Hey,

I tried to to a search on this, but I had no luck. Im doing a restoration on my 4dr 68 chevelle and I need to remove the headliner without damaging it. One of the previous owners put in new door panels, carpet, dash pad, seat covers, but he didn't take care of the rotts properly. He just use bondo, so Im taking the interior apart. I already took down the sides, front and back, but the headliner is held in place with the bows, but I can't figure out how to remove them. Do I just pull on them and slide them out the sheet metal? Any help will be appreciated.

Also, is the headliner for the 2dr chevelle the same for the 4dr? Just incase I got to buy a new one...!

Patrick

The bows just get arched a little by hand until you can get them out of the hole it's stuck in. Headliners are different between 2 and 4 doors. Taking it out and reusing it.......that's a tough trick. Usally people spring for a new one.
Your pulling the headliner to fix body rot?

FIRST--You will find the bows and where the bows mount to the brackets. Mark the hole in the bow bracket where you remove it from and Mark or number your bows so they return to the same mounting hole in the roof.Try not to mix the bows up from where they came. Next if the headliner is org. It is sewn with cotton thread and will come apart at the seams. If you wish to keep it it should be RE stiched with a thread of 2007.
I built a driver and the interior shop told me, The 37 year old headliner is put together with cotton thread and if they patch it. It will come apart somewhere else. I went with a $75.00 new H. Liner. This is an almost " Pay me now or Pay me later deal" Its your call. Just offering some info. Good Luck Bob ACES--AACA

Thanks for the info. I had to pull the windshield to replace the cowl I got from allyears since mines is rotted. Then I noticed bondo on the top of windshield channel. So just to be safe, Im pulling the headliner to make sure there isn't no rotts to be safe.

Allyears is sending me a backup headliner just incase i screw this one up.

So I need to mark the bows then push on them so they arch a little to come out the hole..Right?

The first couple of pictures in this sticky show the bent ends on the bows.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161372

I recall during installation the bows slipped in with the "hook" in an uppward direction, but then we "rolled" it 180 degrees so it was snug against the roof and bowed up slightly.

I would think you might want to try and roll your bows 180 BEFORE arching them. It should require less arch and in turn less stress on the headliner.

If rot is an issue though there is a good chance that the bows may be rusted and hard/or impossible to rotate inside the headliner material.

Hey Everyone,

Well, I rotate the bows 180 Degrees like Widetires22 said till they face down, Marked all of them, then I tried to push up on the bows to get them out of the holes, but no luck. Any ideas?

They will come out of there since they just poke in the holes. If your not to far away I might drop by and give you a hand. I'm in Spring Branch

They will come out of there since they just poke in the holes. If your not to far away I might drop by and give you a hand. I'm in Spring Branch

Thanks 67 shovel. Im about 30 to 45 mins away from spring branch though. Im in the Northshore/Channelview area.

Well, I got one more idea. The previous owner glued some padding on sheet metal part of the headliner to insulate the interior from the heat. It's pretty thick, so im thinking if i remove the padding, then I should have enough room to push up on the bows for them to pop out. I'll try that this weekend and let you know if it worked or not.