A friend of mine asked me to help him redo the interior in his Arrow IV and wanted a list of supplies and tools needed to do the job. I prepared the guide below and thought I would share with the group:
Sound Insulation. I used the SoundEx soundproofing insulation (http://www.soundexproducts.com/) to replace the old fiberglass insulation in the Warrior. The dealer is always at Sun N Fun and has an effective product demo featuring a loud stereo speaker in a cooler with SoundEx attached all around the inside of the cooler. You will not hear the sound until the cooler lid is open. SoundEx sells the SoundEx precut for your aircraft or sells the templates for you to cut your own pieces. You do not need either if you use your existing insulation to serve as a template. Existing insulation on mine had a layer of plastic attached to the inside of each piece. Just mark each piece with an up arrow so that you can remember how the new piece is supposed to go. Use an electric carving knife to cut the SoundEx. You can get a decent carving knife for about $20 at K-Mart. You do not need adhesive; just press the new piece in. You can use 2 aluminum tape around the edges if you wish. You will need about three sheets SoundEx one-inch thick to do the side panels and door and more if you elect to replace the insulation under the headliner as well. Each sheet should be around $110.
Headliner. If your headliner is in good physical shape but discolored, you can use white shoe polish to cover it and remove the discoloration. I took a piece of cardboard with a paper towel attached and just pressed the shoe polish sponge on the top of the cardboard to load the shoe polish sponge and held the cardboard under the applicator to catch any drips. You have to do multiple coats. This worked great.
Carpet. I purchased my carpet from Plane Plastics (http://www.planeplastics.com/) but Airtex (http://www.airtexinteriors.com/index.php) has good quality carpet as well. To install, you need to pull up existing carpet, remove old adhesive, and Scotch Brite (green and maroon) any corrosion you find. You can then put down some soundproofing from Airtex and then cover that with the carpet. I used 3M Super 77-aerosol adhesive to put the carpet down and 2 Industrial Velcro for the front mats to make them easy to remove for cleaning.
Removal and Replacement of Original Pink Underlayment Insulation. Underneath the carpet of the front seat area is some pink Styrofoam material that had cracked over the years. I removed that entirely, removed adhesive and any corrosion, and glued down Airtex soundproofing. The Airtex soundproofing has adhesive on one side with a peel off cover.
Snaps. My Warrior had a couple of places where the carpet needed to be snapped to the floor but the carpet from Plane Plastics did not have the snaps installed. I found some in stainless steel at the local West Marine store including an installer tool. Practice a few times on some scrap material to learn how to install the snaps into the carpet.
Seats. I got my seat covers from Airtex. I used vinyl on the panel walls (Barley and Tan) and leather seats (Barley). It will take a few weeks for Airtex to fill your order.
Headrests. Most of the Cherokee seat back frames are already pre-drilled for headrests. If you want to add headrests to your interior, you can get matching headrest covers and foam from Airtex (about $60 for the headrest kit for two headrests). If your Cherokee did not have headrests, you have several options for making the headrest frame:
· -- You can pick up Piper headrests from a salvage dealer and recover,
· -- You can use a headrest frame from an automobile junk yard that has the same width and tube size,
· -- You can get two 36-inch stainless steel tube 3/8 and use a pipe bender to bend for the appropriate width to fit existing holes, or
· -- You can get four one foot stainless steel tubes 3/8 and a square foot of aluminum .064 inch for the headrest back.
I elected to use the forth option. I bought the stainless steel tubes and the aluminum sheet from Aircraft Spruce. I cut the aluminum to two 3 x 7.5 plates using an air saw. I then used a grinder to round each of the corners so that plates would not cut the seat-rest covers. For the tubes, I used the grinder while rotating the tube to make one end of each tube to have a coned shape so that it would insert into the seat frame easier. I made two holes on the other end using a drill press at .5 and 2.5 from the top. I used a cobalt drill bit to drill the holes just large enough to accommodate #6 ¾pan head machine screws. For drilling stainless steel, you want to lower your drill speed to the lowest setting and use pressure on the drill bit for best results. I used a Harbor Freight pilot hole bit first because the drill bits tended to bend a little with the risk of breaking the bit. You need to debur the holes you drilled on the SS tubes. Once you drill the tubes, you can place them in the seat frame, place the plate behind both tubes and center, and drill the plate through the tube holes. I used a washer and a lock nut on the back of each and it worked great. I then wrapped aluminum tape around the metal plate to minimize cuts to the seat cover. I found that inserting the foam in the seat rest cover first and then inserting the frame into the foam worked best. The seat covers have Velcro on the bottom to hold the cover around the frame. You will need to consult with your A&P to see if a signoff is needed for the headrests.
