I still say to use the contact cement. My black naugahyde headliner has been up in the Ferraro for over 7 years and not the slightest hint of ever coming loose. Sets closed up out in the hot sun a lot too. Cant beat $3.50 @ quart either. I used it on the whole interior of the GT40, ceiling, doors, trim panels, floor carpet, etc. Also what I used to build complete interiors in motor homes and conversion vans. Never have had a single failure I know of.
After cleaning the crumbled foam ( I use a ScotchBrite pad) you can repair tears and breaks with nylon window screen. Just spray with glue and work the screen material like fiberglass. It stays flexible and is easier to work the headliner afterward. If you glue the screen to the upholstered side of the liner it also makes a good reinforcement of the areas where hardware is mounted.
The local upholstery shop told me they use the 8090 because it holds up to our hot temps here. Mark the screw holes by sticking a toothpick through from the back side.
Pay attention to the orientation of sunvisor mounts before you remove them.
[This message has been edited by texasfiero (edited 05-25-2005).]
We have always used standard Contact cement as used for counter tops etc and have never had problems with them coming down. Cheap by the quart can. Just use some Wax paper to keep it from sticking as you work another area of the fabric down and remove as you go, you should have no problem.
8088 was what I used for the *third* re-do of the headliner in my red coupe. First time I used Super 77; that didn't last a week before it started coming loose. Next time, I used some of the spray upholstery glue that came with the Mr. Mikes seats - should be good stuff, right? It did last longer than the 77 but two weeks later it was time to redo the third time.
The 8088 has been holding it up for over a year now with no problem. When I redo the headliner in my gold car I'll use it again - this is the adhesive that 3M designed to hold up foam headliners...
Originally posted by rogergarrison:I still say to use the contact cement. My black naugahyde headliner has been up in the Ferraro for over 7 years and not the slightest hint of ever coming loose. Sets closed up out in the hot sun a lot too. Cant beat $3.50 @ quart either. I used it on the whole interior of the GT40, ceiling, doors, trim panels, floor carpet, etc. Also what I used to build complete interiors in motor homes and conversion vans. Never have had a single failure I know of.
Took your advise...again! I just did mine over and used contact cement. It was tricky job because I converted my solid one into a cut-out for the sunroof clip I just installed.
My 2 cents for what it's worth.......at the shop I work at, we've tried most of the 3m spray & non spray adhesives. The highest strength adhesive they make in either commercial or consumer grade is the spray 90. We haven't had a failure in over 12 years of using it and most of our uses expose it to all types of extreme weather conditions. Our most common use is bonding .055 stainless steel to aluminum, although we've used it for many other things as well.
Bump to keep this going. 8088 seems to be the best spray glue recommendation and contact cement is a sure winner. On the torx both 45 and 50 will work. If you start with the smaller and it starts to strip you may get a second chance with the 50.
I just finished doing my own headliner but used black vinyl instead of fabric. ($20 total cost) I have a leather interior and thought that it would fit the look of the car better.
I did not reinstall the hanger hooks. I have only used them one time in three years and they do not benefit the look of the car. My next project will be the sun visors.
[This message has been edited by RACE (edited 09-19-2005).]
Race that looks really good. I have been thinking of that myself since I redid my seats with Mr Mikes in midnight and dark gray. Same colors as yours just reversed.
On the sunvisors, they are really easy. I reinforced mine with some new cardboard. I didn't have sewing machine that was heavy enough to sew through all that so I took them to an upholstry shop in town. They sewed them for me for $6. The whole thing including the drive to the shop took less than an hour. Do a search someone has already done a thread on this redo.
Thanks, I will do a search. It looked really cool without sun visors and I almost left them off but I actually use them so they were necessary. I will post another photo when they are done.
[This message has been edited by RACE (edited 09-20-2005).]
Thanks, I will do a search. It looked really cool without sun visors and I almost left them off but I actually use them so they were necessary. I will post another photo when they are done.
+ to the first guy who can pm the link to me. I used the search button and came up with nothing. - This line will be removed when we get a winner.
at my height the sun visors never get used - so i always leave em off - looks awesome without them
first off, this is a great write up. i'm attempting to redo my t-top headliner this weekend. i took it out and it broke into two pieces. what type of resin/fiberglass stuff do i need to fix it. i know i shouldn't do the whole headliner cause it needs to flex to get back into the car. how much material will i need? what adhesive do i use?
Thomas, I would buy a yard of materialto be safe. You definetly will not use all of it with a T top. Use the left over material to do the sun visors. As for glue the contact cement works pretty good, stay away from whatever that first stuff was that I used. It is an easy job that gets great results if you take your time.
Great thread! lots of good info here. My 85 fiero I bought a couple weeks ago didn't even have the cloth on it, it had already follen down and was just pulled off some time ago. I am doin alot of interior work as well as a V8 swap over the winter. This thread has alot of useful info. Where are you guys getting your material from? I know you can order the headliners but it sounds like most ppl are just going out and buying material. thats probly the best route to go eh? im not even sure what material I need as I dont' have anything to compare it too....
