I am thinking about re-covering my headliner.

Was wondering if anyone had any advice or some pictures on it?

Really interested, is it glued to the roof?

 

Yup, usually with sprayable glue; I'm thinking of re-doing mine too.
It's not in bad condition but my little brothers got a hold of some markers and scribbled on it hehe.

 

Does anyone have a write up?

Do you just pull the mirror, coat hangers, dome light and all the other stuff off? And it just comes out, never done it before. Any pictures on it being done, or after its done?

What color should I do?

So many questions.

 

Yeah, it also has some clips here and there so be careful pulling it off.
I think i'm going to do either a checkered b/w; or black tweed.

 

I am going to do mine this week. Post up pics when your done?

I also just ordered this...

http://www.v-leds.com/Shop/Control/P...id/0/SFV/32481

Anyone have any reviews on this? If not I will post up some pics for it.

 

No pictures or write up here, but here is what I've tried: glueing nice roll of vinyl over the whole thing - quality of glue was a big issue there, the bottom looked fine, but I couldn't do visors even though I tried heat gun and weight to stretch the vinyl, in the end I got upset and scraped the project.

Second try involved actual headliner material (foam backed from Ann's Fabrics) this is easy to apply and flexible enough that visors were not as much of a pain. Glue sticks really well to the foam, but if you use too much of it - it will soak through - a complete disaster. This was pretty much a done deal, but my cat did not think so and pissed all over it. I got really upset and dropped the project (should have dropped the kitty...).

Third try. I just picked up a replacement headliner from a junk yard and decided to try a different approach. Since quality was not perfect (it did have a few holes and cuts) I am filling these with contact cement to prevent further spreading, and some flexible/paintable caulking to smooth things out. I started it today so this is as far as I went, but the plan is to fill all of the holes and cracks, send them/clean smooth and paint over using roller and some paint (gonna try enamel for plastics). My ultimate goal is to completely cover the vinyl crinkle appearance and create a new texture with a roller and thicker paint. I am painting it beige as it is a color theme of my car. But it will make it easy to paint over. Will start taking pictures tomorrow.

 

I am not sure what kind of fabric to use. But I am going to go into a fabric store tomorrow and see what kinds they have and recommend. Not sure, I am not really an interior person, but I want a cheap way to customize my car.

 

dont do black and white checkers

 

Hehe, you shouldn't have posted that now i want to do checkers.
I'm doing it on a hatch so i won't be copying your CRX..... Wink Wink


Also, Cole89ef... i got the single LED Festoon Bulb and its pretty bright.

 

My goal with the bulb was "Bright as Sh*t".

So I am hoping it satisfies my immense criteria.

 

I don't want to duplicate the thread, and if original poster does not mind I will update my stuff here.

So I pretty much filled all of the holes, and I am ready to put the first coat. Here is the picture of what it looked like after patching. Crappy, eh?

 

The hell?
Did you fill it with bondo?

 

LOL, no, it is a flexible sealant. I thought of bondo, but did not want to deal with sanding..., besides it has to look good but doesn't have to be bullet proof.

 

there is a custom headliner thread if you search for it. lots of good info in there. i just did mine.

i went to joann fabrics and picked up my fabric as well as a can of loctite extra strength adhesive. i believe they make headliner adhesive as well but this worked really well.

i cleaned off my headliner and left the stock stuff on there. no need to remove it.

i layed the headliner down and used double sided tape to secure one end so i could lay it out over the headliner and it wouldnt be moving around. when i got it cut i got it just a little bigger than i needed but not too big so i wouldnt have a ton of excess fabric to deal with and made laying it on while gluing much easier imo.

i started at the end with the tape and coated the h/l really well with the adhesive and worked in small sections allowing it to dry and make sure i could work all the creases out. then i did another small section ect..

it helps if you have two people. one to pull the one end tight and have them work the fabic so it lays down better to cut back on the folds and stuff.

once it was all on there i flipped it over and used a big staple gun with some med sized staples to secure it to the back. dont use too big of a staple or it could poke through the other end.

i cut off the excess then i used a knife to poke holes and make an X shape in the fabric to pull it though the holes and used more staples to secure it on the back.

its really simple in an ef that doesnt have a sunroof cause its just one big flat piece.

this is the finished product. took me about 35 40 mins to do and made all the difference in the world compared to what it looked like before.









thats how nasty it was before i did it

 

Your best bet if your covering over the factory vinyl is to scuff up the surface and clean it. Using a good uphulstery grade contact cement in a spray gun, apply contact cement to headliner and material (vinyl, suede, etc), let tack up and apply. You wont get good results with spray glue in a can unless your using fabric headliner material, its more flexible than vinyl or suede. I am doing my headliner, doors, and upper dash in suede soon, I'll try to post pics.

Kirk R

 

i dont totally agree with that. we did the headliner the exact same way i did mine in my friends blazer with even shittier adhesive back in like 200. he just sold it last year and the headliner never sagged or wrinkled. maybe with suede you would have to use something better cause its a much heavier material but for thin fabric you dont need anything crazy to do it

 

"You wont get good results with spray glue in a can unless your using fabric headliner material, its more flexible than vinyl"

As I stated, if you use fabric headliner material, you can get away with 3M or similar can spray adhesives. The "best" way to do it will depend on your material used, vinyl will not stick with spray glue in a can, nor will suede.

Kirk R

 

Anyone have a link to the headliner thread?

 

ooh sounds easy! I wanna do this too

 

i think im gonna do zebra print

 

i'm doing checker board tweed on mine lol

 

speaking of, here is mine. Black and white checkerboard. Kinda droopy in one spot, glue dried to fast. Nothing a little upholstry thumb tack cant fix. Took me less than 30 minutes to do. about an hour total time of taking it and out installing it

 

thanks for stealing my idea

 

^technically..if he did it before you...it's his idea =P

 

lol thanks. Yeah i finished the headliner back in november. never put it in cause it got to be really cold, and then the big ol storm hit. I put it in about 2 weeks ago. I love looking at it.