I need to redo the headliner in my 68 Delmont 88. My old headliner is NOT torn or ripped, it just that the stitching is starting to come apart I guess due to age. I have 2 questions. Can I reuse the original material, can it be restitched? Or if it has to be replaced, where can I find a suitable material or a factory correct material. A local shop says it can do a CUSTOM headliner but I'd like to try to keep it as stock as possible. Any suggestions??

 

If you want a stock material the only place I know of that you can purchase it from is SMS Auto Interiors. However, you might consider purchasing a generic headliner kit from Kanter. They have kits for the bow type headliners. I have ordered from Kanter before. Their customer service is great and they have good quality products. I would think that a headliner would be something you could get by with if you did it with a generic kit. Of course, I don't know if your car is a "show car", but a headliner is usually just a solid velour. Since there aren't any patterns on it a generic kit would hopefully fit your needs and cost less than ordering fabric from SMS.

 

Great looking Delmont you have there.

Well, the main issue with reusing the material is twofold: 1) you have to make sure it isn't dry-rotted. If it's an east coast car, chances are it's not, but will still have aged, and 2) you have to somehow remove the bows from the roof without ripping the material. I'm really not sure how to do such a thing, to be honest. It's tough getting the clips out of the receptors in the roof. If you have a pro do it, they might be able to salvage the material. At that point, it seems like it could be restitched by a reupholstery company and reinstalled. If you think the material is really good, this might be worth a shot.

 

I checked out Kanter and SMS. I have a sample coming from SMS. I 've never tried to replace a headliner before. Is that something the average Joe with a tool box can do? What about my sun visors will they need to be recovered also? My Delmont is not a trailer queen or anything like that but it is a good survivor that is worthy of trying to keep correct. If even just to be able to say It's original. that make sense to anyone? I guess I'll have to wait until I see a sample and then go from there.

 

I'm no expert on this but here's my understanding on headliners. Your old healiner looks Ok on the interior side but I'd guess the cotton material on the inside (I think it's called listing) has dry rotted and will tear very easily. Most shops would not consider repairing it. Unless you showed them a big, big fist full of dollars.

Again this is my understanding. I think there are like 2 or 3 national suppiers for headliners. I know I've talked to shops and they order them. For the A bodies several suppiers carry them but they come from the suppliers above. Very, very few shops stitch headliners and it would be considered custom work.

On the material, do you really want 40 year old material? What I'd look for is the correct color and grain pattern material in a pre made headliner.

On installation I know the cotton material that goes over the bows has to be trimmed to make the transition from the bows to the side look right. Plus the sides, back and front all have to be stretched and glued. For me the frustration level would be to high, I'd pay a shop to do it. Plus they can get the extra material to recover the sail panels and stitch new covers for the sun visors. That way everything matches.

Don

 

If you order material from SMS you won't be able to repair your own headliner. SMS only sells fabric. You would have to get an interior shop to stich you a new headliner with that material and install it.

If you want to repair it yourself get a kit from Kanter that is generic. These are made so that a handy man can remove the old material and install a new headliner. I don't know if the quality is good, but I do know that Kanter has top notch service.

 

I did the two in my Vista Cruiser and never did one before and they look factory, surprise myself some time. The Fisher Body service manual shows it all and tells you how to do it.
The headliners were only a little over a hundred bucks and the trim shop wanted big bucks to install it so it was worth a shot. If you have the material any good trim shop should be able to make one for you if you have the old one for a pattern as Olds64 said. They usually give you extra material for the sail panels and visors with the headliners if you order them from somewhere. The ones you order are sewn up as needed in many cases so those places may be able to do something for you too. Mine had chalk mark lines and numbers all over it, have to get the chalk off or it will work through the material and show eventually.
Make sure everything is marked when you disassemble, the listing wires/bows are slightly different and have to go back in the same place. Mine just fit into pockets on the ends and there may be plastic clips on the roof they snap into, some have clips that screw on to hold them in the side pockets too. Vinyl Specialties can do the sun visors with your material or they provide it, 50 bucks a set, Vista Cruisers have four. Those have a sewn edging that has to be done on a machine to be correct. They also sell original headliner material (since that's what visors are covered with) and make headliners so you may want to check them out.

http://www.autosunvisors.com/restoration.htm

This is the technique I used.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161372

Office Max has the binder clips in bulk.

