Making your own Headliner

Tell me you are really kidding me.....right? I'm sure the term "hippie-dippie" you used earlier is a George Carlin phrase...

Please don't use some ugly floral vinyl on the headliner...

 

No, I want a lighter tan/camel colour though, preferably in a textured vinyl. I like the odd stogie every now and then, and vinyl will let me clean off the 'soot'.

 

It'll work, just keep it a light as possible. Whew! That was close. I thought you had reverted to the '60s. You were talking about a micro-bus several months ago....

 

Second childhood is about 17 years away...

 

Hear ya go Norm, your new headliner.....

.....even has a Mexican feel to it

I did the headliner in my Crewzer shortly after I got it, I also did'nt use a foam backed liner because of the reason you mentioned Norm. I used a lite coloured denim and had my daughter dye it darker. A few experiment dye mixes with scraps and she got pritty darn close.
Don't lauph at the denum, nobody notices unless I point it out.

This is the glue and all the tools I used,


Scrapers for getting rid of the factory foam and the only reason I used epoxy and the aluminum nashua tape was, if you look close the corners where the visors were had broken away.


Finnished product, pic makes it look a hell of alot darker than it really is.
I really think you should get the old headliner from the junker Norm and do the glue and install. It will hold up a heck of alot better.


Look at my visor coeners on the finnished product....alost stronger than new.

 

Coffee break's over, back at it.

 

Mom always had a bunch of those oilcloth table cloths. That looks like one of them!

I like that denim idea. Gotta visit a couple fabric shops...

Yeah, I'll get the headliner from the junker and see what I can do to get a decent backer board.

Nice work Tedy.

 

Well here's the latest. ABS is molded at the factory, and some aftermarket/classic vendors also make molded ABS replacements. Its not something the average guy could work without some serious heatgun or hotlamps and a form.

The Canadian Plast-tex distribuitor hasn't answered back, so I went looking for Fox headliner backing boards. My wagon has the old hoop-type, so I'm starting from zip!

I got the front part off the only local Fairmont wagon in a junkyard, and took the raggedy, torn, rear part to get lengths and slot/bend locations. Then I went to another yard where they had a 1985 Fox-LTD 4-door sedan and got that one to make up the back section. Also got the cross-bar trim parts and the nylon snap-in clips for the wagon's division of the front and rear sections.

AND Then and then! I went to our largest fabric retailer, and they carry a line (Jackson's Fabrics) of the foamie-type with the stock colours for my trusty wagon. $60 for the fabric, $17 for the 3M 77 (made for bonding the foam-backed fabric) and 15 for the headliner backing boards. Just waiting for the fabric (maybe a week).

Didn't know you could reuse the backing board, but sure is good to know.

 

Here's some pics of the two headliners. The light coloured one is from the Fairmont wagon at Midnight Autoparts, and the dark one is from a 1985 Fox-based LTD 4-door sedan:


So the width is perfect. The 1985 has the domelight a bit more forward.


Here's what was left of the rear wagon section of the headliner. Just enough to get the total length and width and side crease locations. Lots of extra length (about 13.5 inches on the sides and 11 at the tailgate hinge crossbar.:


This is what I have now:


Mounted with the old Hoop type system:


The fabric should be at the store early next week, so I'll prep the new rear section, except for the final trim at the hinge end, and get the center support ready too (clean and paint to match), over the weekend.

 

My fabric just came in! Yippee! Picking it up at 9:00 AM. And its warm enough this afternoon to get it on the backing board and in the wagon.