1966 roof and window trim | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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1966 roof and window trim

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rags712

rags712

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1966
hi guys,i need to replace the vinyl roof on my car ,is there any literature on how to remove it,i cant find anything on you tube my cars a survivor and i dont want to damage anything,from what i can see it seems alot of the trim is bolted in,and im thinking the headliner needs to be removed which i was hoping wouldnt be necessary ,like i said everything is in really nice shape and removing the headliner will surely be damaged because of its age ,was even thinking of just painting it,but the trim still has to come off,any help would be great,also id like to replace it myself as trusting companies to do this type of work sometimes goes bad ,had a bad expierience with my 500 sec mercedes ,thanks

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Yeah, the old rock and the hard spot. The vinyl roof is glued down. They're a pain to put on when you know how. My suggestion is to find a small local upholstery guy, and have the hard conversation. If the headliner is not rotten it should be able to be removed and reinstalled.
However, imagine how nice it will look with both a new top and headliner.
 
I just went through this process with my '65 Special Landau. My strategy was to remove as much trim as possible to save time and a lot of money and then have a professional upholstery shop do the actual vinyl roof removal and replacement. Good news and bad news about removing the exterior trim. The good news, the headliner DOES NOT need to be entirely removed, only the portion covering the sail panels up to ceiling. The bad news, a lot of things need to be removed to expose the speed nuts fastening the Landau bars (in my case) and the exterior sail panel base trim. Begin by removing the entire back seat and center arm rest. Then remove the power window controls and side panels. Next remove all stainless side and rear window molding for access to the sail panel headliner staples and fasteners. Then remove the stainless trim and rear package tray. Then remove the courtesy lights. Carefully remove the sail panel headline staples, insulation pads, courtesy light brackets, cardboard inserts and insulation pads (if removed carefully, all the pieces can be reused). Use an easily removed type of tape (I like gaffer's tape for this purpose} to tape the sail panel headliner out of the way. Now you should be able to access all the nuts holding on the trim. In my case, the landau bar is held by four speed nuts (7/16" I think) which have been seated onto dum-dum covered posts on the back of the trim. The lower sail panel trim is also secured by two 7/16" speed nuts and one 3/8" speed nut, different from the others. This bolt is the furthest to the rear and not obvious how to access it. You need to remove the small black panel in the extreme corner of the package tray support structure and then you can get a socket on the nut. Finally, be very careful removing this trim, especially the landau bar which is pot metal and quite thin in places. With the dum-dum on the mounting posts and resistance from the vinyl roof and padding you'll to slowly pry the trim off (I used a plastic pry tool working as near the posts as possible and keeping and even distance from the roof). I may have missed a few steps and your '66 may be somewhat different since you likely don't have the rear quarter windows, but at least you get the idea or what's involved.
 
GalaxieDave said:
I just went through this process with my '65 Special Landau. My strategy was to remove as much trim as possible to save time and a lot of money and then have a professional upholstery shop do the actual vinyl roof removal and replacement. Good news and bad news about removing the exterior trim. The good news, the headliner DOES NOT need to be entirely removed, only the portion covering the sail panels up to ceiling. The bad news, a lot of things need to be removed to expose the speed nuts fastening the Landau bars (in my case) and the exterior sail panel base trim. Begin by removing the entire back seat and center arm rest. Then remove the power window controls and side panels. Next remove all stainless side and rear window molding for access to the sail panel headliner staples and fasteners. Then remove the stainless trim and rear package tray. Then remove the courtesy lights. Carefully remove the sail panel headline staples, insulation pads, courtesy light brackets, cardboard inserts and insulation pads (if removed carefully, all the pieces can be reused). Use an easily removed type of tape (I like gaffer's tape for this purpose} to tape the sail panel headliner out of the way. Now you should be able to access all the nuts holding on the trim. In my case, the landau bar is held by four speed nuts (7/16" I think) which have been seated onto dum-dum covered posts on the back of the trim. The lower sail panel trim is also secured by two 7/16" speed nuts and one 3/8" speed nut, different from the others. This bolt is the furthest to the rear and not obvious how to access it. You need to remove the small black panel in the extreme corner of the package tray support structure and then you can get a socket on the nut. Finally, be very careful removing this trim, especially the landau bar which is pot metal and quite thin in places. With the dum-dum on the mounting posts and resistance from the vinyl roof and padding you'll to slowly pry the trim off (I used a plastic pry tool working as near the posts as possible and keeping and even distance from the roof). I may have missed a few steps and your '66 may be somewhat different since you likely don't have the rear quarter windows, but at least you get the idea or what's involved.
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thanks any infos helpful cause theres not alot out here heres the trim im looking to remove ,ya kinda lost me with the removing the power window stuff but now i understand you have rear window ,so i outlined on my car what needs removing i think the rear stuff and the scroll thing im sure are bolted in ,how does the trim around the windows come off,im kinda baffled,ive seen videos of other cars an a guy said he pops them off with a piece of wood ,some guys say a old school can opener with a bondo preader to protect the trim,again any help is great ,as you see when i bought the car it came from wyoming while being trailored the vinyl blew off,thanks again
 

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