Hello, i was going to buy a new hard top headliner, because mine is missing, but i got to thinking and the foam piece is still there, just wanted to know if its easy to take off the headliner and re upholster with new cloth and, im thinking with the spray glue. Any suggestions before i wack away at it?
I figure hey i can save +100$ why not

 

Its a piece of cake to do. I did mine for about 25 dollars.

 

I did mine for $25, but to be fair, I was working at a trim shop at the time. I paid for the material that I matched off a chart, that was close to the original, bout as close as you can get. Also I used industrial type spray glue thru glue gun and compressor, NOT CAN GLUE! The stuff in the can might be ok for you but, make sure to use enuff and like it get tacky before applying material. 3rd becareful not to cut to short aroung edges. If using a razor use caution not to cut to far. This is about as easy as it gets on interior, you should also recover "b" post also known as sail panel (speaker cover thingy) Piece of cake!

 

Trying to put new cloth over the old foam will be a disaster. That foam is deteriorated which is what caused the material to sag in the first place. The stuff is falling apart, so glueing new material to it won't work.

However... you can buy new headliner material that already has the foam backing, and once you scrape all of the old foam off the original headliner board, you can glue the new stuff onto the board. You just need to be careful in how you remove the old foam. I've found that a plastic bristle brush (I use a potato brush) works well.

If you have any damage to the headliner board, repairing it is significantly more difficult than recovering one that's in good shape, and isn't a project that I'd suggest for somebody who doesn't already know how to do it. In that situation, you're better off with a new ABS headliner.

 

Hmm, well ill take off my old headboard and see how damaged it is. the foam is in pretty good cond. i mean the foam is firm , not falling off or crumbly, Its pretty smooth, I think it could be repairable, I once put leather on a dash board on my old camaro, but i know thats lil different then this application. Ill see if it would be repairable as i know what your talking about as it can be difficult to glue new cloth to an old foam. Thanks for all the input.

 

The foam can't be that good or the fabric would still be attached to it. Even if you have to pull the fabric off to separate it from the foam that is still good, that's all got to come off before you can effectively glue new material to the board.

 

Actually I have seen the cloth and foam come apart easliy before But if we're talking orig. headliner from factory the foam cant be in good shape. My exp. in doing this kind of job is that anything is possible, If your comfortable with the old foam, do it. But usually the old foam has started to break down by now and should be easy to brush away. On cleaning foam, I used 3 different quallities of brushes 1) metal bristle, everyone has one used for many different jobs like removing rust,tuff foam and good headliner 2) stiff plastic, like a scrub brush, foam that is dry and can be brushed off headliner that is soft but workable 3) soft natural fiber brush, like made of horse hair, use this on foam that is breaking down and sticky, gooey like and on headliner that is also breaking down . careful were you clean this mess it will stick to you with static, hair, nose, ears, eyes clothes etc. dont clean this in your moms garage!

 

So what i think you people are telling me is to remove the old foam..ok...but where do i get replacement foam? i understand where i can get cloth, i Maybe even understand taking the foam off. But just don't understand where to get the foam replacement, isnt that the whole point of not buying a new one?

 

The headliner material should have the foam attatched to it, like a backing. When I pulled the trim panels off around the windows, I broke half of the clips. Those are a pain to take off.

 

Sry to get ahead of you. the material u want already has a foam backing. go talk to an interior shop or upholestry shop. the foam should be 1/4" not 1/8" or 1/2". just ask for regular "headliner" material in such&such color. also their is easy way to not break "a" post/pillar clips. u will need tools, first gently pry post plastic cover and look inside, 2nd while gently pulling on post look at clip, should be 3 of them, top 1 first, put presure on to bottom out clip, then use long skinny tool to put pressure on center of clip that has grooves/ribs while pulling out, clip should be 1" long at least ,center is curved to put pressure on bottom more than top pull out. piece of cake!

 

I broke (5) clips anyways wanted to know what they are called or where I can find them. I found some on ebay a set of (10) for $16, want to find them cheaper. Also how far do you scrap the glue off. I mean I seem to brush away the yellowish fabric/foam stuff away. Is there a point where u stop or you just brush away till nothing left to brush but a thin piece of "cardboard" material.