After investing quite a bit of time and money into the interior (Mr. Mikes for seats/doors/shifter/e-brake/console, Kitcarman's billet aluminum dash overlay, Rodney's short shifter, new headliner, new MP3 headunit, new black carpet from the Fiero Store...) the warped trim pieces really started to bother me. This thread is about what I did about it... with many pix (sorry 56k people).

This is what I had:

So I removed all the pieces and arranged them artfully on the dining room table. Necessary tools are visible plus the laptop for instant PFF access und some candles for divine intervention. All set:

Before pix:

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www.yellowfiero.com/fiero.html
17" DEZENT T wheels with 215/40 tires front and 235/45 rear, KONI shocks, EIBACH lowering springs, PU dog bone, bushings and engine mounts, K&N air and oil filters, OZELOT exhaust, Mercedes SLK yellow, Mr. Mikes seats, door skins, shift and e-brake boots. MP3 player and custom subwoofer behind passenger seat, F355 style front. Fiero Store rear swaybar, strut tower brace, black carpet. Rodney Dickman's competition short shifter. Billet aluminum dash kit from Kitcarman.

[This message has been edited by yellowstone (edited 12-05-2004).]

In the process. You CANNOT HAVE TOO MANY CLAMPS. Get the document clamps in many sizes...

Use something to spread the clamp force, otherwise you'll have marks on the console:

Some parts like to top of the vent console are better held in place with tape than clamps:

Important: Get the support of other family members :-)

[This message has been edited by yellowstone (edited 12-05-2004).]

Clamps, must have more clamps...

I did this also some time back. The hardest part was finding a glue that would hold the foam backed vinyl and still allow time to work it into position. Honestly, I have forgotten what glue I used.

What glue did you use?

I used "UHU Hartkunststoff" (you can see it in the pix) which is a special glue for plastics - not available in US I guess...

quote Originally posted by DeV8er: Clamps, must have more clamps... I did this also some time back. The hardest part was finding a glue that would hold the foam backed vinyl and still allow time to work it into position. Honestly, I have forgotten what glue I used. What glue did you use?

The single biggest thing to remember with this which is common to many cars is the soft vinyl shrinks over time. The hard under side plastic stays the same size. One thing is to remove the foam and another trick is to trim the hard plastic back just a bit to make up for the shrunk soft outer vinyl before you glue it back together.

I have made a similar repair to my interior pieces. Actually twice. The first time I used "goop" from the local hardware store, plus a lot of tricky clamping and a few fixtures made of wood. Of course, cleaning away remnants of the foam backing is important. Anyway, this first attempt did not hold! Very disappointing. The second time I used good old superglue. They make a special package that says it is for plastics. It comes with a small glass bottle with some sort of solvent and a brush to use as a surface preparation. So far this has held very well (at least a year).

Hey Rodney,

how do you like your short shifter with Mr. Mikes shifter boot and the aluminum trim? Thanks again for the great product, I'm very happy!

quote Originally posted by Rodney: The single biggest thing to remember with this which is common to many cars is the soft vinyl shrinks over time. The hard under side plastic stays the same size. One thing is to remove the foam and another trick is to trim the hard plastic back just a bit to make up for the shrunk soft outer vinyl before you glue it back together.

That looks better.

Part of the problem with the radio suround.... It looks like there is hard frame plastic in the part that overhangs the radio/ac trim and that plastic breaks off the rest of the frame. That is part of why yours is still bowed out after gluing. The only way to completely fix it is to find a way to fix that framing before gluing the vinal down.

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The only thing George Orwell got wrong was the year...

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

quote Originally posted by Rodney: The single biggest thing to remember with this which is common to many cars is the soft vinyl shrinks over time. The hard under side plastic stays the same size. One thing is to remove the foam and another trick is to trim the hard plastic back just a bit to make up for the shrunk soft outer vinyl before you glue it back together.

Wile both of those methods may work for some, I've found that removing the foam tends to cause the finished product to have an uneven surface. perhaps I just wasn't carefull enough about removing it.
The way I got around the shrinkage problem was to warm up the part (the summer sun is best, but a heatlamp works if you're carefull). after the part is good and warm I streach and preclamp the part, then allow it to relax overnight before regluing it the next day. I've had good success with Gorrilla glue.
Your project came out great Yellowstone. It usually takes folks several tries to get these things figured out, but it looks like you did fine on your first try .
If you get bored over the winter you could always build a jig like mine, which avoids 99% of the clamp marks. It's a good project to compleat when the wife is on the warpath and you need to hide in the garage for a wile .

Russ

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"doesn't matter where you've been....... doesn't matter where you're going...... just how cool you look gettin' there."
Fonzy

I agree with the comments above, the key is the choise of glue...

I tried Goop and it came loose almost immediately. Similar disappointment with 2 part epoxy. We need to import that glue to the US if it works really well.