Expert: William Forster - 2/25/2007

Question
Hi again,

Sorry to be bothering you with so many questions.  Spring is coming and I have a lot of projects.  

Two interior questions:

1.  My cadillac head liner is hanging down.  Can this be fixed by me?  Or is there a replacement part that looks OEM? and where should I get it?

2.  My Lincoln Mark VII drivers seat backrest just broke while I was driving one day.  I fell into the back seat.  It broke about right elbow height.  I understand this needs to be welded.  What do I need to know about getting this leather upholstery off and the lumbar air bag?  I don't think I can weld with the foam, lumbar bag, still installed.  I don't see a seam for the leather back rest.  By the way, is there someone who sells this upholstery, premade, so I can replace mine with new?

Thanks for the advice.

Chris

Answer
Have the headliner professionally recovered by an interior shop. You will probably never fix it yourself to your satisfaction, and gluing the old stuff back up is impossible. I tried many times, at the behest of my idiot boss, with poor results. The seat thing, and upholstery, is beyond my expertise. I'm a fender pounder,  my friend. You might get lucky, and find an entire seat assembly, or one that can be modified to work, at a junk yard. Seats never seem to hold up once they have been broken, and it sounds like your break was catastrophic. Accompany that with a worn out seat cover, and it sounds like a junk seat. Have the shop that does the headliner make an assessment for you. Bill