My new '81 Bonneville Safari

Fresh from Wisconsin, this Bonneville Safari now calls Springfield, Oregon home.
I'm the third owner. Less than 22k on the odometer.
Needs a few things, but all in all in pretty good shape.

You lucky dog you,thats a beautiful wagon Marshall!Is it everything you hoprd it would be?

Marshall it's going to need new mud flaps all the way round.

buickestate wrote:

Marshall it's going to need new mud flaps all the way round.

I thought those were those new "AERO" mud flaps!!!!! Great looking car!!! I see it has the same headliner issue as my 78 Impala though.

That thing is CLEAN!!! I like the Climate Contol. That seat fabric design is FUNKY! Hahaha gotta love Pontiac.

That car is crying CRYING for Rally II wheels!

-Mike

Oh and Replica Plastics in Dothan Georgia has the rear bumper fillers. Got mine for the '89 Custom Cruiser from them. From 77-90 all the big GM wagons use the same fillers.

http://www.replica-plastics.com/

Radial Tuned Suspension...



Man I miss my '79 Bonneville Brougham....the dash was really similar. Memories!

You FINALLY got the car home?
Congratulations!
Its a beauty.

As for the headliner, I bought a kit from JC Whitney that had enough material for two Fieros or one sedan for chump change.
Its a knit cloth backed with a thin layer of foam. When the foam dries out over time, the headliner sags.
Fords don't seem to have that problem.
There IS a special heavy duty spray on adhesive you should use, I can't remember what its called, but I'll find out and post it here.
Here's a tutorial on the work involved: http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/042788.html
It isn't a particularily tough job, but it will take most of a day.
When I get home next week, I'll find the can of spray adhesive I used and post or PM the name to you.
But given the business you're in, you probably know someone who does this for a living and will do it for you for a reasonable price....
I have heard that regular 3M spray adhesive will fail pretty quickly, so I would recommend something else.
SOME people use Liquid Nails!

Thanks for link on the filler, Mike. I was wondering where I would get one. Scrounging in a JY would probably get me the same thing I already have - a broken one.

As to the headliner, I was hoping it could be easily repaired, but it seems like it's going to need a complete overhaul. Comes in 2 pieces, and the front piece, although not sagging, does show some damage on it. I'll see how much an upholstery shop wants to re-do it, but I'm willing to tackle it. There's another good write up on the process over on the SWF.

Was hoping to be able to flip the tires and put whitewalls out, but doesn't look like there's whitewalls on the other side. I've got to crawl under and get a better look. I think they're all black, but just glancing under there when it was getting dark, I though I saw OWL's on at least one.

Driver's seat needs to be redone, or have some foam added - kinda hard. Mike over on the SWF noticed this when he checked it out for me.

Doing the seat is pretty easy. You'll need some hog rings from the feed store, and some deluxe foam carpet padding. Remove the seat, take off the covering, build the foam, put it all back. Did my Colony Park leather drivers seat in a couple of hours.

Or find a passenger seat at the yard, take the bottom, swap it to driver's seat.

I need to do this for my bonnies in my car....

Headliners are easy. You peel off the old material, then you have to get ALL the old foam off the board. Use a wire pet hair brush, then a sander. If you don't get the foam off, the new material won't stick. JoAnn's Fabric store has the fabric. It's foam backed.

Here's how easy it is. My mom did it on her 91 Caprice she uses in the winter in Florida.

Very nice, glad you got it home.

Found some parts pop up on CL....
Unfortunately, the budget's busted.
http://southjersey.craigslist.org/pts/3345668701.html
http://southjersey.craigslist.org/pts/3345645786.html
http://southjersey.craigslist.org/pts/3345569533.html

Wow, that looks like a very clean car that's being parted out there.

Start saving up Marshall,those parts are too nice to lose and I bet he would make you a deal on all of it if you make him a good offer!

Was doing some thinking on wheels......
Chevy Astro / GMC Safaris use the same 5x5 bolt pattern.

Kinda like these (15")


and these (16")

marshall stop thinking please!

Krash Kadillak wrote:

Was doing some thinking on wheels......
Chevy Astro / GMC Safaris use the same 5x5 bolt pattern.

Kinda like these (15")


and these (16")

The first set is a favorite of mine. Theres a set at a local junkyard on an astro, but I have no use for them (wouldn't look good on caddy and too busy for my conversion van)

Getting the headliner replaced next week - $385

Krash Kadillak wrote:

Getting the headliner replaced next week - $385

It may not be my place to say this but that's over three times what it cost to do in my Roadmaster wagon last year. I admit I have a good mexican uphostery guy here that does good work cheap, but still, that's a lot.

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t5191-dropping-off-my-roady-wagon-in-20-mins

If you have the money then more power to you, but I'd shop around a bit if I were you.

-Mike

Do the headliner yourself! It's easy!

I bought a kit at http://www.yourautotrim.com/headlinerkits.html for less than $70 and was very impressed with the quality.

JoAnn's Fabric has the foam-backed material you need. You MUST get all the old foam off the headliner board before the glue goes on.

I was initially going to give doing it myself a try, but after reading some forum comments about iffy results, I decided against it. Also worried about breaking trim pieces and clips.

Mike - as to pricing: Appears to be only 2 decent auto trim shops in the area. First place I got a 'ballpark' quote of $450+. At the second place, they had some of their seat upholstery work on display and it was excellent. Lower quote for the work, too.

Another reason not to attempt this myself - time. Shop does it in one day. I imagine it could take me 2 weeks. I work very slow.

Marshall

Krash Kadillak wrote:

I was initially going to give doing it myself a try, but after reading some forum comments about iffy results, I decided against it. Also worried about breaking trim pieces and clips.

Mike - as to pricing: Appears to be only 2 decent auto trim shops in the area. First place I got a 'ballpark' quote of $450+. At the second place, they had some of their seat upholstery work on display and it was excellent. Lower quote for the work, too.

Another reason not to attempt this myself - time. Shop does it in one day. I imagine it could take me 2 weeks. I work very slow.

Marshall

Always better to pay a pro when you have the cash!Really depends on how valuble your time is!Pictures when done please!