Headliner Fix
 

I pulled the beat up and sagging headliner out of my t-top equipped IROC today and thought I would document the process. I removed the headliner by myself and brought it to a local upholstery shop to get recovered. I dropped it off this afternoon and it will be ready by Friday.

I don't really have much to say about the removal process; its pretty straight forward and easy, so here are some pics.

1st pic is of the headliner after removal.

2nd pic is of the driver side seat belt area of the headliner.

3rd pic is of the passenger side seat belt area of the headliner.

More pics to follow.

Re: Headliner Fix
 

Some pics of the cloth side of the headliner.

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More pics:

Pics 2 and 3 are of the seat belt assembly that is mounted to the roof. I was hoping someone can tell me more about the black plastic piece in pics 2 and 3.

Since I purchased my IROC I wasn't sure why I could never get the passenger side plastic seat belt trim piece to stay up onto the headliner. Well, I figured it out today when I pulled the headliner off! The black plastic retaining piece was completely broken.

My question is... are the black plastic pieces replaceable or do I have to get a whole new seat belt assembly? Or is there an alternative fix to this problem?

Re: Headliner Fix
 

what kind of price and how extensive is the repair?

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$140.00 to get it re-covered which I didn't think was too bad. I was able to get the headliner out in one piece without the backing board cracking so there should be no repairs, only re-covering. The guy at the upholstery shop actually commented on how good of shape the headliner backing board was in.

The one thing I didn't mention before is that I removed the front headliner retaining clips before bringing the headliner to the upholstery shop so they didn't accidentally break off while replacing the headliner.

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I agree the headliner is in good shape!

Where in Il are you?? Local guy here quoted us $160 to do our t-top!!
He does have a great rep with the local restorers & Hotrodders tho.

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I'm in Naperville. I can understand the guy quoting you $160.00 to do the t-top. Initially when I called the shop the guy said anywhere from $120.00 to $175.00 depending on the condition of the backing board. Additionally, he said if I brought the car to him to have his guys remove and install the headliner it was going to be in the $275.00 to $300.00 price range with labor. That price range was what encouraged me to remove and install the headliner myself.

When I went there to have him take a look at the headliner he told me it was going to be more like $175.00, but due to the time of year and knowing that most shops aren't getting a lot of work, I just haggled with him down to the $140.00.

I will post pics of the headliner once I get it back(probably this Saturday), and if you are near Naperville or are interested in using this shop after seeing the finished headliner I can give you their info.

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Well, I hadn't planned on updating with any progress until Saturday morning but I got a call from the shop re-covering my headliner today saying that it was ready to be picked up today. I rushed over there before he closed and picked it up, and I have to say that I am both happy and impressed with his work.

Not only did he re-cover the headliner just as I wanted it, but he did several repairs near the seat belt areas and dome light area without asking me or charging extra to do them. At the end of the day, $140.00 out the door with a lifetime guarantee against the material falling/drooping off of the backing board.

Pics 1 and 2 are of the finished product.

Pic 3 is of the driver side dome light area that was repaired.

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Some more pics of the finished product.

Pic 1 is of the passenger side seat belt opening

Pic 2 is of the driver side seat belt opening

Pic 3 is the underside of the driver side seat belt opening where he did a repair.

All that's left to do is re-installation, and pics of it installed on my IROC.

I still haven't heard about whether or not those plastic pieces (in previous post) on the seat belt mechanism are replaceable and where I can get them. If they are not replaceable what are some options for re-installing the plastic seat belt roof trim pieces?

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wow one day to do it is awesome and 140 isn't that bad considering the work it takes to do it and not damage the old backing board

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Check with
1Aauto, Thirdgen Ranch, & Hawks. I don't recall who has them,
but the seat belt plastics are available in most colors.
They have a slot made into them so they slide thru the seat belt.
IDK how much, but they are available.

Looks great!! Interested in how the front clips work out.
Ours is real soft, & the clips won't go in.
Maybe when I take it in, he can fix it!

Did they re make the visor areas on yours?

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I know... one day is pretty cool, and with no compromise in quality/workmanship, I will give them more business in the future and recommend them to people for sure.

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Thank you. As far as the visor areas go, they were untouched due to them already being in pretty good condition.

BTW the name of the interior shop is Riggs Bros. and they have locations in Villa Park, Downers Grove, and St. Charles. I don't know if you're close to one of those locations but it might be worth it to check them out! The material they used to re-cover the headliner was stuff he had on the shelf. It is by no means the factory correct GM NOS headliner material but I'm happy with it.

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That came out great and you can't beat the lifetime guarantee! The new headliner seems much brighter. How is the color match now? Does it make the rest of your interior seem old? Thanks for posting :thumbsup:

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Great question about the color match with the rest of the interior! The answer is, as of now the sun visors pretty much match the color of the headliner before. My plan is to use spray on fabric cleaner on the sun visors to clean them up. I used a spray on fabric cleaner to clean a set of stock sail panels that I bought used and the difference was night and day.

I will make sure I post pics of the entire interior once it's installed.

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I'll just stick with the local guy. The closest one you list is over an hour away.
Thanks for the info!

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Looking forward to the pics. Would you please tell me what the name of the fabric cleaner you use that has been great on our old cars? Thanks.

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That's cool, are you going to take pics of your headliner before and after? If so I would like to see them.

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Sorry for the delay in response, I've been out of town for the last few days. To answer your question, the fabric cleaner that I use is Tuff Stuff fabric cleaner in the aerosol can. Just follow the directions on back and it works like a charm.

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My friend has a Fiero and went to a local fabric store(It cost him about $35 plus $10 for the spray adhesive At the local auto parts store) and the carried the foam backed headliner material an i will be doing the same but smearing fiberglass resin on the headliner board to stiffen it up (got the idea from a place online where you could by the headliner boards made out of fiberglass or plastics) Hopefully this will work well i already tested it on a small portion of my old headliner board and it seemed to work

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Here's some pics of the headliner re-installed as of thirty minutes ago. I got kind of worried about what the color match between the sail panels, and sun visors was going to be like, but I was happy to see that once everything was installed they look pretty darn close.

In the third pic you'll notice the flat head screws I ended up using to hold the seat belt trim piece in place. These would not stay attached and tight up against the headliner due to the clips having been broken before I bought this IROC. It's not perfect but it will hold a hell of a lot better than what GM came up with... plastic clips, LOL!

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Another pic of the seat belt trim piece with the flat head screw that I countersunk into the trim piece so it was flush. Sorry for the previous pic I just realized how out of focus it is.

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