Is there a how to remove headliner?

[fnzen]

I cant seem to find the old link to remove/replace headliner? This is my weekend project. I am also incorporating the "rased" DMC letters in the door headliner. Any tips are appreciated.

[Cory W]

Sorry, I'm short on pics.

For actual removal and installation of the headliner pieces:

The door headliner pieces are held in place by up to 7 plastic fir tree fasteners, located near the edges. Gently pull to remove.

The main roof pieces are held in by a combination of the sun visors, inner weatherstripping, glue and brackets.
-Remove the inner weatherstripping everywhere the headliner fabric wraps around
-Remove the sunvisors
-Remove the courtesy lamp
-Support the larger headliner piece roughly in its middle, just behind the courtesy lamp space and the rear. Gently push upwards and forward. It should slide right out.
-The rear piece has a similar clamp. You may or may not need to remove the trim screws/seatbelt anchor bolt to avoid damaging the rear side trim pieces.

You may want to replace the fir tree fasteners on the door pods. I put new ones in place before recovering. Some people also like to put a support brace of aluminium along the rearmost edge of the back headliner piece. Just pop rivet it in place before recovering.

Installation is in reverse order.

To remove the headliner fabric, I gently pulled on it until it came off. I kept the pieces to use as general patterns for the new fabric.

I also lightly sanded/cut away excess fiberboard/textile strands, and gave each piece 2 coats of fiberglass resin. (If you do this, don't do the entire can at once. You have maybe 10 minutes until it starts to harden) Sand lightly to remove any bumps, as they can show through when you're done.

I used a 3M spray adhesive meant for auto headliners. Follow the instructions on the can.

On the door pods, I started from the middle, working out. A small roller is real handy at making sure the curves and corners are properly applied.

On the main (centre) pieces, I again started from the middle, working towards each end. I wrapped around the front and rear of each (except the front edge of the rearmost panel, which is overlapped by the front) by 1/2 an inch. I know Bill R. pop riveted his pieces together before recovering, making a one piece headliner. From what I recall of his pictures, it looked good, but is slightly more difficult to handle for reinstallation.

Make sure you don't cut away the excess fabric on the sides until you've positioned the main headliner pieces in place and glued them back. Be particularly careful around the curves at the front and back of the door openings. They need more than you may think initially. When you do finally cut, try to cut just above where the weatherstrip stops on its inner side to avoid water absoroption.

[uhhair]

We recovered our headliners this past winter since we wanted black ones to match the rest of the interior of the car, and it was really quite easy to be honest. It'll be helpful to have a second person to make sure you lay the new carpet on the headliners properly, as it can be tough to really make it straight and tight without any wrinkles in the fabric.

Definitely use only 1 spray to lay the headliner: 3M Super 77 adhesive spray. Do not use anything else. We tried 2 other adhesives specifically made for carpet and headliner that cost twice as much, and neither did the trick half as well as the 77 did. Definitely seek it out at all costs.

Also, how are you doing the raised letters? I never thought about that but it sounds really neat. Definitely let us know how that turns out!

[uhhair]

I should also point out that we bought new headliner boards from Grady. If your boards are original, chances are recovering them will not be worth it/possible. The material the original boards are made out of rotted and was unusable in our car. You may be lucky, but the new fiberglass boards are way better and would definitely be easier to recover.

[outatym2001]

Yes, I too have the new fiberglass headliners and they are shipped to you already covered in the headliner fabric.

From Rob Grady you can choose from two colors I believe and they can be found on this web site.
http://www.pjgrady.com/
They are already to install but during the install you will have to glue the headliner fabric to the black fiberglass body of the car just where the inner door seals attach to the body.

Some pictures I took of the new fiberglass headliners from Grady and pics of the Retaining Bracket that the headliner board attaches to.

If you do it yourself the fabric can be found at most large fabric stores and it’s on a large roll that is one yard wide and you need a continuous two yard long sheet for the whole project.

[fnzen]

Thanks guys that should get me started.

I am using original backing boards try to save some money.

The raised letters idea came from the UK Talk

http://www.deloreaneurotec.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2210

I cut mine out of foam board hoping it will come out the same as using wood.

[uhhair]

If you are going to try and use the original boards, be very careful when removing them from the car. I had at least 2 of the clips that hold the boards in rip through the board when trying to remove them (that's how rotten my boards were). If that happens, it will be much harder to reuse the board(s).

[fnzen]

Here is my start bought material its a little darker (slate grey) but since Im replacing every thing it shouldnt matter.

I did end up buying resin to coat the boards as they felt soft and the fuzzie strings didnt look like it would stick well. So here is one side with the letters and resin.

[fnzen]

OK driver side done
701702

lessons learned dont put on resin too thick, dont resin fir trees in place ,dont be anal about sanding resin completely smooth, dont spray entire area with glue, hence try not to get glue on fingers while working material, The pictures look good due to flash shadowing in person it looks faint.

Oh well looks heluv alot better than torn ripped headliner I had.