Slings. If your seat slings are original, chances are that they need to be replaced. My front seats were original and seat backs had serious rips in the fabric. One seat had a rip over 10 inches and the other had a rip about 6 inches. You can inspect yours by removing the plastic back to the seat. The seat bottoms had a heavier plastic web fabric which was in good shape but had about a 2 inch sag in the center of the seat. I considered reusing that fabric and tightening a bit but eventually decided to replace both seat backs and bottoms with new fabric. I bought the sling material from Airtex. The sling material was not listed on the Airtex website but available if you give them a call. For the adhesive, I elected to use Weldwood Contact Cement available at Lowes hardware (http://www.lowes.com/pd_10106-68-25312_0__). The Weldwood seemed to be the preferred adhesive of automobile upholsterers because of low cost, local availability, and ability to hold up well in high heat environments. I believe that it was around $10 a quart. Do not get the environmental friendly version of this adhesive because that has a much longer drying time. Keep the lid on the can when you are not using the adhesive. Weldwood can be used with a low cost paint gun (think Harbor Freight) and a compressor without thinning, but I elected to use four one-inch utility paint brushes (about 75 cents each at Lowes) instead. To prep the seat frames for the new slings, I removed that old seat fabric, foam, and pulled the old slings off. The seat bottoms were a little tougher to remove because they had several hog-rings and staples in addition to the glue. I just used a razor blade cutting knife to cut it off. Once the sling material is removed you need to clean off the old adhesive with 3M Adhesive Remover (sold by the quart online or at a local automobile paint store) and MEK. I then repainted the frames with Satin Gloss Black from Eastwood (www.eastwood.com). Their paint seemed to better quality with higher durability and a spray nozzle that sprayed in a finer mist than hardware store variety. Do not paint any part of the seat frame where you will be applying adhesive because the adhesive will dissolve the paint (that warning is on the glue label) and additional glue will have to be applied. You also need air temperature to 65 degrees or above for adhesive to dry properly. To get all the slings tight, I did one end and waited until it dried and then did the opposite end. After that, I did the sides. Harbor Freight 2-inch clips are helpful in keeping everything tight until the glue dries. Drying time is about 20 minutes for the adhesive. Consult with your A&P on procedures for a sign-off on the slings replacement. I found very good videos on replacing the seat slings at You Tube:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31ED61lxdEg[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDu9dTncxLk[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1XYKcp0O5E[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K8RDrIoqXE[/ame]
.
Interior Restoration: My Tips and Recommended Supplies for the Project
Sound Insulation. I used the SoundEx soundproofing insulation (http://www.soundexproducts.com/) to replace the old fiberglass insulation in the Warrior. The dealer is always at Sun N Fun and has an effective product demo featuring a loud stereo speaker in a cooler with SoundEx attached all around the inside of the cooler. You will not hear the sound until the cooler lid is open. SoundEx sells the SoundEx precut for your aircraft or sells the templates for you to cut your own pieces. You do not need either if you use your existing insulation to serve as a template. Existing insulation on mine had a layer of plastic attached to the inside of each piece. Just mark each piece with an up arrow so that you can remember how the new piece is supposed to go. Use an electric carving knife to cut the SoundEx. You can get a decent carving knife for about $20 at K-Mart. You do not need adhesive; just press the new piece in. You can use 2 aluminum tape around the edges if you wish. You will need about three sheets SoundEx one-inch thick to do the side panels and door and more if you elect to replace the insulation under the headliner as well. Each sheet should be around $110.
Headliner. If your headliner is in good physical shape but discolored, you can use white shoe polish to cover it and remove the discoloration. I took a piece of cardboard with a paper towel attached and just pressed the shoe polish sponge on the top of the cardboard to load the shoe polish sponge and held the cardboard under the applicator to catch any drips. You have to do multiple coats. This worked great.
Carpet. I purchased my carpet from Plane Plastics (http://www.planeplastics.com/) but Airtex (http://www.airtexinteriors.com/index.php) has good quality carpet as well. To install, you need to pull up existing carpet, remove old adhesive, and Scotch Brite (green and maroon) any corrosion you find. You can then put down some soundproofing from Airtex and then cover that with the carpet. I used 3M Super 77-aerosol adhesive to put the carpet down and 2 Industrial Velcro for the front mats to make them easy to remove for cleaning.
Removal and Replacement of Original Pink Underlayment Insulation. Underneath the carpet of the front seat area is some pink Styrofoam material that had cracked over the years. I removed that entirely, removed adhesive and any corrosion, and glued down Airtex soundproofing. The Airtex soundproofing has adhesive on one side with a peel off cover.
