Headliner Come Outeth !

Greetings All,

Well after driving for about 11 months with 7 aluminum bows holding the headliner up, I decided it was time to replace it. This was the first car that I've owned that need the headling replaced.

6 feet of Grey headliner fabric at Jo Anne Fabric's cost $17.84. And one can of 3M Trim Adhesive cost $9.99

Amazingly none of the plastic trim moldings snapped in half, but three tabs on one molding broke off that press into the metal body clips. Got to J - B Weld them back on.

First, I removed the roof quarter trim moldings, then came the roof quarter trim panels/ rear seat reading/courtesy lights, 2 coat hooks, center pillar trim moundings & trim panels, roof rail moldings, visors, windshield pillar moldings, front seat overhead reading light assembly and the overhead storage bin.

The roof rail moldings are 1 Piece and start at the back of the back door come all the way forward down the windshield pillar and go down to the bottom of the dash board. Was very worried about breaking this particular molding.

8 Velcro strips held the headliner to the roof. Separated the two halves, dropped the headliner forward and removed it out the front passenger door. I didn't remove the front seats, just reclined them back and covered them with a sheet.

Also when removing the headliner I didn't get a faceful of dust from the dried up foam backing. Luckily the material was still attached to the four sides where it folds over the edges. So there was no big mess.

I also have a bit of a project filling in a 4 " X 5 ", hole in the backer board from the overhead storage bin I installed about five years ago, from a 2 door Olds Calais. It never did work out as expected, not enough angle to it. On take off's stuff would fall out of it, but mainly I installed it for the 1.5" X 4" light that was built into the front portion. It was wired up to light up when the driverside map light button was pressed, or when all the courtesy lights came on.

I'm hoping to use some Red Oak ( wood ) Trim to cover the hole and incorporate just the light from the overhead storage bin. Got some sawing to do on that. I'm also going to run two, 5' lengths of Red Oak Trim Moldings from the visors back to the rear quarter windows on the back doors, just above the roof rail moldings. There about 3 inches wide and have some nice wavy contour to them.

The Red Oak will be stained an Early American finish to match the center console bolted to the floor.

With all that real wood inside it will give the appearance of a Jag or Rolls.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE ~_~_~260,600 miles_~_~~_
Reply to
Harry Face
Loading thread data ...

I hope its not 3M Trim Adhesive part no. 051135-08074. It says right on the back "NOT FOR HEADLINER USE". The fabric will fall down the first time you leave the car out in the sun ...

Reply to
Dennis Smith

I've found a great headliner glue ! 3M Fastbond 30 NF Netural Contact Adhesive. I did my El Camino a few years ago, headliner fell in after few days. Ignored it for couple years, than decided to fix it. When I dissassembled it, I found the foam had absorbed * all * the glue, and the only parts that stuck were the edges that got compressed. A Graphic Artist recommended the Fast Bond, it is anything but fast ! Fast Bond is waterbased, and doesn't absorb into the foam the way spray glues do. The play is to glue the foam rubber padding to the headliner shell, and use the spray glue to fasten the fabric to the foam. Artist Foam core board could be used to fix the void from the failed console, styrofoam meat tray might work too. Duck tape it to top of headliner shell. Use Foam rubber padding. If you skip the padding, the results will look cheesy.

Reply to
451ctds

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.