my headliner experience

Hi, I replaced the headliner in my 1992 900 S 4-door sedan last week, a project which turned out very well. I did some things a little differently from the methods I had read, and I just wanted to share some notes.

First, I removed the headliner through the front passenger door. I've heard that it's possible to take it out through the trunk, but it looked a little tight between the rear wheel wells, and I didn't want to deal with removing the speakers and rear shelf. Anyway, I think the front seats would have had to come out anyway. So I took out the front seats, the gearshift, and the center console. It was a little tight, and I had to bend it a little, but it came out in one piece with no damage. Fortunately, it was not wet at all (my sunroof does not leak).

When it came to stripping the old foam from the shell, I used a sandpaper disk on a drill. It was very effective, and I didn't damage the shell at all.

I bought my headliner material from Interior Supply & Services

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I was very happy withthe quality of the material (I went with the "Light Titanium" color, 6 yds). Ihad some left over, which will be helpful if I have to do the sunroof or aC-pillar again for any reason. I started out using 3M Super Trim Adhesive (bought at NAPA auto parts). Unfortunately one can wasn't nearly enough, and all the NAPA stores in my area had any more in stock. So I switched to the 3M General Trim Adhesive. The latter adhesive's can does indeed state that it is meant for attaching foam-backed headliner to a substrate, so I guess it should be ok. So far, so good. I did manage to get a little glue on the plush side of the headliner while I was gluing it-- watch where you spray it! Not too noticable though.

The sunroof was a bit harder than I expected. The original fabric was sewn to 2 plastic strips, which serve to stretch the fabric across the sunroof. Some methods I've seen call for either gluing the new material to the plastic strips, or simply gluing it directly to the sunroof panel. I opted to actually sew the new material onto the old plastic strips. This took a couple hours, but actually came out very well. I stretched the new fabric very tightly across the sunroof panel, and it looks great. I used regular thread, which seems ok, but a heavy-duty thread probably would be better. The plastic trim that goes around the sunroof box was too long when put back in (because the new material was a bit thicker than the original), so I had to trim it by 1 or 2 cm. Look out, there is metal hidden inside its plastic exterior.

Anyway, I think the result is quite professional looking. Regrets: not holding the material down long enough in a couple spots after gluing, getting a tiny bit of glue on the material.

Hopefully my handiwork will survive the heat of the summer. So far so good.

John

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John B
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