Replacing the Headliners

When I bought my car the headliners were almost down in my face. The fabric looked great but the foam backing had almost completely given way. In case you didn't know, the fabric is bonded to the foam. There is no way to re-glue the fabric.  I decided I would replace them myself. I read the write-up in DeLorean World, vol 9 #2 which was the only guide I could find. The DeLorean World article is a good place to START learning about the process to remove and install the headliners, but hardly the whole process. But make sure you have a copy before you begin. The diagrams are handy.

Materials:

I found a brand of headliner material that exactly matches my stock headliners. I have seen darker shades on several cars but I don’t know if they were originals. The headliner material I used is called ‘Heads Up’, from HeadsUp Industries in Florida (954) 472-3300 www.headsuponline.com. The model # is HU-804 - Light Grey. You’ll also need the HeadsUp spray on headliner adhesive plus contact cement solvent. Check your local 'Pep Boys'. Many of the stores carry it.

The instructions for removing the old foam from the headliner forms and attachment of the new material to the forms is documented on the box the headliner material comes in. The forms MUST be clean. I've found that using anything else but Contact Cement Cleaner and Thinner to clean the forms will not remove the old foam adheasive. You have to spray the adhesive on both the forms and the foam backing of the fabric, otherwise it won’t stay put, especially in the deep forms in the doors.Spray on more than 1 coat on both. Do not put it on the fabric too thick of it will soak through and become visable. You may have to use brush-on contact cement in some of the deeper areas. DO NOT RUSH. I did my headliners over several days. I used sand to hold the fabric down into the forms to give the fabric time to stretch to fit the form.

There is a direction or ‘grain’ to the fabric. It runs from front to back on the car. The worst part of the job is removing all the old foam. When it rots it becomes a gooey gray mess. You might want to cover the interior of the car while you work, and only use the solvent in a well ventilated place. Use a large scrubbing brush to remove the bulk of the foam and then clean off the old adhesive with the solvent.

Make sure to note exactly how the old headliner is attached, especially where the material attaches to the edges of the door under the door seals. Another trick area is the overhead light. DO NOT cut the new material to the size of the opening in the headliner form. The hole needs to be slightly smaller than the back portion of the lamp fixture only. The fixture is held up only by the fabric itself.

Door Headliners:

Check the door headliners for spots where the headliner is rubbing the door opening or the rubber seals. If you have an area that rubs, plan to trim back the headliner form in that area. On my car, the headliners rubbing on the rubber seals tore a hole in the seal. When pulling the headliners from the doors, you’ll break some of the ‘x-mas tree’ retainers when you pull out the headliner form. You can pick up new ones at any car upholstery shop or many auto parts shops (see picture) It’s MUCH better to break some of these than to damage the headliner forms. Worn retainers will not hold the headliner panel properly to the door.  These retainers screw into the openings.

The trick is to pay careful attention not to stretch the material and not wrinkle the fabric as you press it down into the deep form.