Headliner....tips and thank yous
 

Just completed the removal, re-lining, and re-installation of my headliner.

First the 'thank yous' to hilltoppersx for emboldening me to do it myself and offering to help if I needed it. Also to Cosmic88 for the nicely detailed D1 tutorial in the tech section. Very helpful.

As far as adding to the knowledge base...

1. I would try to avoid pulling the 'C' pillars and rear seat belt mounts. I'd pull the top to fasteners on the frame of the alpine windows and try to wiggle the board out rather than removing the alpine window frames completely. As Cosmic88 said in his write up....getting some of the fasteners back onto the body of the car was a real pain in the neck. Also, on one side of the vehicle, the mounts that hold the plastic 'C' pillar to the fasteners pulled out of the plastic. I may need to re-visit this at some point in the future but for now the interior trim is nice and snug, held in place by the alpine window frame.

2. Best tool to remove the yucky brown brown foam from the old headliner from the backer board is a metal bristle brush. I bought a cheap cooking grill brush from target. It worked very well.

3. Have an extra can of glue on hand. I was just a bit short when gluing down the headliner (I obviously put it on a bit too heavy) and had none for wrapping around the extra material to the back side of the board. A quick trip to the local Home Depot took care of that. Headliner express provided the material and it was perfect and plenty large.

4. A cordless drill with a screw driver attachment will save you at least 30 minutes. I didn't have one with me and screwing/unscrewing everything really slowed me down.


Thanks again for all the tips/tricks and encouragement. It took me about 6 hours from start to finish (including 20 mins to/from Home Depot) and it looks really great.

1. I would try to avoid pulling the 'C' pillars and rear seat belt mounts. I'd pull the top to fasteners on the frame of the alpine windows and try to wiggle the board out rather than removing the alpine window frames completely. As Cosmic88 said in his write up....getting some of the fasteners back onto the body of the car was a real pain in the neck. Also, on one side of the vehicle, the mounts that hold the plastic 'C' pillar to the fasteners pulled out of the plastic. I may need to re-visit this at some point in the future but for now the interior trim is nice and snug, held in place by the alpine window frame.

Thats why i didnt remove them in my write up!

2. Best tool to remove the yucky brown brown foam from the old headliner from the backer board is a metal bristle brush. I bought a cheap cooking grill brush from target. It worked very well.

Agree 100%, i got mine at home depot when i was buying the primer and paint.

So you re-covered it with headliner material, did it have the foam padding on the back of it? Wonder how long before it decomposes like the original did?

Just did mine. Original lasted 14 years. I figure the headliner won't be my primary concern 14 years from now.

A lot depends on whether you drive with the windows down and sunroofs open at higher speeds. I love the fresh air whipping thru the cabin.

Mine lasted 13 years before the sag began. I decided to forgo screwing up the recover myself, or paying someone else an exorbitant amount of cash to do it, opting instead to paint it black (just like the Stones sang).

So far I like it. Not to say I won't have it recovered some day, but for now I can save my cash for other, more pressing maintenance issues.

The headliner is the least of my concerns, I removed mine, the fiberglass piece is in the garage with a lot of the other insignificant stuff. When I was much younger, I drove several vans and trucks that did not have headliners.

Yeah, recovered it. Wrapped/glued material around the back of the board hoping that will make it last longer. Original appeared to have been cut with the board and let wind flow more easily tear the fabric from the foam. We'll see. If it sags again I'm $160 poorer and still have the option to paint. Meanwhile, the Mrs. is happy. Hopefully I'll be on to the next car by then. Not that I don't like this one anymore, I'm just ready for a RRS HSE now that they cleaned up the dash (2010).