Hey Guys, I know there are a ton of posts on this, but I'd like to ask a couple of direct questions. First, I have already removed my Headliner, and scraped off the old glue/fabric backing. The fabric is junk, but I feel like I can save the board. I've included pictures to see what you guys think. Here are my basic questions that I hope will be answered for myself and hopefully for others in the future.

1. Have I shaved enough off of the board?

2. There are holes in the board from me trying to pin the liner up and pushing too hard. Can I use Bondo to flatten this out? Will the headliner adhere to the Bondo with adhesive spray?

3. I've seen the other posts and many of them use resin to harden up the board. The area near my sun visor mounts and the rear flanges are slightly cracked, and I think I will use resin here. Do I apply to the front and back of the board or only the back?

4. How difficult is it to do the visors and sail panels with new fabric? Just spray adhesive again?

5. Best place to get headliner fabric? ( Other posts have said Joanne's)

 

I've never seen Bondo tried. Just fiberglass mat when needed, and a light coat of resin over the surface to bind it all together. Seems to work.

I've bought rolls of the fabric at Pep Boys, though that was some years back. I know Joanne's does keep giant rolls of it.

A member here posted these. I thought they were a pretty good guide. This is part one. Part two follows it.

 

Thanks!

 

I feel ya on this one. I'll be doing the same thing in a couple of months. Good luck. By the time I get to mine you might be a pro and can help me! ha!

 

Hopefully! I'll try and post pictures to supplement the other posts on this topic.

 

I would appreciate it, thats for sure!

 

I would try to get the board down to the manilla? all over. I think the gray is still remnants of old foam and may cause you grief in the long run. I used a wire brush, GENTLY, over the whole surface when I did mine.

I was also recommended to use white glue to firm up the board. I bought a quart and that wasn't NEARLY enough in the end as the fiberboard sucked that right up. I wound up buying a gallon and used about half of that in addition to the quart. The white glue worked well to make the board less brittle, while still maintaining some of it's flexibility. I would do this again, will do again as I have tow other cars to put headliners in.

The push pin areas probably won't show up through he foam on the fabric backer, but irregular surfaces will almost definitely show through. Even though my interior is tan, I covered the headliner in black. Black hides most/all the imperfections well and it's not like people are ever going to look directly at the headliner.
Try not to stretch the fabric in the concave areas, this may cause the foam to pull away from the board over time. I have one spot where it keeps pulling away, I can wipe my hand over it and stick the fabric back down, but it pulls away again after a while.

 

My opinion of your questions:

#1. Yes, I think you have removed enough of the old material. All you have to do is remove anything loose and all the old, deteriorated foam.

#2. I personally wouldn't worry about the holes from the push pins. I think the new material will cover it right up. The new material is pretty forgiving and covers a lot of flaws. If it really bothers you some fiberglass matting and/or glue will work fine.

#3. Don't worry about the cracks at the flanges and sunvisors. The new material will just go right over it and cover all the flaws. Glue the new material right over the sunvisor holes, then carefully cut a small slit afterward and insert the sunvisor. It will pin the new material and everything down nice and tight.

#4. I have never recovered the visors/sail panels (always bought new). Should be easy though.

#5. Get headliner fabric almost anywhere. It's pretty generic. I bought my last stuff off Ebay for cheap.

Also, one of the other posts mentioned NOT stretching the fabric over the concave areas. This is good advice. I made this mistake on my last headliner. I ended up being able to press it down tight and it still turned out great, but if I had stretched it any more it would have been a real problem. Eventually the new headliner will begin to wear out too, and I expect that spot to fail/sag first.

Make sure you don't skimp on the fabric around all the edges, but wrap it around the edge and extend a couple inches onto the other side of the fiber backer. I recovered a t-top headliner and didn't wrap enough material around to the backside of the fiber backer. With the t-tops out you could see where I cut the fabric short. It bugged me so much I bought a new liner and redid it.

My first headliner was a hardtop Camaro liner just like yours. I didn't know anything about it and it still turned out great with minimal effort.

 

I have done sail panels on these cars, and it was extremely easy. I recommend you do those first. Good warm up for the headliner. I used black as well. We already have black pieces all over our cars; dash, door upper panels, A-pillars, etc. Black goes with everything, like; tan, grey and er... Black. All the previous suggestions are good ones. Most larger cities have upholstery supply shops that will sell to the general public. It's where I get my stuff most of the time. (I live in the Phoenix area) We actually have 3 places like that. I do sometimes get my stuff from eBay when I'm not in a big hurry. It's cheaper there, and I have not been disappointed in the quality, so far. The visors are a huge pita, and require an industrial sewing machine. You are best off just buying a new pair. eBay has some good deals there, too. Just steer clear of used ones.
DR.K.

 

I did my headliner a few times and sails as well. I had the same shitty fiber one you have and I repaired it a few times over the years. The repairs will break especially when you try to take them off again.

my most recent was 2 years ago where I was sick the stock fiber liner and I was on the search for an OEM ABS headliner which I found one out of a Camaro. I picked it up somewhat locally and got to work. The original was in really good shape but I was making it black. I got my headliner from amazon I believe which the nice foam backing with the best reviews (some the foam separates or falls apart easily). I stripped the stock liner and used a wire wheel on a drill to remove all the adhesive and 25yr old foam. Stripped it down to bare plastic and used brake clean to clean it up perfect. Sprayed good 3M super 99 I think and layed uo the foam and smoothed everything out. It turned out really good and fit like a glove plus feels way more rigid and the ceiling feels plush to the touch.

I used the same material on my sails to match. I would do my visors but I’m not skilled enough in sewing.

my rear sail panels have aftermarket 6x9s and need the grills to support the speaker so the sail was opened up to clear the grills. I covered the openings and u can’t really see the imprint of the grille normally but the flash makes it noticeable.