New headliner install in my '81 Pontiac box sedan

I'm posting this here as it isn't really wagon related, but I suspect many of us have headliner problems and perhaps this will help out anyone with an early '80's box wagon. When I purchased my '81 Parisienne, the headliner was sagging....beyond sagging really. The previous owner had no idea how to fix it and ornamented the entire ceiling of the car with upholstery tacks to keep it all from falling on his head. As much as I kind of like the "quilted" look, this had to be fixed.





With my wagon sitting in the garage with a broken A/C Clutch, I've been driving my Parisienne sedan until I can get the wagon fixed. The Mrs and I recently took a trip out of town in the Parisienne and as the A/C has never worked we had to roll all of the windows down to keep from baking. With all of the extra wind through the cabin, the headliner came loose from around the edges and flapped in the breeze. The 30 year old spray on foam under the headliner fabric also came loose and left us covered in a fine layer of orange rotting foam by the time we got home. The interior of the car was also an absolute mess so I had no choice but to fix it. Once again, I got too focused on what I was doing and didn't take nearly as many photos as I should have but here's what I did take.

Getting the headliner down wasn't too bad, the Fisher body manual was completely useless, suggesting only that I remove the clips holding in the garnish and trim, remove the dome light and courtesy hooks and lower the headliner. No mention was made of just what kind of clips held the trim in place, or how to go about getting them down. I broke one clip in my trial and error and used that to determine how best to get the remainder down. The front and rear garnish trim at the top of the windshield and rear window is held on with an oddball little clip. The removal process is to remove the clip from the body, and not the trim. Trying to remove the trim from the clip will just lead to frustration, broken clips, and more frustration. Sliding a small screwdriver underneath the trim edge will allow a small spring portion of the clip to be depressed. The body portion of the clip is shaped something like an upside-down ships anchor and simply pushing on the open edge compresses it enough for the trim and clip to pop free. The plastic clips holding the metal headliner trim at the sides of the car can be released just by pushing the trim upward and towards the outside of the body. The rest of the trim is held on with screws and is pretty obvious.

Once I got the headliner down I proceeded to make an absolute mess of the car by spreading rotting foam all over my upholstery and carpeting while getting it out the passenger door. This would likely be a lot easier if the windshield were removed, but the manual states that it can be removed via the passenger door which is true, but it's a bit of a puzzle.

With the headliner down and out of the car, I pulled out all of the upholstery tacks and the fabric fell away. Using an old ice scraper, I slowly but surely removed all of the rotting foam from the headliner material.







I prepped the headliner with GooGone to remove as much residue as I could once all of the foam was scraped away.

By some weird quirk, the Mrs located a near perfect match for the Pontiac's headliner fabric at the local fabric end-of-the-roll store. It was even a wide enough roll to reach across the whole car. Armed with a few yards of fabric, some replacement 1/4" foam, and some spray adhesive I got to work.

*Word to the wise...the spray adhesive at your local fabric store isn't strong enough to hold up a headliner. I used Permatex Heavy Duty Spray Adhesive. Permatex specifies that you buy their Heavy Duty version for doing headliner work. By the time I sprayed both sides of my foam sheet, the headliner, and the fabric, I went through 4 cans in all.

Strangely, I have no photos of actually spraying the adhesive, installing the fabric, or reinstalling the headliner. So all I can show off is the final result. I haven't refinished my sun visor's yet so you can see by comparison just how close the new fabric is in both colour and texture to the OEM headliner. I also removed the panels on the rear pillars and replaced the fabric on those as well as they were flapping around and making a mess too. Overall the job is far from perfect as I made some cutting mistakes and each time I tried to smooth out a wrinkle in the fabric, I discovered that I had greasy, slimy rotting foam on my hands and now there are several stains on my new headliner. Despite the quirks, for my first headliner replacement, I'm very happy with the results.

 

That headliner made a world of difference, nice work!

 

Well explained and the end result looks great -I'm about to tackle the same job on my Electra Wagon - straight out the back door thankfully!

 

Yep. My Cruiser needs the same treatment. It'll be a PITA but the end result will be worth it.

