Headliner installation questions

[bob m]

I bought a new headliner with instructions to glue it to the roof of my 72z. I tried a dry run without the glue but with tape to hold the front edge n place as suggested. I had problems getting the edges under the metal flange and think it would be worse when the contact cement sticks the pieces where they touch rather than letting them slide into position. Any suggestions on how to position the headliner and work it into shape?

Thanks

Bob M

[240ZX]

If you've never attempted this exercise, you may want to take it to a good automotive type upholstery shop and let them do it. The price they charge you will likely be less than what you are looking forward to if you F the install up. Just a suggestion!

Tom

[Zak's Z]

If you do get it done yourself, please take pics, or post a thread and describe step-by-step how its done. I'm sure (myself included) others will have to put their headliners back in after resorations.

Zak

[FirstGenZ]

I did mine in a 78 from scratch. No kit. Use the old headliner as a pattern. Use a magic marker to draw lines fore and aft and side to side. Both headliner and roof. Use a tape measure so that the lines are centered. Try a trial run to be sure the lines will position the headliner correctly. Spray both roof and headliner with 3M contact cement. Very carefully position the headliner intersecting lines with the lines on the roof. Work from the lines outward. This is not a job that can be rushed. Be patient. When you get to the edges use a paint stir stick to tuck the edges in place.

[beandip]

When we sprayed the cement on the roof we didn't put any closer than about three inches out from all edges. I marked the head liner first at a center line in the front and also in the back and did a trial fit before any cement. My friend and I then sat in the seats after covering the dash and all in case of over spray and shot the roof as well as the head liner. We tucked the liner in the front then positioned all so the lines lined up then from the front pushed the liner firmly to the roof. We used the plastic squeegees that are made for applying body filler to push the head liner in the edges all around being careful not to damage the surface . Using a towel we then worked the headliner over to make sure there was no gaps or air pockets. Be sure that the cement is applied evenly and on both surfaces . allow the cement to tack before installation. I hope his is of help . One more thing , I wouldn't try this by my self as it is tricky to align the head liner to square by your self . Contact cement bonds immediately when the two surfaces are touched together . You may be able to adjust just a little if only a vary small amount of the liner is contacted if done immediately. But don't count on it. good luck . Gary

[MikeW]

I just re-installed mine for the third time so I'm getting to be an expert. It's actually not that difficult to do by yourself. The reason that I had to redo it twice is that I must not have used enough glue the first two times as it started sagging from the center. You'll need to remove the plastic trim that the dome light is in and probably the quarter window trim before getting started.

Like Gary, I marked the center of the front and back. Positioning isn't absolutely critical as there's at least an inch overlap on all sides (I got my headliner from Too Intense - others may vary). Because of the way the headliner is tucked in around the entire perimeter it's not important to get the glue close to the edges.

I first got the front center mark tucked in above the rear view mirror and then pushed the entire front edge in. After verifying that the rear center would line up with the middle of the dome light I opened the hatch and climbed in. At this point the entire front edge is held up and the rest is hanging down resting on the seat tops. I then used my can of spray-on headliner adhesive to thoroughly coat both the headliner and the roof. Because I was spraying it in between the two surfaces from the back it was easy to avoid getting glue on any other part of the car. This time I used a lot of adhesive and made sure that it got good and tacky before pressing it up into place. Based on my past experience getting the center thoroughly attached is the most critical part. Once the headliner is glued into place it's just a matter of going around the perimeter and getting it tucked into place. I used a thin wooden shim that I cut off and then sanded a rounded working edge on.

[Ed]

Another suggestion is to do it on a warm sunny day, or use a hair dryer to warm up the vinyl before you apply it. Make sure you slightly stretch to avoid any wrinkles.

[EScanlon]

One note though, do NOT saturate the surface of the FOAM on the headliner.

If you're hankering to spray the "heck" out of it, spray it on the metal part of the roof.

This is simply because too much adhesive will tend to soak INTO the foam, and the headliner's foam is typically NOT closed cell foam. As a result it could soak and saturate the foam, which could be disastrous if you happen to press on the headliner and the adhesive sticks to itself. You'll end up with dents in the foam.

The trick to spraying on the foam is to spray just enough of a light coat to build a "base". Allow this to set and dry, on your second pass, is where you'll apply more to hold onto the adhesive you've sprayed on the metal roof. In this manner you'll not be soaking the foam on the first coat, which is the critical part of not soaking it.

Remember that you're dealing with contact cement. As such follow the instructions as close to the letter as possible.

E

[MikeW]

Another suggestion is to do it on a warm sunny day, or use a hair dryer to warm up the vinyl before you apply it. Make sure you slightly stretch to avoid any wrinkles.

Good point. One concern, however, would be to not stretch it too much. I'm wondering if the stretching I did previously while tucking in the perimeter contributed to it coming loose in the middle. After all it's a flat piece of vinyl being attached to a concave roof surface.

A couple of other notes: I wore a respirator while spraying the glue as a lot of fumes can build up inside the car. Also, I just now finished the two rear corners and didn't have to remove the quarter window trim completely. Instead I just took out the coat hangers and screws and was able to bend the plastic enough to get the headliner in place.

[MikeW]

One note though, do NOT saturate the surface of the FOAM on the headliner.

Another good point. In my case the two previously layers of adhesive probably prevented this.

[TRtom]

Getting ready to do, does anyone have any new ideas since this post in 2006? Or does anyone have photos, or even better yet a video??

Thanks

[Arne]

No newer ideas, but I did use a different adhesive than is commonly noted. Instead of the commonly recommended 3M 76 Hi-Tack, I used 3M 77, which specifically mentions foam-to-metal, is temperature resistant and is designed specifically to NOt soak into or saturate the foam. We did mine about 10 months ago, working just fine.