Headliner fall out

[DJRay]

After looking for almost a Year I purchased my first Z. I am 6'6" and needed one in good condition and with automatic as there is no room for me to lift my left leg up to a clucth!! Youch! However as I looked at about 7 Z's all but one had the same problem, the headliner was falling off the inside top! the car i got has only 90,000 miles and was garaged for most of its life and... yup! the headliner rests on my head.... What can I do to get this back up? Its in great conditon just dosnt belong on top of my head! I assume it has to be glued but It looks like the cloth has actually detached from some sort of backing, but cant tell without removing it all. Need some more information before I take off on this. Can this be glued back up? what kind of glue will actually hold this in place? Thanks for the help!

"...its the "Z" all the bad boys want!"

[WalterMondale]

The Headliner material is vinyl with a foam backing. The foam gets funky after years of temperature changes and the glue gives up its service life. You can try to reglue it with 3M “77” adhesive. The stuff comes in a spray can. I have seen it for sale at both Pep Boys and Home Depot.

Follow the can directions to the letter. If you don’t it will not hold up. It really is required to let the glue set up before you press the liner back into place. Try to get some help when you do this chore. Be sure to mask off everything in the car you do not want glue on.

Last option is to take it to an auto upholstery shop. It should not be very expensive a job.

[DJRay]

Thanks for the reply, except I dont have a vinyl headliner, its cloth. Thats why I was wondering what I could re glue it with, The 3m stuff is good, just did not know if it would work with cloth. I asked at the local auto stores, ( no pep boys anywhere in my entire state that I know of, or close states either!) they did not know. I think I will take to an upolstery shop and forget about doing it myself as you suggested. Thanks again.

Lookin for Stacy's mom.

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by DJRay

Thanks for the reply, except I dont have a vinyl headliner, its cloth.

Is it in a ZX? I looked at several ZX's before buying my 280Z, and almost all of them had a falling-out headliner!

[DJRay]

Yes it is a ZX seems I forgot that part! It seems all the zx's i looked had this problem.

"A chimp at the wheel"

[bobbovine]

Don't reuse the material you have in the car now, it will never properly adhere to the backer board. If at all possible carefully remove the entire headliner, board and all. Pull off the old fabric and throw it away. Brush as much of the nasty foam of the board as is humanly possible without doing any damage to the board itself.

After that is done get some new headliner fabric, either online, some larger autoparts stores, or at a large fabric chain store like a JoAnne's Fabric and the 3M adhesive mentioned above. Follow all the directions on the can, and be careful it is in fact possible to glue your foot to the floor with the overspray (glue the new material to the board outside the car, I've done it in my garage). I like to let it sit overnight then put the refreshed headline in the car.

If you try and reglue the old fabric it will just end up falling down again in a few days. The glue just sticks to the old rotten foam backing and comes back down. Plus you won't get nasty oily old orange foam falling on your head anymore.

The whole thing can be done for under $40 easily, and the end result is so much better.

[WalterMondale]

Sorry, I assumed it was a 1st gen Z. I should have known better when you stated "cloth".

I think that the 3M spray may bleed thru the fabric, so do not use that, especially if it is a light color fabric, unless the can states that it is okay. You may even want to try a sample work up anyway. I know this becuase I tried this on my Jeep Cherokee, and it failed and looked like crap.

I was much happier paying the local shop to do this.

[Go240Zags]

Hey DJRay, did you try looking at first gen Zs, I have a 240Z and am also 6 foot 6 inches tall and find I can shift okay with a manual, however, I think I'll put in a slightly smaller diameter steering wheel because it does somewhat get in the way of my left leg when shifting. Was this your problem with the manual ZX? Just wonder about other Z drivers' heights and what has been their experience, especially those over six foot four or so. Gary

[carguyinok]

Don't reuse the material you have in the car now, it will never properly adhere to the backer board. If at all possible carefully remove the entire headliner, board and all. Pull off the old fabric and throw it away. Brush as much of the nasty foam of the board as is humanly possible without doing any damage to the board itself.

The only thing I would add here. Rather then just brushing it. Use some 500 grit sandpaper on it then brush it clean. You need to remove as much bad foam as you can. Or you will be doing it again real soon

[DJRay]

Originally posted by GaryZ240

Hey DJRay, did you try looking at first gen Zs, I have a 240Z and am also 6 foot 6 inches tall and find I can shift okay with a manual, however, I think I'll put in a slightly smaller diameter steering wheel because it does somewhat get in the way of my left leg when shifting. Was this your problem with the manual ZX? Just wonder about other Z drivers' heights and what has been their experience, especially those over six foot four or so. Gary

Actually I did not try any of the 240/260 at all, just the 280 and zx. I had a good friend who bought a New 1972 240 and we used to go riding in it, all I remember is how jammed we were in the car, it seemed to me to be narrower than the 280, however I dont know that for a fact. I have plenty of leg room in my zx but the pedals are so far forward that even to use the accelerator my right knee is up by wheel. I dont care about that, a somewhat great man once said, if its comfortable then its not a sports car, i assume this will apply to a (280zx) zx even if its more or less a GT and not quite the same spirit as the orginal 240.

"I am the Highway"

[DJRay]

Originally posted by bobbovine

Don't reuse the material you have in the car now, it will never properly adhere to the backer board. If at all possible carefully remove the entire headliner, board and all. Pull off the old fabric and throw it away. Brush as much of the nasty foam of the board as is humanly possible without doing any damage to the board itself.

If you try and reglue the old fabric it will just end up falling down again in a few days. The glue just sticks to the old rotten foam backing and comes back down. Plus you won't get nasty oily old orange foam falling on your head anymore.

This seems logical, however I dont have any foam falling down now, and would want to get some fabric that was close to the original. I was just informed by a friend that I can use the old headliner and use a carpet rubber cement, that will not let go. At least i have some options, thanks!

"The road I'm On"

[carguyinok]

This seems logical, however I dont have any foam falling down now, and would want to get some fabric that was close to the original. I was just informed by a friend that I can use the old headliner and use a carpet rubber cement, that will not let go. At least i have some options, thanks!

Just so you know. Yes, carpet cement will hold it. But will also bleed threw and show :sick: I have never seen a headliner drop off the foamboard without the foam being bad in one way or another.