 

It is a PITA, but the end results are worth it. CW did a dam fine job IMO! I also gree with him on "use good quality glue", this is something you don't want to cheap out in if you plan to keep the car.

My headliner....

Page 3 is where it really starts.

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4477&highlight=headliner&page=3

 

Looks great! Job well done. I've had to replace the headliner on my last three Mopars. 80 St.Regis, 80 LeBaron sedan and 80 LeBaron wagon.

You did it just the way the pros do it. You can't reuse the old fabric as you will never get all the powderized glue off it. You just scrape - sand off the old glue from the backing board and glue on new material. Sedans are alot harder to get the roof panel out thats for sure. On the plus side, most upholstery shops don't charge much to do it if you chicken out.

 

Nice job, Cyber. Looks so much better and very much like the original. GM had a problem with the headliner adhesives they used in the late 70's early 80's. Can't tell you the # of vehicles from that era I've seen with droopy headliners.

 

I just did my wagon headliner about 2 weeks ago. I used the 3M '77' adhesive -2 cans. So far no sags. But I couldn't find the Permatex stuff.

Nice work!

 

That's really a super nice looking job, Wiz. And really good tips on the clip removal.

 

Cyber-Wizard, I spoke too soon. We had a nice 30Kph breeze yesterday in a nice 23C sunny day, so I hit the buttons and lowered all the windows (bragging about my power windows). Remember that bit about "Pride preceedeth the fall"? Well my newly glued headliner fell, in the rear section. US/CDN made Fairmont wagons have a two-piece headliner.

Mine originally came from Mexico with the hoop rods. I scored the front Wagon section and center bar, but the rear section was toast (soaked and mulched.) So I got a complete headliner from a 1984 baby LTD 4-door sedan and did a good job of notching the sides, lengthening the 'fold-marks', etc.

Like you, I got the foam-backed headliner fabric at a local fabric store last fall, and waited for a decent evening and day to strip and glue.

I just scraped off the old foam. Never heard of GooGone. I used 3M's Super 77 spray adhesive over the old surface. Took 3 weeks to fall down. Now I have to re-do it.

Where'd you get the GooGone? CTC?

 

Sorry to hear your work has to be re-done Norm. I went pretty heavy on the glue, applying it to the headliner, both side of the foam, as well as the fabric. Probably overkill but it'll take an iceberg to punch a hole in that headliner. Interesting to note that the Permatex glue soaked through the fabric in several spots. I was pretty worried but after the glue dried the spots disappeared. All of the stains in the fabric were there from me having slimy foam on my big mitts when I put it in. All of those came right off with a bit of Folex stain remover.

I can't remember if I picked up that GooGone automotive spray at CTC or Partsource. Definitely one of those two. They're the same company, but they seem to carry different products. It was an impulse buy as I'd never seen it anywhere before. Glad I picked it up. The only thing it doesn't seem to remove is Permatex. There was a bit of a breeze when I did my spraying and I got a bit of spray glue onto the plastic bumper insert on the Pontiac. I haven't been able to get it off yet. The stuff sets like enamel!

 

I think yours looks way better than mine. I got over cautious and didn't trim the fabric clost enough to the headliner edge thinking I could tuck the excess under the trim. Big mistake! I tried to trim the excess off after installation but it turned out my knife was a little dull. Now I have two little spots where the foam is visible at the edge of the trim. It's not bad enough to make me start over, but it's enough to make me a little bitter about not doing a better job.

 

Thanks, I'll check them both out for the GooGone. I like Tedy's Pro-Form Adhesive too. Can't find the Permatex so far, but I'll bet that our local Bodyshop supply vendor has one or both. Again, thanks for the tips. Glad you cross-posted to Tedy's headliner adventure too. Nice to keep these tips connected. Its tough information to find on the WWW.

 

I picked up the Permatex at CTC. I wound up going to two different stores to get enough cans but it was on the shelf at each.

The kudos for the crossposting should go to Tedy. His ability to recall previous posts and what all is in the gallery is really astonishing! I hadn't thought to post elsewhere before he supplied the link to his thread. Now that you mention it, I really should update my post in his thread with a link to help the web wanderers.

 

Norm, Crapy Tire sells it...out here anyway.