Not so much of a full "How-To" as a "lessons learned/what to do different."

Lots of videos out there; watch a bunch of them. Many will talk about removing the A/B/C pillar covers; I followed this one that didn't, because, well, who wants to do all that work?




Removal from the car was pretty easy; better than I expected. No real tricks here. Some videos talk about removing seats. I didn't. I already have the rear seats removed, and I just folded the front seats forward when it came time to pull out the headliner.



Removing old material: The fabric pulls off without an issue. Getting the foam off the headliner board takes some time. Most of the tutorials showed using a wire brush. I used a putty knife to scrape with, and used some citrus solvent to cut the really heavy adhesive places. This is time consuming, but not that bad. I'm a firm believer that good prep makes every job look better, so I really took my time here.



Headliner material: A lot of the posts I read and videos I watched used some sort of regular fabric from a fabric store. I bought headliner material (Got mine from Perfectfit.com in Tukwila, WA. They were super helpful, and they saved me shipping, because I am local).



Adhesive: I used 3m 90 spray adhesive (based on recommendations from Perfect Fit). More on that later...



Installing new fabric: This is my first headliner of this type (did some old cars with wire lists, but haven't done one that's just adhesive). I've done a lot of striping cars, gluing carpet, etc. I'm also a master craftsman at working without an assistant. With foam-backed headliner fabric, you're going to want an assistant, particularly on a headliner like our cars, that have so many curves. PLUS, 3m 90 sticks INSTANTLY. There's zero work time if you let it set up like the instructions say. I followed the instructions of the video above to begin with, working with half of the fabric folded back. Doing it over, I'd try working from the center out, doing the middle bar (between the sunroofs), then the rear, then the front last, gluing about 12" down the middle, then working one side all the way out, then the opposite side. I wound up with a few bubbles where the roof transitions down to the areas where the grab bars bolt in. I also wound up with a few wrinkles that I'm attributing to the foam folding funny while trying to work the material without it sticking ahead of the area I was working. This is where an assistant would come in handy, to hold the glued material up, until you're ready to have it stick, rather than folding over on itself.

Work surface: I used a sheet of plywood on two sawhorses to work when gluing the material. A hint I picked up on another video: Use a sheet of plastic (Visqueen or similar) to cover your work surface. Particularly if you are doing a headliner with sunroof openings, you’re going to get adhesive on your work surface, your fabric that covers the opening, or both. The plastic will not stick at all (if you spray the fabric back, but don’t have adhesive on the plastic where the fabric makes contact), or if it does stick, it’s fairly easy to separate with a razor or exacto knife, rather than having to scrape it off the plywood, where it will bond much more tightly.

The factory didn't wrap fabric around to the back side of the headliner board, and this is what caused me to have to replace mine—the edge over the PS door came loose, and was hanging down, catching wind when the window was down, and pulling loose even more. I chose to wrap the material around the board and gluing on the back side. I was concerned that this extra thickness of the padded headliner might create fitment problems but it worked well.

I have a couple of locations in the sharp transition curve between horizontal and vertical surfaces where the fabric is bubbled away from the board. A suggestion (I didn’t try it, because it’s not that bad, and I didn’t have the supplies to try) would be to try to inject some sort of liquid adhesive into the bubble with a heavy-gauge needle.

Summary: This isn’t my finest mod/upgrade/repair. I fully expected to have to redo it, but in the end, it is “good enough.” Most of the job was easier than I expected (removal, stripping foam/prep, reinstall). The part I thought would be pretty easy (gluing/trimming the foam) was more challenging, and resulted in less-than-perfect results. So this isn’t a typical “how-to,” as I expected the install to be pretty straight-forward, so I didn’t document/photograph. This is a “what I wished I’d known” story, hopefully it helps the next person.

 

So thanks for the great write up. It’s so good I was confident enough to try to repair the headliner myself. I got everything back together except the pillar trim and I can’t figure out how to get it in tight. I think the seatbelt is the issue any tips or ideas on what to do now?

