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Accessing front antenna over headliner in 1981 m20k


FloridaMan

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I just did this. 

Remove the front overhead panel (the hardest one). There is a removable cover under the antenna. It is probably sealed with tape and mystery sealant. 

I cleaned off all the mystery sealant and resealed it with tank sealant (proseal). It is much nicer now.

While you are in there, you might as well remove the antenna, clean all the mounting hardware and the skin and the steel tubes and rebond the antenna and reseal it. 

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26 minutes ago, laytonl said:

On my ‘92 J the headliner is pretty easy to remove.  The panels are flimsy but once off you can stiffen them with fiberglass cloth and pvc glue.  A couple coats of paint and they’ll look great!  Lee

Lee's got a good point. If they are getting brittle, it might be best to bite the bullet and beef them up before they get worse. The panels are made from thin ABS plastic and it gets even thinner at the radius' when vacuum formed. A little light weight fiberglass cloth and hardware store ABS cement (or Plane Plastics sells ABS chips in a can that you can dissolve in MEK to make cement) can make the panels better than new. SEM Color Coat comes in a number of whites and works great and is easy to apply. You'll want to do the whole interior to get a consistent color, but as the original ABS tends to yellow over the years, it's amazing how a fresh coat of SEM improves the look. I did this on my '78 J and am planning to do it on my '94 J soon.

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49 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I just did this. 

Remove the front overhead panel (the hardest one). There is a removable cover under the antenna. It is probably sealed with tape and mystery sealant. 

I cleaned off all the mystery sealant and resealed it with tank sealant (proseal). It is much nicer now.

While you are in there, you might as well remove the antenna, clean all the mounting hardware and the skin and the steel tubes and rebond the antenna and reseal it. 

So how do you go about removing it? Mine seems like there are hidden screws holding it to the middle overhead panel behind the speakers. 

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8 hours ago, FloridaMan said:

So how do you go about removing it? Mine seems like there are hidden screws holding it to the middle overhead panel behind the speakers. 

Mine is a 77 J it didn’t have any hidden screws. These things have been reworked so many times by now that they could be anything. Maybe some pictures would help.

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13 hours ago, FloridaMan said:

So how do you go about removing it? Mine seems like there are hidden screws holding it to the middle overhead panel behind the speakers. 

My '84 J has 2 screws from the front overhead panel connecting it to the one behind it. I needed to start by dropping the front of the first panel and supporting it as I worked on removing the additional screws moving towards the rear. I was able to get a long #1 Phillips in from the front to take out the final two screws connecting it to the rear panel.

I won't go into the pain it was putting them back in, but you get the idea.

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My '84 J has 2 screws from the front overhead panel connecting it to the one behind it. I needed to start by dropping the front of the first panel and supporting it as I worked on removing the additional screws moving towards the rear. I was able to get a long #1 Phillips in from the front to take out the final two screws connecting it to the rear panel.
I won't go into the pain it was putting them back in, but you get the idea.

You couldn’t just remove both as one piece?


Tom
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55 minutes ago, ArtVandelay said:


You couldn’t just remove both as one piece?

Tom

Possibly could have, but mine were fairly brittle and just keeping one of them suspended without (more) pieces breaking off was tricky enough.

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1 hour ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

Which color LEGO makes the best sealant?

I’ve always used the white ones. Makes it easy for the paint to cover.

1 hour ago, DonMuncy said:

Just how did you discover that?:lol:

 About 30 years ago I caught my dad stealing some of my LEGOs.  Turned out he was doing some ABS repair work and needed a clean source of ABS (LEGO).  It probably wasn’t a good idea teaching a 10yo boy that he could melt legos with acetone. :)

i keep a small jar of dissolved legos as well as some lightweight glass cloth and various little brushes and squeegees for interior panel repair. I just add acetone to the jar and re dissolve. If it is too thin I can add legos or just wait for the acetone to flash off, only takes a few min.  

I’ve done some nice repairs with this method.  When the repair is visible on the interior side panel it’s very noticeable after paint do to it being smoother than the original finish.  So I lightly sandblast the area and can closely match the texture.  Some repairs were almost impossible to see. 

Acetone is nasty stuff so be sure to use in a well ventilated area.

 Cheers,

Dan 

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