Redoing the headliner, visors, and HUD.

[Mopar318]

Well, since I do aircraft interiors for a living, and automotive upholstery on the side Ill post up some pictures and how to's on doing a headliner the "professional" way.

Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Pulled the headliner out, the only trim pieces that need to come off are the A-piller trim, and they really only need to be moved out of the way. After the sunv visors, HUD, and the 2 metal brackets in the headliner are removed the headliner will slid foward of the back to trim pieces, and you can pull it out of the either door.



Next I set everything on my table to be stripped. first removed all the trim so that the new material could be glued in place, and the trim installed back on.


The guy that tried doing this before loved duct tape and what looks to be like Seel tape. I will be removing this and gluing in and mesh if the headliner is crubled at all.



Thats all I have right now, the 220 to my garage has turned into 110, and I found it to be a break in the wire somewhere underground. GREAT! so I have no heat in the garage, I need heet to spray the glue (above 60 degree F)

The glue I spray is Weldwood Landau top adhesive.

[minigts]

Man when you take the headliner off PLEASE document how you do this! I had the worst time trying to remove good headliner that wasn't dry rotted.

[Mopar318]

Man when you take the headliner off PLEASE document how you do this! I had the worst time trying to remove good headliner that wasn't dry rotted.

you mean removing the material from the board? Usually the foam is eroded enough that it just peels off and you can brush off the foam. If not you take acetone and put it in a spray bottle and soak the material. Then it will peel off.

[OmniLuvr]

so i have an omni with he fiber board sagging, not the material, how do i remidy this? i was thinkin about flipping it upside down and letting it pop back into shape (if i push on it while installed it will pop into shape also), then brushing some fiberglass resin over it to give it rigidity again?

[Mopar318]

so i have an omni with he fiber board sagging, not the material, how do i remidy this? i was thinkin about flipping it upside down and letting it pop back into shape (if i push on it while installed it will pop into shape also), then brushing some fiberglass resin over it to give it rigidity again?

I have repaired a really bad Trans Am T-tops board by fiberglassing it back together. I would not recomend this though as it makes it really heavy and it will probally end up breaking at some point. If its rottted to the point that it sags then its probally time to search for a new board.

Are you sure your not missing some key trip pieces? There is usuallys something that holds it up in the middle such as a dome light or HUD.

[OmniLuvr]

well its not really rotted, the omni headliners are huge, and there is only one push pin in the center to keep it from sagging, which has now popped off from sitting. but before it popped off it was sagging on either end.

like i said, if i push on it with light pressure, it will pop back into place, and stay there for a second. just about all the omnis in the yard or anywhere else has this problem. there should be 4 push pins to hold it in place, but there is only one support bar in the center, or it needs some formed features to give it rigidity, but its a flat piece of board. so i was thinking of using just the resin, but thanks for your advise.

hows your project going?

[JohnnyIroc]

good timing for this!

[Mopar318]

I borrowed some kersone heaters from my father so i could get the shop back and running in the warmth.

Got the headliner done today after I got back from my vacation.

Cleaned off the old foam by wire brushing it off, then I glued in some material to reinforce where it was cracked. It was pretty bad in some spots.

I always glue one half at a time as you can see. Spray the glue on both sides and let it tack for 5 mintues before spreading out the material. If the glue your using is not yellow like this stuff, and you dont spray it out of a gun, then its not the right stuff!


After I had everything smoothed out I flipped it over and trimmed about 2" outside in order to fold the material over.



Then I spray glue once again on the outside of the back side of the headliner and folded the material over. Then I cut out for the brackets, HUD, and cut slits for the sun visors.



Went back in the car after that, had it back in the car within just a couple minutes since I only removed the 2 necesarry trim pieces.

[Mopar318]

well its not really rotted, the omni headliners are huge, and there is only one push pin in the center to keep it from sagging, which has now popped off from sitting. but before it popped off it was sagging on either end.

like i said, if i push on it with light pressure, it will pop back into place, and stay there for a second. just about all the omnis in the yard or anywhere else has this problem. there should be 4 push pins to hold it in place, but there is only one support bar in the center, or it needs some formed features to give it rigidity, but its a flat piece of board. so i was thinking of using just the resin, but thanks for your advise.

hows your project going?

I have done something to fix this for somebody . Used 4 super strong magnets, and glued them to the side of the headliner that the material glues too. These are flat sliver magnets you can find about 1/16" thick. After I glued on the headliner material it hid the magnets. the magnet kept the headliner from moving. The reason I did this was because the person shaved off the dome light for a clean look, and it was having sagging problems.

Here are the magnets.

http://kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BX0X01

[JohnnyIroc]

what kind of cloth did you use in there?

[Mopar318]

what kind of cloth did you use in there?

It is charcoal suede headliner material from one of my supliers. Runs $14/yard.

Headliner material is different the regular cloth. Its thin, stretchy material with foam laminated to it.

[JohnnyIroc]

It is charcoal suede headliner material from one of my supliers. Runs $14/yard.

Headliner material is different the regular cloth. Its thin, stretchy material with foam laminated to it.

i thought it looked like suede
any suggestion where to get a cheap headliner cloth?

[135sohc]

Most fabric stores carry the basic colors in stock. Outfits on ebay also sell some of the more uncommon ones.

[JohnnyIroc]

Most fabric stores carry the basic colors in stock. Outfits on ebay also sell some of the more uncommon ones.

another thing i have to get done this winter
ill check out some fabric stores or walmart

[ShelGame]

Sooo, the 3M spray adhesives (in the can) are no good? How long do you think they'll last? That's what I used to do the headliner in my minivan.

[Mopar318]

Sooo, the 3M spray adhesives (in the can) are no good? How long do you think they'll last? That's what I used to do the headliner in my minivan.

Its really hard to say, I can tell you its not going to be a lifetime though. Once this adhesive is stuck, its really stuck, and you will rip it before getting it off. I use the 3m stuff in a can when I pattern parts because it just peels right off when Im done outlining for the pattern.

The suns heat really hits the headliner hard, thats why I use landau top adhesive, it doesnt gum up when it gets hot. The adhesive really is pretty cheap. Runs about 25/gallon or 80 for a 5 gallon drum. You can spray it out of any regular siphon feed gun with a 1.4 tip. Some guys at work use a crappy 5 dollar harbor freight gun and they work fine.

[Mopar318]

I finished the Sun visors this morning. This involves cutting away the old material first, then undoing the clips to unfold the visor. Then I glued on the material, folded the material around, and then folded the visor back together. It was a real PITA. About half of the clips will break, but dont worry, it will still snap back together just fine.

After its back together I trimed about 1/2" away from the edge for the mirrors, slit the corners, and popped the mirrors back in.

Sorry about having no "in process" pictures. I was to much into it to take any pictures.

[JohnnyIroc]

lookin good

[tsiconquest88]

there is a headliner adhesive at autozone that is not 3m and such, in fact its 12 bucks a can but works GREAT!!!! its in the section where the rtv, sealants, etc is on the shelf at the bottom where the gorilla glue, shellack ----, copper gasket spray, and all is, in a tall can. Grab that Rob. Biggest thing is cleaning the old crap off, remnants of glued, loose foam and cloth material, etc.

[tsiconquest88]

MOPAR318 did you or a brother have a starion/conquest? A long time back i talked to a guy who put a 318 into a quest or wanted to, i forget exactly but they were from your state. He or you had a similar username as here too at the time on starquestclub and i think i met (if it was you) at a yahoo starquest group.