Head liner removal

[Frank Gooz]

I need more help please. My shop manual shows nothing about removing or installing a headliner. There is already a hole. The headliner appears to be tucked under a metal strip.

I do not see how the strip or the headliner can be removed. I am also to save as much of the headliner intact as possible as a pattern.

[DonaldSmith]

There are metal strips with teeth on the hidden side, to catch the headliner material.  This photo shows the metal strips, which I removed, rimed and reinstalled (back in 2007). 

It's a bit tricky to disengage the existing headliner from these teeth.  The bottom of the metal strips can be bent out a bit, and something used to push the edges of the headliner free from the points of the teeth. 

 

 

 

 

[DonaldSmith]

typo:  primed, not rimed 

[Loren]

I love to DIY stuff but there are certain things I have found that are better left to the guys who make a living at it.

A headliner is one of them.

If I wanted a new one in my car I'd leave it alone so the professional can measure or make patterns while it's in place.

If you lose one small metal part your job will suffer.

And yes there are companies out there that make kits to replace the headliner and most upholstery men will use a kit if they can.

Just my humble opinion which you can confirm by a visit to an upholstery shop.

[busycoupe]

I second what Loren said.  In 2008 I replaced the headliner in my coupe.  I used a pre-made headliner from Hircsh.  It came out  pretty good, but not anything like a professional job.  If I were to do it again I would take it to an upholstery shop.  

[Frank Gooz]

I will look closer, I can see what looks like household insulation and most of the headliner has come away from the bows already.

Mine looks to be tucked under a black painted strip that is pop riveted to the car. I can not see any teeth yet. I will investigate more on Monday.

[Dan Hiebert]

Remove all the interior window trim.  Work the headliner out of where it's tucked under those tack strips on each side first, then work from front to back removing the bows from the sides.  Sounds like your liner is separating from the bows already, but keep track of which bows go where, they should go back in the same place(s).  BTW, they're not that hard to install, I've done a few, just takes patience and a handy list of expletives.  I can't sew a straight line to save my life, so I use kits.  There are no good upholstery shops within 100 miles of me, either.  So I install my own.  

[Sniper]

Probably wouldn't hurt to get one of those steamers for wrinkle removing.

[Frank Gooz]

I will start looking for a kit. Just for my information. This is a suburban so most of the time I come up empty handed. I will start with Andy's.

[plymjim]

  I got a real nice headliner kit for my '48 coupe from WLS in Hazlehurst Ga.

They have quite a selection of patterns, maybe one for your wagon.

  There's a web site: wlsheadliners.com. Good luck.

 

[48ply1stcar]

I installed a wls headliner in my 48 4door.  I had never done it before and I think it came out pretty good. Consider doing windlace first, I can't imagine that it can be done after the headliner.   

 

[plyman63]

I replaced mine last winter.i ordered mine through a company in Texas believe the name was holiness.They were super to work with they use z eBay store front..I ordered the vinyl kit.It came with the headliner and enough fabric to do the door pillars and the sunvisors.They have a number of kits and fabrics available.I thought the pricing was good as well.I was also able to get the matching windlace and new back stop from them as well.The only thing I could not find a supplier of (somade up so mode up something that wormed for us) was the hard plastic like grommets the go on the end of the bows.I should add it was in a 1947 Plymouth 4 door sedan.I just did a search the name of the store is Auto Headliner Mart (817-562-2381)

[garbagestate 44]

I got mine from WLS. I was happy with the headliner. Just go slow doing the install and think the whole thing through before you start. I started with the rear, then did the front and the sides last. Try to keep the whole thing centered and as tight as possible during the install. It took me 6-8 hours. Windlace goes in first. good luck

[Frank Elder]

What nobody seems to have brought up is that each headliner bow is NUMBERED, each one is fit to the spot it was installed in.....do not get them mixed up. Lay them out as you remove them and put some tape on them and mark them accordingly. Then you can put them away.......edit make sure you mark the first one "front" in case you forget if number 1 goes in the front or rear.

[Eneto-55]

If making your own, number each panel (remembering if front to back or back to front) before separating them.  I think it would also be helpful to make some alignment marks, or cut in some 'darts' (I think that's what they call it in seamstress work) to get the new panels back together in the correct relationship, one to another.

One thing I've wondered about is if the panels should be made just a bit smaller than the old ones, to account for stretching over the years.  And if so, how much.

[Frank Elder]

51 minutes ago, Eneto-55 said:

If making your own, number each panel (remembering if front to back or back to front) before separating them.  I think it would also be helpful to make some alignment marks, or cut in some 'darts' (I think that's what they call it in seamstress work) to get the new panels back together in the correct relationship, one to another.

One thing I've wondered about is if the panels should be made just a bit smaller than the old ones, to account for stretching over the years.  And if so, how much.

You can always cut excess fabric away, harder to add more if you make them too small.

[Eneto-55]

2 hours ago, Frank Elder said:

You can always cut excess fabric away, harder to add more if you make them too small.

I should have specified that I was wondering about the measurements front to back in each panel.  But very good advice to made the panels extra wide.  When I did my 72 Dodge, I ran into some difficulties, I suspect because I didn't get the panels correctly aligned side to side in relation to one another, and had to shift everything to one side a bit in order to reach on one side.  (I had forgotten about this until reading your comment.)

[desoto1939]

I purchased my replacement headliner for my 1939 Desoto from Restoration Specialties that is located in Windbur P  814-467-9842  They have alot of patterns adn it was a perfect fit for my car.  It is a two person job.  There are metal rods or ribs and the headliner has pockets for each rib to slid into.  On each rib mark the location or number them and also sand and repaint them with a primer and a rust proof paint.

 

website www.restorationspecialties.com

 

You will need several  flat blade putty knifes get plastic ones just look along each door you will see the teeth but you will have to remove the old lining first.  If you have to rip then do it a good upholstery guy can do this job. I did mine with the guy that painter my car it took us several hours to do but we worked as a team. center the liner in the roof after putting all the ribs ina dn then attach them to the proper mounting locations.

 

We started at the back window and worked our way along each side so we did maybe a foot at a time on the right then went to the same area on the left side If you have window lace you will also need to tack that in place prior to installing the headliner.

 

Maybe a good vo-tech school might want to offer to do the job so the students can learn and you might get it done for free.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com