Headliner replacement>>>

[BladeRunner]

Headliner came down yesterday and slapped me in the back of the head. Concerning replacement, is this a DIY project, or best left to professionals?? If I can do it myself, where can I find replacement material?? Car is an 85 GT w/sunroof.

[joelliott]

I think you could DIY. I did it in my truck a year or so ago. In my 85gt I had the vinyl headliner. When My dad was driving the car everyday, he had a guy replace it. He did a good job but he used another regular foam cloth headliner like in most cars. it was thinker than the vinyl obviously and caused closing issues with the sunroof. I got it working for him but now that I drive the car everyday, Im dieing to replace the liner with an OE replacement.

Basically you gotta pull all the upper trims off the interior. Remove all the hooks and visor mounts and sunroof accessories and interior light. Then the HL and the backerboard should be free to pull out through the hatch area. Pull the old material off, take a stiff brissel brush and remove all the glue and foam from the backerboard. Get some headliner spray adhesive and lay the new material down in small segments. Once its on the board, and glued good then you can cut the visor holes, etc out. Now the sunroof area could be tricky to get right. I think youll have to pull the glass out and weatherstriping off the roof and glue the vinyl fabric around the lip the weatherstriping attaches to.

If you have patience and alittle handyman in you you can do it. Good Luck.
Joe E.

[BladeRunner]

I figured I could do it myself, but I was worried about the sunroof area. I might see what the local upholstery shop will charge me if I just bring them the backerboard.

[cb84capri]

i did mine. turned out good. i have a sunroof but i didn't bring the liner around the metal. after seeing what happened to my moms camaro's new one from the sun i dont want the sun on mine at the edges. plus its easier and looks good in my opinion and is serviceable if something happens. i just wrapped it around the cardboard and was done with it. as for those interior pieces that hold it in, the metal trim, maybe u know, but they're just clipped it. take one down from above the door first before your try the one at the windshield, place each hand a couple inches from the side and pull down on part from the top on the liner side, not the door side. just yank it down and pull towards the doorside. where the clip is which is near the edge a couple inches in. it makes a terrible creak noise but it's ok. do the next then do the windshield because its easeir to mess up. just pull where it's supported the same way as i mentioned before and it's good. there's 4 i think on the windshield trim so be careful if your diy'in it. to put it in line up the clip and hit it upward with your palm. that's all. might have been totally pointless but that's how it's done.

also with mine, i cut some aluminum foil to fit behind the interior light to deflect some of the heat from burning up my headliner and board underneath. just a tip, i saw my board was burnt up a little bit from the heat.

cale

[79mustangcobra]

Headliner came down yesterday and slapped me in the back of the head. Concerning replacement, is this a DIY project, or best left to professionals?? If I can do it myself, where can I find replacement material?? Car is an 85 GT w/sunroof.

You can do it. I did mine on my cobra. I have a picture of the new headliner in my album. I have never done one before but I did it. Now it does not have a sunroof - but take your time and dry fit it. One more thing - do half at a time. Spray one side with spray hedliner glue. Work on the wrinkles. It is best to do in the sunlight. When I bought mine it was rolled up. Unroll it and let it sit in the sun for about and hour.

Good luck!

[Hissing Cobra]

I did mine too. It cost me about $20.00 between the vinyl piece and the contact cement (I tried the spray adhesive but for some reason it didn't want to hold the vinyl in place.) I have the sunroof and while this makes it more difficult, I was able to do it.

I cleaned off the backing board by rubbing it with lacquer thinner and clean rags. This removed all of the old glue and the foam and produced a very clean backing board (it did not damage the board at all.) I then rolled the contact cement onto both the board and the back of the vinyl. After letting it "set" for a few minutes I began to lay the vinyl onto the board, rolling it with a rubber roller as I went (I had to have my wife help me here.) Once done, I trimmed all of the outer edges with a razor blade and discarded the excess vinyl. From here, I reinstalled the headliner and the trim surrounding it to hold it in place.

Next up was the sunroof opening. I cut a big "X" in the center of the hole and then applied "Goop" adhesive to the metal opening in the sunroof. I then began to stretch the vinyl up through the opening and used clothes pins to clamp the vinyl to the opening (you'll need close to 40 or 50 of these) while trimming it so that it wasn't too much (you'll get the idea as you go.) I left it like this for close to a week as I wanted the glue to "cure" before removing the pins. After that, the rubber weatherstripping was reinstalled to finish it off. It's been close to 3 years now and it hasn't come loose since.

Good luck!

[mutantcapri1979]

i need to replace the liner in my 79 capri and the backing board is destroyed cause of water damage. can i buy a new one or make it myself? or go to a boneyard and cut up a solid roof to fit...i guess what i am askin is what is the cheapest in your opinion

[Hissing Cobra]

Mine was wrecked too. I went to the junkyard, removed one from a sunroof car that wasn't wrecked and bought it for $5.00. I ripped tha factory covering off and left it there. The guy at the counter asked me what it was and when I told him, he said: "Why would you want to buy something like that?" :lol:

[negusm]

i need to replace the liner in my 79 capri and the backing board is destroyed cause of water damage. can i buy a new one or make it myself? or go to a boneyard and cut up a solid roof to fit...i guess what i am askin is what is the cheapest in your opinion

Junk yard or 50resto sells an abs one and for $100+ you can get it with the material already installed.

I'm going to go that route. Then I'll never have to worry about it ever again.

-Mike

[Chuck W]

I just found a place about 5 mins from me that sells ABS sheet for just under $20.

My headliner backing board is warped in the Z7, so I'm going to pull it, use it as a template for the ABS and apply the new fabric to it.

It "should" have vinyl, but I'm going to use the padded cloth stuff.

[capri650]

Here is a link to previous Headliner Good install instructions

Good Luck
http://www.foureyedpride.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16451&highlight=headliner+replacement