Snaps. My Warrior had a couple of places where the carpet needed to be snapped to the floor but the carpet from Plane Plastics did not have the snaps installed. I found some in stainless steel at the local West Marine store including an installer tool. Practice a few times on some scrap material to learn how to install the snaps into the carpet.
Seats. I got my seat covers from Airtex. I used vinyl on the panel walls (Barley and Tan) and leather seats (Barley). It will take a few weeks for Airtex to fill your order.
Headrests. Most of the Cherokee seat back frames are already pre-drilled for headrests. If you want to add headrests to your interior, you can get matching headrest covers and foam from Airtex (about $60 for the headrest kit for two headrests). If your Cherokee did not have headrests, you have several options for making the headrest frame:
· -- You can pick up Piper headrests from a salvage dealer and recover,
· -- You can use a headrest frame from an automobile junk yard that has the same width and tube size,
· -- You can get two 36-inch stainless steel tube 3/8 and use a pipe bender to bend for the appropriate width to fit existing holes, or
· -- You can get four one foot stainless steel tubes 3/8 and a square foot of aluminum .064 inch for the headrest back.
I elected to use the forth option. I bought the stainless steel tubes and the aluminum sheet from Aircraft Spruce. I cut the aluminum to two 3 x 7.5 plates using an air saw. I then used a grinder to round each of the corners so that plates would not cut the seat-rest covers. For the tubes, I used the grinder while rotating the tube to make one end of each tube to have a coned shape so that it would insert into the seat frame easier. I made two holes on the other end using a drill press at .5 and 2.5 from the top. I used a cobalt drill bit to drill the holes just large enough to accommodate #6 ¾pan head machine screws. For drilling stainless steel, you want to lower your drill speed to the lowest setting and use pressure on the drill bit for best results. I used a Harbor Freight pilot hole bit first because the drill bits tended to bend a little with the risk of breaking the bit. You need to debur the holes you drilled on the SS tubes. Once you drill the tubes, you can place them in the seat frame, place the plate behind both tubes and center, and drill the plate through the tube holes. I used a washer and a lock nut on the back of each and it worked great. I then wrapped aluminum tape around the metal plate to minimize cuts to the seat cover. I found that inserting the foam in the seat rest cover first and then inserting the frame into the foam worked best. The seat covers have Velcro on the bottom to hold the cover around the frame. You will need to consult with your A&P to see if a signoff is needed for the headrests.
Slings. If your seat slings are original, chances are that they need to be replaced. My front seats were original and seat backs had serious rips in the fabric. One seat had a rip over 10 inches and the other had a rip about 6 inches. You can inspect yours by removing the plastic back to the seat. The seat bottoms had a heavier plastic web fabric which was in good shape but had about a 2 inch sag in the center of the seat. I considered reusing that fabric and tightening a bit but eventually decided to replace both seat backs and bottoms with new fabric. I bought the sling material from Airtex. The sling material was not listed on the Airtex website but available if you give them a call. For the adhesive, I elected to use Weldwood Contact Cement available at Lowes hardware (http://www.lowes.com/pd_10106-68-25312_0__). The Weldwood seemed to be the preferred adhesive of automobile upholsterers because of low cost, local availability, and ability to hold up well in high heat environments. I believe that it was around $10 a quart. Do not get the environmental friendly version of this adhesive because that has a much longer drying time. Keep the lid on the can when you are not using the adhesive. Weldwood can be used with a low cost paint gun (think Harbor Freight) and a compressor without thinning, but I elected to use four one-inch utility paint brushes (about 75 cents each at Lowes) instead. To prep the seat frames for the new slings, I removed that old seat fabric, foam, and pulled the old slings off. The seat bottoms were a little tougher to remove because they had several hog-rings and staples in addition to the glue. I just used a razor blade cutting knife to cut it off. Once the sling material is removed you need to clean off the old adhesive with 3M Adhesive Remover (sold by the quart online or at a local automobile paint store) and MEK. I then repainted the frames with Satin Gloss Black from Eastwood (www.eastwood.com). Their paint seemed to better quality with higher durability and a spray nozzle that sprayed in a finer mist than hardware store variety. Do not paint any part of the seat frame where you will be applying adhesive because the adhesive will dissolve the paint (that warning is on the glue label) and additional glue will have to be applied. You also need air temperature to 65 degrees or above for adhesive to dry properly. To get all the slings tight, I did one end and waited until it dried and then did the opposite end. After that, I did the sides. Harbor Freight 2-inch clips are helpful in keeping everything tight until the glue dries. Drying time is about 20 minutes for the adhesive. Consult with your A&P on procedures for a sign-off on the slings replacement. I found very good videos on replacing the seat slings at You Tube:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31ED61lxdEg[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDu9dTncxLk[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1XYKcp0O5E[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K8RDrIoqXE[/ame]
.
