Custom headliner - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

berlinettakid · 09-01-2009, 10:11 PM

just finished this up today. Haven't had a headliner in the iroc since...well at least a year before the wife and i got married and that's been 4 1/2 years...so way to friggin long. Originally i wanted to do a custom headliner and started once, but i screwed around about finishing it and eventaully the headliner got all busted up. I was going to just redo the stock headliner, but on a whim i decided to go custom again.... Did this today in about an hour and a half.

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Chevy8588 · 09-02-2009, 12:15 AM

what did you use as a backing for that!?

racing geek · 09-07-2009, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chevy8588

what did you use as a backing for that!?

My guess would be some ~1/8" dense foam that he cut into the flame shape and then beveled the edges so the headliner would adhere properly. Then glue the foam onto another piece of similar foam that covers the entire headliner and then use some adhesive on the entire thing and slowly pull the headliner fabric over it being careful to work out any creases.

If my headliner ever gets trashed I plan on doing some custom stuff to it but I'll probably just put camaro in the top... then again, I have an overhead counsel to worry about. Oh well.

Mike

mechanic1992 · 09-10-2009, 02:27 AM

this may be a stu[id question, but is it possible to do a custom fiberglass headliner? the liner in my 87 IROC is cracking from all the sun and heat and the backing adhesive is letting it fall down, and just out of the blue the fiberglass idea came to mind. would that work?

racing geek · 09-10-2009, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mechanic1992

this may be a stu[id question, but is it possible to do a custom fiberglass headliner? the liner in my 87 IROC is cracking from all the sun and heat and the backing adhesive is letting it fall down, and just out of the blue the fiberglass idea came to mind. would that work?

Are you thinking about leaving it as just a fibergalss board that is painted... no cloth covering it at all? I don't see why that would be a problem. Personally, I think it might look funny since nothing else besides the paint on the outsides of these cars is gloss. Depending on how you make it, you may get a little more headroom too.

Are you planning on peeling the cloth off the current headliner, then making any needed repairs to the stock headliner backing and just putting that back in? Or will you be using the stock headliner as a mold and making a brand new custom headliner?

mechanic1992 · 09-10-2009, 07:15 PM

I was just thinking about using the old one as a mold but the whole repair idea didnt hit my brain, so i may do that too. And i can always carpet the fiberglass to sorta make it look like it fits the interior. But i may just make it gloss. What do you guys think would be better? do the repairs to the origional or make a completely new one out of FG? And FYI, incase u didnt know, its a t top, would that make a difference?

racing geek · 09-10-2009, 07:26 PM

a T-top will be a lot harder compared to a hardtop. A hard top is just flat with a slight curl around the edges... a t-top has sharp curves and extra open areas making a more complex shape. It is still very doable, but it is just hard to do then a hardtop headliner. If it was my car, I would go out and buy some headliner material to match the OEM and cover it with that. If my interior was trashed, I would just leave it gloss so I can get that extra 1/8"-1/4" of head clearance. Then again I'm 6'3" and need all the headroom I can get when it comes time to wear a helmet.

mechanic1992 · 09-11-2009, 12:50 AM

The rest of the interior is in good shape, or will be, i got some stuff so swap onto it to help, but the headliner is the big eye sore. So i should go ahead and fiberglass it and just cover it with the headliner material then?

Stephen · 09-11-2009, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racing geek

a T-top will be a lot harder compared to a hardtop. A hard top is just flat with a slight curl around the edges... a t-top has sharp curves and extra open areas making a more complex shape. It is still very doable, but it is just hard to do then a hardtop headliner. If it was my car, I would go out and buy some headliner material to match the OEM and cover it with that. If my interior was trashed, I would just leave it gloss so I can get that extra 1/8"-1/4" of head clearance. Then again I'm 6'3" and need all the headroom I can get when it comes time to wear a helmet.

What seats do you have? I'm 6' 5". On 4th gen seats, I had no problem with the helmet hitting in autocross.

mechanic1992 · 09-11-2009, 01:39 AM

Im only 6'0 and i got stock 3rd gen in mine, gonna swap them with some racing seats when i get the money. but im assuming u were talking to racing geek?

Stephen · 09-11-2009, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mechanic1992

Im only 6'0 and i got stock 3rd gen in mine, gonna swap them with some racing seats when i get the money. but im assuming u were talking to racing geek?

Since I had quoted him, yeah.

To keep on topic.....Maybe 20 flat screens mounted in the heafliner, Pimp My Ride style?

mechanic1992 · 09-11-2009, 01:45 AM

Haha, gah, i hate that show sometimes, when they do that stupid stuff, takes away from the car. And nah, ill stick to the basic headliner thanks haha.

racing geek · 09-11-2009, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

What seats do you have? I'm 6' 5". On 4th gen seats, I had no problem with the helmet hitting in autocross.

I have Corbeu Forza seats. They are the fixed back seats. If fourth gens seats are anything like the 3rd gen seats, I can see why you would have headroom. The stock seats lean back a lot compared to my Corbeau seats. The only other thing I can think of is that you slouch a lot when you're sitting in your car.

You would end up losing at least 4 inches of headroom if you do the plasmas in the headliner... unless the person is ~5' tall, I ca't see that working.

berlinettakid · 09-13-2009, 11:33 AM

You can just fiberglass the back of a broken headliner to reinforce it. The "headliner" material is foam backed so you don't have to worry about glue making the cloth look crunchy or anything. and because it's foam backed it's realativley easy to put on without getting wrinkles. at that step my brother held one side and we lowered it down and i started working it into the flames and then around the edges. It was no problem with two people. but i don't think one guy could do it. the glue bonds VERY quickly.

I live in a tiny town about 10 miles from a town witha pop. of 12,000. Couldn't find upholstrey foam ANYWHERE. I ended up using 1/8 inch thick underlayment foam that i had left over from my hardwood floor when i redid the kitchen. It worked out perfectly but i had to cut out two sets of flames and glue them together. I used regular 3m super adhesive spay available at any auto parts store.

Also worth mentioning this is a 1/4 inch thick foam backed headliner, that i got at the local fabric shop. (12 bucks) when i ordered one from paddock it was like $30 plus shipping and was only 1/8 inch thick foam backing. So if you go that route you may only need 1/8 inch foam for whatever 3D design you use, or you could go 1/4 inch and really have it pop out at you.

the bottom four inches of my flames is only 1/8 inch foam and then it's 1/4, so the flames kinda taper up where they start. but you can see the 1/8 inch area really good actually. so you may even be able to do 1/8 inch foam with the 1/4 headliner for a very subtle look. Oh and don't forget where your sunvisors go when doing your design! I had mine set out so i could see where they'd go and didn't cover much up.

put it in a few days ago, nice finally having a headliner and interior plastic again not to mention sunvisors. made it feel like a whole different car inside, way less road noise. lol.

oh and i also posted this in auto detailing cause i didn't know where it'd get more hits, so if a mod wants to delete that one go for it.