 

So thanks for the great write up. It’s so good I was confident enough to try to repair the headliner myself. I got everything back together except the pillar trim and I can’t figure out how to get it in tight. I think the seatbelt is the issue any tips or ideas on what to do now?

 

Glad you found it helpful!

I did my removal and installation without removing any pillar trim, so I don't have anything off the top of my head.

Pictures might help, to see where you're having difficulty.

 

Basically I pulled the trim down a bit so I could slip the headliner out. There is airbag stuff and straps and seat belt stuff and now I can’t figure out how to get them in all the way.

 

Hard to offer much advice without being able to see it; not sure even with pics I'd have much else to suggest. I'd guess you either have something in the way, or a mounting clip not aligned properly. Just going to have to fish around, squint, poke, and see what you can discover. Not much help, but it's all I've got...

 

I went out at lunch and tried to get pics

Hmmm

Hard to see

Worse

 

Take all of this with a grain of salt, considering that I've never removed that trim piece, but if you can't feel behind there to determine what's keeping you from fitting it properly, I'd consider pulling it off, or at least loose more, so that you can understand where the clips are, and how they work, and what might be impeding them.

Might post a new thread on the main R53 board seeing if anyone else has any suggestions.

 

Thanks I think your right. That trim piece is held in by screws which are covered by another trim piece. So I didn’t want to take more stuff apart and get in more trouble. Now I think take more stuff apart is the only way. Thanks everyone for you help

 

A question on prepping the headliner board. After removing all of the old foam with a stiff brush, there is a sticky residue on the headliner board. In the name of thorough prep, I feel compelled to remove this. But it will require something like Simple Green or a citrus cleaner and I don't want to wet the board unless I have to. So is it recommended to remove the residue or is gluing over it the way to go?

 

I used a citrus cleaner. I viewed it as a job I only want to do once, so I wanted to be meticulous doing prep. Wetting the board isn't going to harm it (mine seemed more like a plastic or fiberglass material, not a cardboard or paper material that would be effected by liquid).

 

I can relate to thorough prep, but I’m thinking if the surface is smooth, the added stickyness of the remaining glue might help, as long as the adhesives don’t negatively react with each other. Something like simple green or goo gone could cause the board to warp or swell and would prevent the new adhesive from sticking once they were absorbed into it. (Experience from above says otherwise)

Were you able to get a quote on recovering a loose headliner?

 

I certainly can't disagree with that thought, but I've only done it once. I didn't consider getting a quote. I tend to do most things myself. Cheap and stubborn.

 

I’m a do it yourself guy too for pretty much the same reasons, hopefully with the outcome of “if you want something done right, do it yourself “

The loose quote question was for dmath who originally got a high quote for the entire job. When I see headliner recovering threads, they always remind me of a post I read a long time ago. The poster got a quote for $80 to be re-cover a loose headliner and was wondering if he should go ahead and do it himself.

My thought was at that price, pay the professional. After fabric and adhesive costs, your labor for prep and clean up, and the potential for having to do it again because of possible wrinkles or drooping from low quality or not enough adhesive, how much are you really saving.

 

Thanks guys. It is smooth and none of the videos I've seen mention cleaning the surface after removing the foam. BUT @Husky44 has me thinking about going above and beyond the call. I'll reevaluate the board tomorrow morning.

The quote that @RB-MINI referred to was $750. Way high, in my opinion. Based on the encouragement of NAMers who posted in my thread, I decided to do it myself. My original plan when I began working on this car was to do as much as possible my self. The "as possible" applies to jobs that are critical and I want to make sure are done exactly right. So far, there have been only two: rebuilding the head (valve seals, etc. and skimming) and a four-wheel alignment. I removed the head and reinstalled it, including the cam and rockers, but thought it best to let a pro do the really fiddly bits.

Even with buying 3 yards of fabric (just to be sure), I'm only in for about $90 for the headliner. I hope to get the new fabric on this weekend.

 

@Husky44 Did you rinse with anything after the citrus solvent?

 

If I did, it would have been with a basic grease and wax remover. It's been 3 years ago, so I can't say for sure.

 

Thanks, your thread has been very helpful.