Buying headliner material... amount and colour?

[Jonathan]

I'm going to redo the headliner in my car. It is a black interior, September '81 car.

I was planning on getting the headliner material at an eBay seller like this one: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/264724999215...1&isGTR=1#shId

They sell it by the yard and it comes in a 60" wide roll. My question for those that have redone their own headliners is how many yards (or feet) should I be getting? I'm only doing one car.

And I am looking to get the medium dark gray colour. Seems about right?

[camaro430sut]

I think it took 3 yards to do my headliners and doors. But it's been a while

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[Rich]

3 yds is a good start.

Clint recommends 2.5 yds in this well-liked How-To for that job. More is better, especially if you want to practice or you somehow goof up on one of the panels.

Your interior color calls for the "dark grey" option per DMC's headliner article, with the other "factory" choice from DMC being light grey.

Which of the 3 grey colors the eBay seller offers is the best match to DMC's "dark grey" setting aside the fact that the eBay listing offers a color with the same name? Can't say. Maybe none of them are an exact duplicate. The seller has a color match disclaimer as you might have seen.

For most owners the color match to the original spec is less important than getting rid of stained or sagging fabric up there.

[David T]

What has also been done is to carefully remove the old fabric, remove all of the old foam, and have the fabric dry-cleaned. Spray-glue some new foam and reattach to the backer. It is a lot more work. The vendors long ago figured out it isn't worth all of that work and supply new backers when you order the headliner. It is a LOT of work to clean up all of the old foam and dust but for those who are fussy about originality, it is an option. Good time to replace the door seals too. Refer to the Service Bulletin regarding trimming the fabric under the door seals.

[Jonathan]

Ok, wow. I didn't know that how-to was there. Great, thanks, very helpful.

I got my car in 2007 and it came to me with headliners that were pretty much fine throughout and not sagging or torn. Thing is though, is that whoever installed them decided to cut that excess of material that should have gone under the door seals. So mine have always just been hanging there on that edge all around the door openings. That's my incentive to replace them, to do them right. Although looking at the pictures closer, it might be that this excess material wasn't cut off but instead glued back around onto the boards. I might be able to free it up and get it onto the door frame ridge like it's supposed to be. Need the garage to warm up a fair bit more though before I do that. Learned my lesson years ago not to try and do work on the car that involves bending or removing things when super cold as they tend to snap and not bend and that gets expensive!

[ssdelorean]

3 yds is a good start.

>>snip<<

More is better, especially if you want to practice or you somehow goof up on one of the panels.

>>snip<<

Very wise words!

[Kukem]

Jonathan, I did my headliners last spring and followed the guide. Was very helpful... except, I goofed and ended up gluing my overhanging material to the back due to the project being done over a couple weekends. I felt like a dope as soon as I realized it, but I used a professional grade spay adhesive and those puppies aren't coming off in one piece for a while. Oh well. They look better than the sagging mess that was there and smell way better too. Can't wait to see what yours turn out like.