[1970SS]

I thought the same thing. Most material expands as it gets hot and contracts when it gets cold. However I watched some headliner installations where they were using a heat gun to get the wrinkles out so that tells me the heat is shrinking the material.

 

[HandOverFist]

Or maybe it is just relaxing the material allowing the wrinkles to flatten out...like a steamer does for clothes.

 

[rattracer]

Great write up! Thanks for taking the time.

 

[rufcar]

Finishing up my 70 today. Ill post pics later. tips my 70 Chevelle is totally different then my 69 Camaro that took 4 hors start to total finish. all day on the 70 no where near done. Yes remove all those metal clips along all edges and scotch brite them and clean off all old glue. Then re install. I laid mine out for a week on the dinning room table, then for 2 days on a flat table in my garage and still needed a steamer and a heat gun. There were no clips with the sail panel from PMI so we are trying glue and wrapping edges. Ill finish the story tomorrow with more info.

 

[rufcar]

Discovered I needed 2 vertical rubber interior weather strips just in front of the sail panels. NO one offers them as part of there kits? Interior is almost done. I need to install those 2 rubbers 1st then reattach the rubber covered steel windlace on those curved edges. Rear seat cardboard some insulation the 2 plastic bottom arm rest fillers and seat back and bottom. Then shes 100%. Pics soon.

 

[Philip]

This has inspired me to do it myself. Since it is a wagon it is about twice the size of a 2 door car. At least I will not have the sail panel area to deal with Have not removed it from the box yet, is there a front and rear edge to the headliner? Need to get this in so the glass can be installed.

 

[RAMBO]

This has inspired me to do it myself. Since it is a wagon it is about twice the size of a 2 door car. At least I will not have the sail panel area to deal with Have not removed it from the box yet, is there a front and rear edge to the headliner? Need to get this in so the glass can be installed.

usually you can tell the front from the back by the spacing of the bows. the ones in the front are usually farther apart than the rear... but of course not sure in a wagon.

PUI headliners they usually mark the centerline and mark the front.

 

[Philip]

Thanks, it is a PUI headliner.

 

[RAMBO]

I think the most important thing you can do is to spread it out and heat it up ahead of time to eliminate the folds & creases.

Normally i like to put them in the clothes dryer on hot for about 5 mins... but with one that big i'm not sure. Might still be worth a shot. Those creases are a PAIN to work out later if you don't get them out first.

If you have a clothes steamer that can also work well to heat it up. Makr yourself a little a-frame to support and spread out the material, then steam the creases from the back side.

 

[Bart_Swisher]

I will be installing mine here in the next week. I am finishing up on some minor body work. I got most of the wrinkles out of mine by going ahead and installing the bows, trimming the bow sleeves back enough to pull it fairly tight, then put several of the clips on to hold it. It has been that way for about 3 months now and all of the creases/wrinkles are gone. I do have the luxury of it just sitting in the garage without the glass in it. I will pull it back out before i finish the paint next week and reinstall/glue everything before setting the glass. I am using the landau top HHR glue on mine. I have used it on dash pad vinyl etc and it work MUCH better than any of the aerosol products hands down. I also have an upholstery steamer that I used when I made my new seat upholstery in order to fine tune the area above the sail panels.

 

[Philip]

I think the most important thing you can do is to spread it out and heat it up ahead of time to eliminate the folds & creases.

Normally i like to put them in the clothes dryer on hot for about 5 mins... but with one that big i'm not sure. Might still be worth a shot. Those creases are a PAIN to work out later if you don't get them out first.

If you have a clothes steamer that can also work well to heat it up. Makr yourself a little a-frame to support and spread out the material, then steam the creases from the back side.

It is supposed to be 110° in the shade this week. Probably just push the car outside, lay the headliner on the roof and let the sun make it hot.

 

[Philip]

With the help of Bill, aka Busterwivell, we have the headliner hung on the bows.

Using this tool to pull and tuck the material into the channel seems to be working just not sure how tight it should be.

Turned the cooler off tonight and going to let the shop get really hot inside and pull a little tighter.