I just looked at this post and it's way too long.
Can I get 2 cents a word for tech articles like the jobs the place that owns this site have listed in the link at the bottom of the page?

2790762707_d61eeca050.jpg

 

I decided to redo carpets inside and trunk as well as headliner for my brother in his 52 chev styleline as a xmas present. he lives on the west coast and his car is here on the east coast with me and my 69-98 Olds convertible. I ordered everything from National Chevy Association and with the headliner kit they included the material already cut out for the sunvisors as well as a couple of extra swabs to do down along the front door posts to the dash. Headliner was prestitched and made spcific for the vehicle so I would look into a kit and see if that is available for your car. This would make it a lot easier for you to do yourself.

 

From what I've been reading a headliner kit sounds like the correct way to go. Dapapaden is right I don't want 40 year old material in my car. In fact I'm thinking now about doing the carpet now also. AMH555 you may not get 2 cents a word but, your tech article is worth a cold beer anyhow. So now I guess I need to determine what color and pattern my original headliner is. The car is willow gold and the interior is med gold I think. It looks more green to me. I found out that the trim code is 910 whatever that means. Whats the most common pattern on Oldsmobile headliners. All in all It don't look like it's a hard job to tackle, you just need to know what you need.

 

Guess I've considered doing headliners myself in the past. So I went to the garage and looked. Nope, not me all I see is hours of setting in odd positions with my arms extended or worse, overhead. I'll leave this do-it-yourself job to you younger guys! I'd rather work an extra day for overtime and pay a shop to do it. lol

But then again most of my cars need about everything. Body & paint, rust repair, mechanical work you name it. All this I can handle or think I can. But half the guys in my shop at work have had shoulder surgery. So work involving arms extended or overhead no longer appeals to me! Darn, my shoulders are hurting just thinking and typing about this!

Matt, I'm sure you can do this job yourself. The kits sound like what I was thinking of. Let us know how it turns out. And photos would be great!

Don

 

So I received my sample from SMS Interiors today. They have the exact material and color that I need!!! A pre-made headliner runs $229.00, the carpet pre-made is $279.00. Looks like this is the route I'm going to take. Thanks for the heads up Olds64. Good hook up!. Now I'm going to have to find a shop to install it for me. It don't look like a hard job but if I can get it all done for under $500.00 it worth it to me. thanks to all who replied.

 

Glad that you went with the precut carpets and presewn headliner. I did the same for my brother's 52 chev and got everything from National chevy Association. With the haedliner they also included precut material for the sunvisors and material for the ledge behind back seat by the back window. I took out the seats and decided to lay the carpet and underlay myself ( important to have the right spray adhesive ) the headliner is another story. Easy enough to remove but I may decide to get someone else to put it in properly , I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there.

 

[quote=Bluevista;60845]I


This is the technique I used.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161372

Bluevista....this is the best thing I have come across on the site. Probably one of the most challenging things to do on a restoration. Well, I guess the buckets seats were pretty tough but once everything is lined up on the bucket upholstery the pull over is easy (just compress the buckets and pull). Back to the headliner, I was having some anxiety about this and after seraching the website I found your post which linked to the chevelle website. Totally awesome I would have never thought of those small paper clips. I was so inspired after reading this post tonight that I finally pulled down the bows and the headliner that was sent from Headliner Mart in San Jose sometime in the early 2000's and tackled the project. I have everything clipped up and will start the glue work tomorrow night or maybe saturday. Thanks for the post.