes. After you have removed the 
covering dry scrub the panel until all of the loose 
material is off. Don't worry about residual glue. Take an 
air hose and blow it off, yard blower, vacuum cleaner on 
reverse etc., last choice is a clean broom or whisk but 
it will work fine. Now your surface is ready. The 
remaining old adhesive will usually smooth over and 
recombine with the new adhesives solvent carrier when 
applied. Any big knots of old adhesive should be picked 
off.
     At your upholstery supplier pick up a contact 
adhesive ( Quart or gallon) that they recommend or you 
can use an aerosol (3m only, don't go for the cheaper 
stuff cause it will delaminate quicker. The contact 
adhesive can be applied with a cheap paint brush. If you 
have access to an air compressor get the red glue and a 
spray bottle ($25-35). Use the adhesives only on the side 
panels. Use the 3M for the ceiling ( I had better luck on 
headliners with the 3m brand). 
    Use the adhesives only in a WELL VENTILATED AREA, not 
in your trailer!!! If the trailer is the last resort use 
at least two fans. One at the door blowing out and the 
other blowing down the hall toward the front door with 
the rear windows open. In fact open everything you can 
and turn off all flames!! If you start getting a 
headache, dizziness or queasy, STOP IMMEDIATELY get to 
fresh air. Don't worry about unfinished work. It can be 
done over. Also when finished leave several windows open 
for the unit to air out.
     Stretching and gluing. The glue is on the panel. Now 
you have to lay your vinyl or fabric on. Vinyl has to be 
somewhat warm, at least the temp of the vinyl and the 
panel should be at least 70F. Warm it too room temp 
before application. The best technique is to have the 
vinyl or fabric at least 2" larger on all sides than the 
panel is. The cut is add 4" to your length and width. It 
is best for two  to do this but one person can. Each 
person grab a corner and let it sag in the middle. The 
middle touches the approximate center. Each person then 
ever so gently makes contact with each corner tip and 
lets the material drape. For one person , just stand 
holding two corners at one end of the material and gently 
letting it Do not press at the corner at this time. One 
person then presses a hand in the center and makes a 
small circle or two. Then a gentle diagonal pull from the 
corner toward center and a at the same time making sure 
that the pull goes to an adjacent corner. Then another 
set of circles are made and the process repeated on the 
pulls until one can run parallel presses with the edge of 
the board. Wait until the adhesive has set and then do 
the glue strips on the back. Paint at least a 1 inch 
strip on all sides with adhesive. Again, make a diagonal 
pull on the fabric corner tip and while holding tight 
press the CENTER down on the Back. Repeat all four 
corners. Next pull the corner again and press two sides 
toward the corner stopping about 1" from the corner, Make 
little folds and press down or pull diagonally and firmly 
to make a neck tie(Looks like one anyway) and press down. 
Trim if too bulky. If the panel has clamp teeth then just 
press the fabric on bend them in place and you are done. 
   If using an aerosol, let the adhesive finish blushing 
and start feeling tacky to the touch before laying on the 
material. The blush is condensate from the cooler 
aerosol. 
    Overhead panels need to be removed if possible. (I've 
never done an AS so I don't know). If they have to be 
done in place then another technique would need to be 
employed.
    Hope this isn't too much overkill.
Gene