I know the white pocket needs to be trimmed back but the fold in the material seems like it would cause problems if left as is. Should it be trimmed too?

Thanks

 

[RAMBO]

look like you are making good progress!

FWIW... the heat does not make it "pull tighter". Heat relaxes the vinyl.
Heating it up to remove the wrinkles and creases works because it relaxes and expands.

So when installing You want to heat it up when stretching into place- then when it COOLS it really does contract a bit and in turn pulls itself tighter than you could done had you just stretched it when cold.

 

[Philip]

Okay after a 2 more days of figuring out what works best I have half the headliner looking good. My experience with various clips so far has been that the small binder clips don't hold all that well, the medium are okay but the large work excellent. The spring clips, the green tipped ones in the photo work very well wish I would have had more of them. The red tipped ones from China just suck, they wouldn't even make good paper clips. Drove to town and picked up 20 more of the large binder clips for tomorrow.

Cutting around the A, B, C and D pillars is time consuming. Little cuts, pull and check, little more, another check but it is progressing nicely. The rear pinch weld trim is installed but no glue on the fabric yet.

I'm hoping this glue will work, it has a brush that will make it less messy than the spray adhesive.

Going to work it a little tighter tomorrow and then install the side glass trim before moving onto the forward section.

In a 2 or 4 door car I would be done

 

[1966_L78]

Wow,

I just refreshed my memory by rereading this thread, as its been a few years.

Yesterday, I installed a new headliner in my '67 El Camino... Wow, took under 3 hours!

Today I'll add the trim and visor mounts/mirror mount/dome bezel...


Had a few people laugh, including my wife, because I probably had 80-100 of the "medium" binder clips... Yeah, it wasn't going anywhere...

 

[RAMBO]

Wow,

I just refreshed my memory by rereading this thread, as its been a few years.

Yesterday, I installed a new headliner in my '67 El Camino... Wow, took under 3 hours!

Today I'll add the trim and visor mounts/mirror mount/dome bezel...

I'm getting ready to do one in a 67 Camaro in a few weeks... will be my 5th one.
I was going through it again myself as a refresher!

One of the most useful threads of all time!!!

 

[1966_L78]

One of the most useful threads of all time!!!

Ranks right up there with many of your posts on seat covers and foam...


Which reminds me, I need to dig up some of those to prepare for my bench seat install...

Got the ACI foam and PUI covers, just waiting on some hog rings (I know I have some around here, but I couldn't find them)... I stripped the lower cover and found one broken side spring, but its not one of the "S" springs... I think a few tubular connectors and another piece of wire should do the trick... I also stripped one back but left the other as a reference, even though it has been recovered before...

 

[Philip]

I buy hog rings at the local feed store.

 

[300-D]

I have done 3 headliners, all three had front and rear glass still in it. I have 2 more headliners to do, it gets easier the more you do, but its never easy, thats for sure.I always leave screw in their holes, so you can find the holes easy, make an incision. I also like to clip the headliner tight, let it sit for a few days, then stretch it tighter before glueing. Complete process is around 10 hours I suppose. My buddy had a professional do his 67 GTO, that guy did it in about 4 hours, but he has done hundreds of them, and he used a steamer for the wrinkles. I have about 100 alligator clips, they work awesome.

 

[cheveslakr]

Stole this from "phscollectorcarworld" .....


I have a nice pic from Joe Petrik showing the bows and the color code sequence from front to rear of roof. From the front his was marked Blue, next one was Pink, the center rod is the thinnest one one with no hooks, often no paint daub, the rear ones are Pink-Orange followed by Green-Pink.
Install Tips
Mark your pieces as you remove them. Now, on an older car you'll often have rust build up on these bows. It's a good idea to removed the rust with steel wool but mark your rods before you take away all the rust. Be sure to mark them so you know which one goes where. Also, do not paint those rods. They were bare for a reason. It makes slipping them through the headliner fabric listings easier. Once you paint the rods, the loops inside the fabric listing tends to "grab" the rod and it causes bunching of the fabric all along the way. Very time consuming to straighten out. Remove the rust, by all means but don't paint the rods. This will go a long way towards ensuring a nice installation.