Just got finished doing mine and figured I would add to the wealth of into out there. All went well and I even cleaned the outside of the mouldings before I put them back into place. Looked at my finished job and found a dash of black sealer on the headliner. Looks like it came off of the inside of the side moulding, as I put it in place. I figured that if you couldn't see it then why clean it? Moral of the story?? Take the time and clean both sides of the molding.
[This message has been edited by GoFast85 (edited 10-04-2005).]
well my attempt at doing my headliner FAILED miserably. i used vinyl and contact cement, not a good combination. for some reason the contact cement loosen the backing on the vinyl, so i pulled if off. my next attempt after taking all the backing off the vinyl was to lay down some felt but the pattern in the felt showed through the vinyl, so it came off again. i went back to the store and bought the rest of the vinyl they had for my third attempt. this time i would try the spray adhesive. i put the vinyl on one end and proceeded to do the other then notice that it looked like big air bubbles under the vinyl had appear. now i have wasted 2 yards of material and having to show for it. i guess i'll need to scrap the vinyl and go to cloth. but i can't find any beechwood headliner material or anything close around here. i guess i'll have to have a professional do it.
Just saw this one for the first time. Great subject!
Does anyone have a shot of their headliner without the visors? I may leave them off, too. Since my head is up in the sunroof, I won't be needing them...
Word of caution with the contact cement. ( I just did my pickup ) It works good, but.. Don't press too hard! I pressed the cement through the foam backing and it stuck too well leaving finger tracks! looks like crap!
If using the spray adheasive, I found it works well if you are not shy about applying it. My first attempt failed because I was too cheap to buy a extra can and sprayed it on too thin.
When I re-covered my headliner (plus the firewall cover and door panels), I used 3M #90 adhesive. And I applied it liberally to both mating surfaces. It's been about a year and a half, and it still looks good. It even survived the hot/humid Florida summer.
I did not notice if someone posted this link, but thought I'd repost it anyway if it was: http://store.yahoo.com/yourautotrim-store/ These guys seem to have just about everything, and their prices look pretty good.
I did not notice if someone posted this link, but thought I'd repost it anyway if it was: http://store.yahoo.com/yourautotrim-store/ These guys seem to have just about everything, and their prices look pretty good.
i'm giving it one more try before i let the professional handle it. how cut the inside corners on the material so it will go up and over and tuck into the t-top channel. i made some small cuts but the material will not stretch enough to fit.
i know i could cut a deep enough V shape but that part would show and that would bug me to death.
thanks...
edit: here is a photo (prvoided by jscott1) of my problem area.
[This message has been edited by Tom Slick (edited 04-25-2006).]
Ok I will redo my headliner soon....I need some more info.
Is it possible to reuse the original headliner fabric (already on the headline panel) with good result or it's mandatory to use new fabric?
Whats the name of the fabric used to do the original factory headliner?
Where I can find this fabric?Can I find it in fabric store or other places?
Can I glue directly to the panel the headliner fabric? and is it the best choice?
Or do I have to put a sheet of foam between the fabric and the headliner panel? And whats the best material to put between and where it is sold?
If I've read correctly, the best choice if you have a paint spay gun is to use contact cement, but the best spay can choice is 3M Super Trim Adhesive 8090.
Folks that have had success doing their headliner in vinyl or suede....did you guys use any kind of foam or material between the fiberglass? Has anyone used regular headliner material and then suede or vinyl over it? I just did my firewall in vinyl to match my Mr. Mike seats (Lambo Creme w/ Black pistol grip leather inserts) and want to do a black or cream suede headliner.
...and to think I was going to spend $260 for a new headliner!!
I wouldn't do it over the existing (or any) material. Strip it to the base board. Fit it if it needs it. Cover it with foam. Put the suede/vinyl on the foam. Take some pictures for this thread. Done.
I did not notice if someone posted this link, but thought I'd repost it anyway if it was: http://store.yahoo.com/yourautotrim-store/ These guys seem to have just about everything, and their prices look pretty good.
Bob
Bob:
Thanks for that link! It's got all kinds of usefull stuff that I need.
that much I do know. The brake light and harware are mounted to the roof itself, I've been driving around without any headliner for awhile now with the light mounted. The plastic cover for the light mounts to the light hardware with those two screws, but if you measure it you'll notice that it is quite a bit wider than the headliner opening. That is because the cover and the coathooks are used to hold the headliner up in the rear (of course the coathooks aren't really needed, because the trim above the doors extends all the way to the rear window and hold teh headliner up at those corners).
The first couple months without the headliner drove me crazy. I left the brakelight cover off too, so whenever I hit the breaks, light would leak through the socket and light up the interior at night. It doesn't look like it from outside, but that lightbulb is very bright.
Also, I just checked, and the wires run directly over the the driver side B-pillar and run down behind the plastic trim piece and the frame.
