door garnish rail 56

[jfhbird]

I have recovered my door garnish rails and want to put the catwhiskers on. The original way was to have them stapled on and I have been to a couple of local car upholstery shops and they dont have the tools to do this. Can anyone suggest an answer. Are there places that i can send them to to get this done right? Any help would be appreciated.

[nomadbird]

The hard way is the right way! Buy a small coil of wire (approx .020 dia.), bend it over using needle nose pliers as a template and snip the ends to length. The actual installation is the fun part. Press a needle sharp prick from the back side of the garnish moulding through the moulding and whisker. Use light colored chalk on the whisker to show where the prick came through. Take the staple you just made and press it through the chalk marks on the whisker, through the original holes in the garnish, crimp over the wire ends on the inside surface of the garnish.

This is the basic method used on all quality cars. Using pop rivets is considered an amateur job.

Practice this method on your garnish rails and you can use it again on your skirt rubber, "A" frame dust shields, front fender splash deflectors, fan shroud seal, and air cleaner cork.

Patience and good luck, Tom

[ 02-18-2003: Message edited by: nomadbird ]

[jfhbird]

Thanks Tom you are very helpful. This is a great resource for people who love tbirds. I'll be doing these projects this weekend.