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I'm making my first attempt to install a headliner. The pics show it as I have it right now with no glue. Can anyone tell me if I need to get it tighter than this before I glue it or can I just use a hair dryer or steamer to work the wrinkles out. Also, if anyone has pics of the sail panel area, with the headliner installed but before the sail panels are installed that would be very helpful. I did not have the luxury of dissembling the interior so I have nothing to reference.
Any advice to help me out would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited by Cincinnati Rick; February 15th, 2017 at 04:07 AM.
Yes, it needs to be pulled tighter. I did on my own on my 70 Cutlass. I did one side at a time. The only problem that i had is I couldnt get the wrinkles out on the driver side rear otherwise, everything else was perfect. Take your time and good luck.
I installed mine after I couldn't find anyone to do it for me. As Ely noted above, pull it tighter. I also ended up with some wrinkles in the rear corner sail cloth. I got them out with a combination of misting the area with water, and natural shrinkage from humidity. This is what mine looked like right after install. It tighten up quite a bit within a few months, but I don't have a recent pic handy.
Put a small electric space heater in the car and roll up the windows and let it get up to 100degrees for 10-15 mins. Then get in there and pull it tight. Start by pulling tight front & rear, then work the sides starting in the middle working forward, then middle working back.
The heat will allow the vinyl to expand, relax so you can stretch further than when cold... This way when it does cool down (and shrink) it will pull itself tight.
If you do it cold, then later when the car is in the hot sun, it will just sag and look like poo. And btw... the wrinkles won't just come out later. If there are wrinkles or waves when you are done- thats what its going to look like unless you pull it tighter.
I've done a few of these, and the last one did not turn out as well as my first couple... I had trimmed the listing sleeves too far in. They should only be cut back far enough so they don't bunch up on the body when you are pulling/stretching from side to side... So don't get crazy cutting too much off. Just expose the ends of the hooks by about an inch on each side... When you heat and stretch it later, you will likely have to get in there with a razor and open them up a little more to prevent bunching due to the stretching.. but just do as much as you need and no more!
You are doing the right thing by stretching it out like this with the clips first before gluing- just don't forget to heat the whole thing before the final stretching.
hope this helps some!
Last edited by RAMBOW; February 15th, 2017 at 01:59 PM.
Well, I'm getting really close to having the headliner installed.Only real issues were the rear corners. The sail panels will cover the wrinkles in the corners but I may attempt to tweak them a bit more tomorrow. Thanks to all who offered advice on this project. I think the biggest thing is to get the material warmed up like Ben said. It's amazing how much stretch you can get with it warmed up.
Taking your time like Ely said is mandatory. I kept finding myself trying make large areas perfect. When I realized I only needed to do small areas at a time it went much better.
There are a few areas in these pics that look like bubbles or wrinkles but are actually the screws for coat hangers and seat belt clips. All in all for my first try I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out.
I installed mine after I couldn't find anyone to do it for me. As Ely noted above, pull it tighter. I also ended up with some wrinkles in the rear corner sail cloth. I got them out with a combination of misting the area with water, and natural shrinkage from humidity. This is what mine looked like right after install. It tighten up quite a bit within a few months, but I don't have a recent pic handy.
Thanks Frank.
Yours turned out great. That's a lot of material to get looking that good!
My son's friend helped me with the install and he brought some glue from his work. He took it from a drum so it wasn't labeled. He installs interiors in aircraft and said that's what they use for the headliners. I'm assuming it's like Weldwood or 3M's contact adhesives.
We had a pretty good system worked out with gluing, heating and stretching the material. I would have tackled this myself but he offered so I welcomed the help. Saved a lot of body aches on my end.
Here's a few more pics. Still have to install the wind lace and finish the sail panels but it's getting close.
You did a very professional looking job, and have every right to be proud of your finished product. I have done headliners a few times in the past, and I never enjoyed doing them, because of all the contortionist positions you need to get into to do it right.
The only comment that I can give to anyone that is attempting this for the first time, is to divide the two halves exactly with a ruler, and then mark the center line of the headliner with a pencil. If you get the front and rear centered at the beginning of the project, it will make it a lot easier. I was taught by an old timer that made it look simple. I just never did enough of them to become fast and accurate. He could have done 3 or 4 cars in the time it took me to do one!
Did you use the Dynomat on the underside of the roof?
You did a very professional looking job, and have every right to be proud of your finished product. I have done headliners a few times in the past, and I never enjoyed doing them, because of all the contortionist positions you need to get into to do it right.
The only comment that I can give to anyone that is attempting this for the first time, is to divide the two halves exactly with a ruler, and then mark the center line of the headliner with a pencil. If you get the front and rear centered at the beginning of the project, it will make it a lot easier. I was taught by an old timer that made it look simple. I just never did enough of them to become fast and accurate. He could have done 3 or 4 cars in the time it took me to do one!
Did you use the Dynomat on the underside of the roof?
Thanks Junkman
I did not use Dynamat on the roof. I was told by several guys that I have a lot of respect for, not to use a rubber based product on the roof. They said that it gets so hot that it can start dripping black goo onto the liner and eventually it will show through. I didn't want to even think about that happening so I opted to keep the factory material..at least what was left of it.
February 14th, 2017, 08:00 PM
Headliner Install (First Timer)
Almost Done
