Headliner

Larry,

You may want to visit this site. All you will ever need to know about replacing headliners.

www.panteraplace.com

John

When I did mine, I used medium density 1/4 inch foam from an upholstery shop along with a professional spray glue (not 3M).

I used a thin plastic scraper to remove all of the old foam from the old liner and I re-glued the new foam to it. When that had set, I re-glued the entire “new” headliner to the roof. One thing I did that worked out well was to pre-cut the foam to fit ONLY the visible areas. The parts that went under the metal trim were left as just vinyl only. It made placing the panel much easier.

Another tip to placing the “new” headliner is to cut a heavy cardboard panel the same size to support it while you are positioning it. Since you’re working with contact adhesives, you don’t want to get it wrong. It is a two-person job.

One last tip, is to make sure that you don’t compress the foam and vinyl too heavily or it will stay compressed and you’ll end up with a very lumpy look. All-told it was a three hour job including removing all the old foam dust and glue residue from the roof (again with a plastic scraper so as not to do damage).

Good luck!

Try going to an upholstry shop. They use various thickness and stiffness of foam to do custom interiors. This is what I used. Stuff is cheap. Stuff I got was more of a closed cell polyethelene and will never go bad. Good for sound insulating too.

Upholstery shop along with a professional spray glue (not 3M).
DITTO...
My shop gave me a sample of the glue they spray (in a pickle jar I brought)...and I brushed it on.

A quart can of 3M #10 is only about $14 from McMaster Carr. This is serious glue. Let adhesive dry 5 to 10 minutes after applying to both surfaces then stick together. Warning on can "Position surfaces carefully, no adjustment is possible after contact. Spacers such as dowels of laminate can be used to prevent premature adhesive/adhesive contact during assembly."
This is serious glue. I put a headliner in a Chevelle once with it. Put glue on metal and vinyl. Let it sit for the 10 minutes. Pulled as hard as I could to streatch the fabric and stuck it. It didnt come back off. Good glue.

Thanks for reminding me Dave, one more tip:

Use two pieces of release paper (or other slippery sheet material) between the foam and headliner when aligning the two (if you cut separate shapes like I did) and once in position, slide out one sheet at a time to keep the alignment perfect.

Also, here's a pic of my patented "headliner bench" to make it easier to scrape the roof.

After removing the big bits of old foam comes the solvent phase. I used lacquer thinner and it worked reasonably well.

All done and it looks like it did from the factory. Well, OK, it's probably a bit more yellow that it was when new, but at least all the vinyl matches exactly.

Gee Mark. That looks pretty sweet. I never looked up inside your car. I will next time!

I must say, it's a huge improvement over driving around with vinyl rubbing your head!

Mark,

The headliner looks great! This is next on my to-do list. I've got the glue; just need to get some foam backing for the headliner.

quote:

Use two pieces of release paper (or other slippery sheet material) between the foam and headliner when aligning the two (if you cut separate shapes like I did) and once in position, slide out one sheet at a time to keep the alignment perfect.

What do you mean by using release paper? I don't understand.

BTW - I like your custom headliner bench.

Guys,

I did my headliner about 5 years ago. May be able to save you a few steps,time and money.

After removing the headliner, I scrubbed it down with "Simple Green" and some house hold scrubbing cleaner with bleach. It brought the original white color back. I hose it down with a garden hose and let it dry in the sun.

I used my shop vac to get the worst of the old foam off the roof.I purchased foam board from a craft shop. It is foam sandwiched by two
pieces of cardboard. People use them for presentations that need to last long term. It comes in various thicknesses. I used the headliner as a template and cut the board slightly larger than the headliner.

I used 3M vinyl top adhesive and glued the headliner to the board. The side panels of your roof trim will hold the panel in place.

The beauty of this is the simplicity. You do not have to worry about removing every single crumb of the old foam. It is way easier to glue the headliner to the board outside the car. And last, should you want to remove the panel for some reason it comes out easily.

The foam board probably does as good as job as the separate foam for insulating heat/sound(probably minimal ). You will probably never have to worry about your headliner separating from deteriorated foam again. Worked for me.

Good Luck.
Jeff

Foamcore is a new approach I had not heard before. The high humidity in my area might cause the paper layer to let go over time. I used sheet foam because I know it will work for at least 25 years and after that I don't care any more.

Release paper is a slippery paper used on the back of foam-tape and vinyl films. Butcher paper is the closest normal thing. One side is coated and the other is usually not. If the contact glue is fairly dry, regular Kraft paper should work fine too.