Another dumb question on 48

[Labrauer]

Does anyone know how hard it is to take out the head liner in a 48 Plymouth coupe P15 and put it back or how it is done. I am replacing the wires in the car and there are some that go over the doors that I need to replace but can't seem to just pull them out. I guess they have some kind of clips that are holding them down I don't know. Any pics or infromation will be taken,

Thanks,

Larry:confused:

[Young Ed]

Yes they are clipped in. If your headliner is good I would recommend running the new wires under the floor covering and leaving the roof ones installed and disconnected.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Unless you want totally originality..Ed is correct..leave well enough alone..but if you feel you must go this route...bare in mind that the material may be less than full strength if original material..handle with kid gloves..I had to do this to a rather new car many years ago to repair a short..was not fun..got the headliner backin place and looking good..do be careful installing is 10 times easier than trying to unclip the fabric from the teeth of the anchor strip..

[randroid]

Larry,

I'd go along with what Ed suggested unless you have a bit of time and a lot of patience. A way that works but can be a little risky is to gather all the wires together in the trunk and tape their ends together securely then attach another wire to the end of them and pull everything out from the dash end. Half the risky part will be keeping the extra wire attached to the ends of the other wires although all is not lost if it comes loose, just a bit more difficult. Once the old wires are through to the dash replace them with new wires and reattach them to the extra wire an pull them back through to the trunk, and that's where the other half of the risky part comes into play because it's a real possibility that some of the insulation on the new wires will be scraped off in transit and you'll be back to square one. A way to avoid this is to secure them all in a wire loom but remember this will make the whole package more stiff and difficult to pull. You might also choose to do the wires one at a time them test each one as it gets to the end.

This is a two person job regardless of how you do it because the wires need to be fed from the dash as they're pulled from the trunk. I personally removed my headliner, replaced the wires, then reinstalled the headliner but I did it almost twenty years ago and don't remember how I did it. I would prefer the wires go in the factory way rather than under the carpet or under the floor but take a good look at the job and decide for yourself. Also keep us posted on what you do and offer any suggestions if you find hurdles or shortcuts.

-Randy

[Plymouthy Adams]

the way the wires are clipped into the run space provided..your chances of pulling these out at all is rather slim with the headliner in place...

[randroid]

Tim,

Okey-dokey, that changes things a bit, eh? Mine didn't have clips; probably removed by the genius who installed the 16-18 ga. wire I replaced.

-Randy

[Labrauer]

Well thanks for the comments on the headliner. The reason I was asking is because there are I think six wires that go back but they don't come out anywhere in the trunk. The wires that do go back to the truck and tail lites do run under the floor carpet but are not correct size so I am not sure where these go or what shape they are in. I have found several wires that where hot with the key on that didn't go anywhere just hanging waiting for a short or fire. I know where two of the wires go and I have checked them which were the dome lite wires. I just hope the others are not like the ones I disgarded bare. So it is not that I want to replace them but I would like to see at least see what they look like then also I could run the right wires back to the tail lites the correct wires at least. This is on the drivers side of the car and on the passengers side there are two wires that go back too but don't come out anywhere in the trunk either and they too are hot but I don't know from where they are getting power from as they are hanging behind the kick panel and not connected to the dash.

Thanks for any help I can get,

Larry:confused:

Edited August 12, 2011 by Labrauer

[Young Ed]

The wires that run in the headliner of my p15 were along the drivers side to the back for the tail lights and brake lights etc. There is one wire that goes over to the dome light and wires down to the dome light switch. Then I have 2 wires that run across the windshield header and go to the pass side door switch that turns on the dome light.