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Recovering AH shifter dome with leather cloth

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Jersey

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I am pretty handy with upholstery, but I cannot get a smooth appearance to the leather cloth I have applied to the tranny cover shifter dome on my '62 Healey.

Can anyone refer me to a link or set of pics that shows the best way to do this? Even a simple description of the appropriate steps would be helpful.

Thanks

Jersey
 
You can use a hair dryer to warm the piece then stretch it out flat. Sometimes it helps to cut the circle with the cut side facing the front of the car so it can't be seen.
 
OR, you can <span style="font-weight: bold">SPARINGLY</span> use a hair dryer or heat gun AFTER it is installed to remove small wrinkels.

If finish is not the problem, but one of shape, you might construct a wooden or plastic form of the intended profile. Then upholster THAT, finishing up with heat for a form-fit.

After removal from the form, it should fit easily and look great in the car.

Tim
 
jersey, im not sure what you mean by leather "cloth",ive done a couple of similar applications with "leather", i first cut the general shape of the object(do not cut it too short) and soaked it for two days in warm water, while still wet placed it over the object i wanted to cover and held it down as best as possible with sand bags i made from plastic bags and leftover sand i had from some stone work, guess if you have a half bag of cement or morter laying around you could use it as well, if you try this you will quikly learn how to keep the sandbags from moving around, i used a couple of coat hangers to form a circle around the bags to keep them in position, it took the leather about 4 days to dry enough that it would no longer yield drops when working with it but still damp, i then continued to work the leather with the bottom of a large table spoon, once you get to this stage youll see how it starts yielding to the required shape, just keep working it, i didnt trim the extra material until it was completely dry and glued down. best of luck, anthony. ah the strange things we do!
 
jersey, im not sure what you mean by leather "cloth
:savewave:
What CHU Mean 7777's, "im not sure what you mean by leather "cloth":
He mean "LEATHER CLOTH" in the other 49 states they call it Vinyl----Keoke-- :laugh:
 
keoke, readin "leather cloth" i thought he might be one a dem guys what got a accent like the geico lizard, ya know from far far away, but nah, he lives in new jersey. :jester:
 
Jersey said:
I am pretty handy with upholstery, but I cannot get a smooth appearance to the leather cloth I have applied to the tranny cover shifter dome on my '62 Healey.

Can anyone refer me to a link or set of pics that shows the best way to do this? Even a simple description of the appropriate steps would be helpful.

Thanks

Jersey
Click to expand...

Hello Jersey,
Have you considered using leather?
It will stretch, unlike the leather cloth.
I used leather, and helped an auto upholstery shop stretch it in place. He used contact cement as the glue. No wrinkles. Time spent, including cutting the leather to rough size, spraying the glue, stretching in place and final trim, took about an hour.

Good luck.
Roger
 
So THAT'S what a "tranny cover shifter dome" looks like.

Thanks, Roger.

When ya don't have one, sometimes it's hard to imagine what things look like.

Are the dash blinker lights still OK?

Tim
 
I guess I am approaching this wrong...I was trying to do this with not cuts to the circle...simply laying the circle over the dome and making small cuts the outside perimeter and inside of the circle so no cuts would be visible.

Your approach may be better...cut the circle in one place (top side where it wouldn't be very visible) to ease the tension and then smooth into shape.

Is that what you did?

Thanks

Jersey
 
By leather cloth I mean typical vinyl, or naugahyde in some circles.

Thanks for all of you input.

I surmise I have been taking the wrong approach. I was trying to do this with not cuts to the vinyl ...I was simply laying the circle of vinyl over the dome and making small cuts the outside perimeter and inside of the circle to relieve the tension and so no cuts would be visible. I still got small pleats that were visible.

I will try the hair dryer and make a cut on one end of circle and see if that does the trick.

Thanks again.

Jersey
 
Jerry, I think the difference is leather will stretch and leather cloth aka vinyl will not.

I remember having vinyl, and there was one seam where the two edges meet. Maybe others will chime if if theirs have an edge seam too.

The upholstery guy said, let's find some leather the same color and try that. The leather worked great.

One piece, no seam, no wrinkles.

If your car is drivable, maybe drive to the local auto upholstery shop and see if he has any recommendations or tricks of the trade to help you get your vinyl attached.

Good luck.
 
Cottontop said:
So THAT'S what a "tranny cover shifter dome" looks like.

Thanks, Roger.

When ya don't have one, sometimes it's hard to imagine what things look like.

Are the dash blinker lights still OK?

Tim
Click to expand...

Hi Tim, blinkers are working great. Thank you!
Roger
 
FWIW, there was originally a seam in this "leathercloth" (non stretching vinyl) at the front middle or call it the 12 o'clock position. Roger's application is beautiful, but on a BJ8 it only needs to go down just past the rim of the console. On Jersey's '62 the dome portion is exposed much further down and can end only once it's well into the carpet. Lotsa fun!
 
It would seem or seam then, pun intended, if going for original, you'd want the seam. If you don't want the seam, then leather will work.

I found some older photos showing more of the area covered. We did not spend a lot of time removing the wrinkles that would be hidden under the consul. It's hard to tell from these photos, but the sides do not have any wrinkles. Only at the curve of the base. But, if we worked that area, the wrinkles could have been removed.

Best of luck with this project.
Roger
 
I did mine with vinyl and no cuts that can be seen once the console is installed over it. There are plenty of cuts beyond the point that you can see, and I trimmed the ends up quite a bit to reduce the amount of material as the farther you get from the domw, the more it has to stretch. Use the console as a guide to keep track of how much of the dome actually shows. That is the critical area to keep in tact and smooth. After that, I made relief cuts galore.
 
After replacing the three-speed transmission on my BN1 with a Smitty's five-speed I of course had to also replace the tunnel which I did using a Moss side-shift 6-cylinder tunnel as a starting point and shortened it so that it accommodated the new vertical panel and the built-in rear tunnel section that 100's had.

I found there was plenty of room to put a layer of dynamat on the INSIDE of the tunnel as well as on the outside--the only issue for you guys with OD's would be to avoid the solenoid contacts.
 
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