windlace install: rear upper quarter trim (Lark 4

[jackb]

I will be installing new windlace in my 63' Cruiser. I will not be removing front or rear glass. Up front I see mouldings that can be removed for the front upper windlace run.....Can you remove the inner, upper color-keyed rear quarter trim before you install windlace there ?? If not-what's worked for you ?

[StudeRich]

On most Studes. I have worked on, I have found the Windlace and headliner to be integrated together with the headliner retainer over the doors which "bites" into the headliner making it non-salvageable after removal and windlace installation. If I remember correctly, the process goes something close to this:

(1) remove front and rear glass
(2) remove headliner
(3) remove and replace Windlace
(4) install NEW headliner
(5) install glass with NEW seals

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[skyway]

I've not done this for some years, but this is what I remember from my '63 GT, and '64 Cruiser and Wagonaire. All of them needed windlace, but I was too cheap to spring for a new headliner.

Begin by removing all the adjacent trim you can find. With patience, you can get between the headliner and the inner edge of the roof with some sort of substantial prying tool, to pry open the "arrowpoint" shaped "holders" which are stamped into the sheet metal edge, and thus release the original windlace fairly intact. You can then reverse the procedure, punch down the holders, and do a fair job of anchoring the new windlace. Because of the thickness and strength of the arrowpoints, the pry tool will have to be more than the usual putty knife. I think I used a Red Devil prying/nail removal tool; broad slotted blade on one end and a curved nail puller on the other.

The real problem was that the only replacment windlace I could find had a cloth fastening strip instead of the original wire-laced type.
I did it both ways but the best fix was to cut the wire-laced edge off the worn out original and sew it onto the cloth replacment.

It is a pretty time consuming job. If you are game for a new headliner, now would be the time to do it.