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Headliner Project

I took my headliner out of my suv this week-end and got the liner and foam padding all grinded out of the shell. I thought the shell would be harder, but it is consists of layers of some paper/fibrous product. It is the color of asbesstos and kind of fibrous but I don't think it is asbestos.

I am ready to put the new headliner in but I have a couple questions for those that have done it before.

1) on the headliner side there were some soft spots that got eaten up by my wire wheel and I was wondering what I should use to fill them up with.

2) on the ceiling side of the headliner i think I want to try to put some fiberglass layer on it, or around the sides where a couple of 3 inch tears are and some other irregularities are.

Anyone have any ideas about what I can use to repair?

mike

Reply to
mike
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Mike,

I did it on my Jag. Write-up is at

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If your car is like the Jag in this respect, you have to be careful not to over-thicken the edges when it fits into the windshield seals.

Ed

Reply to
Ed

Ed,

That is an awesome article on your headliner project. Thanks a bunch.

Couple questions though:

1) So you think the backer board is fiberglass material with no resin added?

2) If I only apply the fiberglass to areas with no holes or supporting areas then you think it is ok to do?

3) the B-Quiet Extreme that you put on the roof. Did you recognize a significant improvement?

Thanks for all your help.

Mike

Reply to
mike

If this is a hard foam headliner like VW uses, do NOT!!!! use fiberglass to patch/fill/reinforce it. I make this mistake ONCE... had to go to the boneyard and get another headliner and start over. It just melted the foam away before it set up.

Now if you used an epoxy-type resin, you might be all right - what I ended up using to reinforce mine was just regular 5-minute epoxy and brown grocery bag paper (seriously!) with some paint stirrer stickso n the backside for reinforcement of broken areas where thickness wasn't critical.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

On the '76 Jag XJ-S it seems to be. It's not hard. I've heard from other Jag owners that the later models have even flimsier stuff.

That would be OK, but it will have to be smooth. Any bumps will show through, I imagine.

Really hard to tell, to be honest. But I see this being done in the restoration shops.

Good luck, Mike.

Ed

Reply to
Ed

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