I have a 91 Z28 T-Top car and the headliner is falling apart. The cardboard (or whatever material it is) is starting to flake away, with big chunks of it missing. Obviously this won't be be able to be reupholstered so I need a new base. Do they make replacement bases that I could take to a headliner shop and have them throw some material on it and be done?

 

No one at all? :/

 

ebay has abs plastic bases, then u cover it yourself or they sell them covered

 

Check A1 Auto or Hawks both have an abs replacement that you can order bare or already covered in the color of your choice.

 

Not done yet, but I didn't want to pay $250 for one off ebay, and I actually used fiberglass mat cloth and resin to encapsulate mine. I have yet to put the new cloth over mine, but if the shape is still close, it may work for you for considerably less money.

Mine was also in several pieces, but I literally stapled it together with a stapler. It only needed to hold until the resin dried.

I did the front and back. It is ugly, but it was ugly before as well, and you won't see it anyway once the headliner (JoAnn Fabrics) is glued into place with 3M spray on adhesive.

 

I have a friend who used to repair them.....With his guidance, I also did mine over & went well. In fact, I pulled one from a yard and used fiberglass to repair it. I then removed the dark fuzz (rub on it VERY lightly and it will come off - its actually part of the cloth) and applied 3m adhesive (for headliners)...Its a ttop car and looks (and works) great! Cost me $50 materials, $15 for old headliner. Took few days, but remember to do the glass work outdoors!

 

Just be careful when scraping the old foam, don't get the dust on your skin or it will get very itchy !

 

You're scraping too much off if that's making you itchy. The old foam isn't what makes you itchy, it's the fiberglass underneath.

 

Has anybody made one from abs

 

I did not make one out of ABS, but know some that have used the aftermarket ones. They really don't fit too good....some do, but am aware of 6-8 that have them. As indicated above, repairing and recovering them seems the best and most cost effective solution

 

That is what I have heard about aftermarket ones. I have nothing. So I can't even repair mine or use it as a mold for abs. I was more curious about the shapes if it would work. I know door panels can be made out of abs fine.

 

here is the problem with the ABS ones, a problem to us but was intentional but really dont make any sense to me since most of us dont drive our cars as daily drivers and they wont see rain as much as the first 20+ years. This is quoted direct from the instruction sheet of an ABS board.
"IMPORTANT-Many t tops leak and is what caused the factory headliner to fail. The factory headliner board was attached to the car in the T Top area for stability . This replacement headliner does NOT attach to the car in the T Top area. "
There you go they say it in the instructions, but they dont say it in any ads that they sell it thru including here. After you spend $$$.$$ you find out it is made wider than the T bar molding and leaves a good size gap between the T bar molding and headliner. These ABS headliners are a great idea, and look real good other than the unsightly gap, I just dont understand why they did it this way, they are fixing a problem that took 20 years to rear its ugly head when the cars were daily drivers. I myself would prefer the looks over durabilty , let me worry about taking care of my car, you just make an outstanding part, but...they didnt see it that way so we are stuck with the intentional gaps instead.