Headliner and Trim: Repair and Recover

I think I finally worked out how to properly use thumbnails in WordPress. The following project took many hours, and so did the blog!

My headliners were warped, had wrinkled fabric from a bad recover job, stained from roof leaks, and had window sealant on them. Warped, and bowing into the rear window:

To help remove the headliners, I bought this kit at Harbor Freight, but it didn’t help that much. I ended up using force to get them out.

Warped:

Gotta take off the seals, and rip off the fabric:

Poorly recovered:

Here’s some Window sealant from the previous owner:

I removed them all, and they look terrible:

I wanted to install a different rear cabin light, so my rear upper trim board had to come out. It already had rust stains, and was broken:

I decided to attempt to repair my trim board with fiberglass. Other than its ugly appearance, it turned out ok for my first fiberglass job:

I found a vinyl that is a decent match. I bought enough to recover my rear upper trim panel, and a future project – my seatbacks:

I tried using GM Trim Adhesive for the vinyl, but it didn’t hold very well. The vinyl backing absorbed a lot of the glue before it could tack up. I ended up using contact cement, which is a very tight, strong bond. I don’t think the trim board would survive if I tried to remove the vinyl again.

New(er) Saab light installed:

This picture does actually does too much justice. There are still imperfections in the trim board, but it looks better than what I started with.

I added some new velcro to attach the lip on the board to the underbody. After being out of the car for over a year, I’m happy to have this trim reinstalled.

New rear upper trim boards currently cost $312.90. I definitely saved money, but spent many hours fixing it.

My headliners were barely salvageable. I built a jig to hold them while I fiberglassed them:

Fiberglassing the center section, and piece of door trim:

Fiberglass work in the middle of winter in my cold garage was quite a challenge. I managed to go through two containers of resin, when I probably could have only used 1/4. I also used a lot of glazing putty to try to smooth them out. Now I’ve got two yards of new headliner fabric, ready to start recovering:

The material I chose is called “Smoke Grey” which is a little darker compared to the standard gray being sold at the fabric store. It’s advised to use thin fabric. I went the cheap route, instead of some higher priced material at auto parts stores. It’s about 3/16ths of an inch thick. A lot thicker than my previous material:

I marked lines on the back of the fabric, with the grain, so I could keep the fabric straight:

I knew the sharp angles of the door headliners would cause wrinkles like they had previously. I built another jig with some foam, a board, and some clamps so I could stretch the fabric before applying it:

Some heat to help form the fabric:

I let the fabric sit for a few days. I still ended up with some wrinkles, but it worked ok. Gluing it down:

I put the foam from my jig into the headliner while the glue dried:

I messed up the fabric on the back headliner, and needed goof-off to remove the glue and fabric. I had just enough fabric to do it again:

Here’s under my headliner. You can see the “cave paintings.” I digitally blocked out my key code, and you can see my *original* VIN, 11908!

I had some leftover dynamat that I always intended for the doors:

Ford Style Fir Tree fasteners are horrible to work with! The originals are taller for thicker trim/headliners, while the Fords are meant for very thin trim, and thin headliner fabric. Original left, Ford right:

They also don’t have the cam-like screw on the top. Original left, Ford right:

I cut my own cam into the fir trees, and bent them for my thick headliners. I broke several, and used almost every one before I perfected my design. I used clothespins and carboard strips to help clamp the fabric while the glue set up. By the way, if you need clothepins, check out a hobby store. Clothespins, along with typewriter ribbons, and Shlitz Beer are nowhere to be found at a supercenter.

I used GM Trim Adhesive to stick the fabric to the underbody. I had to protect the interior from overspray:

They’re finally installed! Too bad they don’t look that great:

Gap in the door headliner:

I got some of the bows out, and stiffened them up a bit. The stains are gone, but the fabric is too thick, and looks “puffy.” Once again, I didn’t follow Dave’s advice about using thin material.

New headliners with fiberglass backing are currently $450. I still saved money, but with all the time and effort I spent, I didn’t get much in return. My headliners don’t look much better than before.

Costs: