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Looking for help in finding a new headliner?????


Guest k6tc
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I haven't had any luck at all finding a new replacment headliner for my Cutlass Coupe. Is there anyone in our group that has had the occasion to replace theirs without having to pay 4+ hundred for one? I need the soft gray unit or could get away with using the charcoal one if that can be found?

Sure would appreciate the help in locating one.

**K6TC**

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4+ hundred? holy crap I never knew they were so much.

 

You probably don't care but I'll tell you what I did. It doesn't look as nice as a new headliner, but better than fabric hanging down.

I took out my headliner, tore off the fabric, scrapped off the fuzzy glue stuff, and then spray painted it with a 'speakly', 'cement' looking spray paint. Its different and I'm happy with it, but probably not for you.

 

thats what i did also with silver i was using a wire brush and it started to flake i need to hit it with a few more (yes few more) cans of spray paint

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yeah..i agree

 

my dad redid his in his truck. He took out the board, striped it. HE then put in some new foam, and then found some checkerboard fabric, and then re-upholsterd it. Looks very nice to me

 

jon

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Uh, why not just glue new fabric on?

 

I tried it before on 85 Tbird (with a sunroof :shock: ).. it was difficult working with spray on glue.. the results weren't that great. I should have used new fabric and better glue. I used contact cement with the original fabric and it just fell down again after a while.

 

I did it to my '86 Cougar (no sunroof). It was easy. One day project.

 

Steps:

 

Go to a fabric store (yes the kind your mom goes to.)

Ask them if they have fabric for car headliners, some of them do.

Find the right color. Now the hard part is done.

 

 

Take out the headliner.

Remove fabric from board.

Strip board of all remaining adhesive.

Glue.

Fabric.

 

I used some kinda putty-esque glue...not sure what it was, it's been a few years now. It takes a day or two to dry, and you need to have your windows open for at least a few hours so the car isn't permanently toxic. It turns out very nice in the end.

 

Learn from my mistake:

Mark where the visor's screw in, so you can easily put them back on when you're done. The Cougar is still visorless two years later.

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the only problem with gluing new fabric on is that ALL the old glue and fuzz must be removed or it will just fall/sag again.

 

Yep. But it's not that hard to do...the glue I bought came with fuzz/glue remover. Any adhesive remover oughtta do the trick.

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I make little "how to" sheets for myself , this way if someone has a good idea , or somthing out of the norm, I don't have to email them or "try" and remember what they said. Anyway, here is a couple of snipets I have saved for headliner repair:

 

Alright, well back when i had my car painted the headliner began to sag really bad due to moisture (car had to weatherstripping) so i installed a new one which has now unglued. When i installed it, i sanded the headliner itself down, cleaned it, and applied this spray glue on the fabric and on the headliner but i must have done something wrong. The glue was the "Heavy Duty" spray adhesive from Permatex; orange can with blue cap. My question now is what glue should a use? 3M sells one i think, would that be better? Should i use an adhesive remover to get the glue off the headliner now and then spray new glue? Anyone have any tips on spray methods or anything? Thanks for any help.

 

 

Ah, congrats!! I learned this the hard way. First off Permatex + headliner= sucks. As well as the "heads up" HEADLINER spray adhesive + headliner = sucks. i used 3 different types of spray adhesive for my (velvet-like)headliner, and the only one which worked is the big white can of 3M super heavy duty adhesive. This is the ONLY one which held up for more than 2-3 days for me. Actually it's been about 1.5 years and Im not having any problems. The previous adhesives I used, the 1st one (Elmers eneral spray adhesive) fully 100% released as soon as I brought the headliner outside. The 2nd (Permatex) held up for 1 day inside the car. The 3rd (3M general) was much better but sagged around the sunvisors after a week. but the 4th time I used super (by this time the fabric wasnt going to hold together too much longer) and worked excellent. I might have used some leftover 3M super 77 spray on the edges and that held up well too.

 

 

 

1) Take headliner out of the car

2) tear off old headliner

3) scrape off old glue

4) very thoroughly clean the headliner backing <- very important

5) lay the rolled up frabric at one end (like you're installing carpeting)

and make sure you have enough of it to conform to the shape of the headliner

6) apply adhesive on headliner and on the fabric one small section at a time.

7) wait for atleast 2 or 3 minutes before you lay down the fabric.

roll down the glued section.. smooth it out immediately before any of the glue starts to set. you miight need extra hand for this to go off without a hitch.

9) repeat 6 to 8 till the whole thing is done.

 

 

UPDATE__

I do a lot of these headliners and the spray can adhesive will last a few weeks before it starts to sag so here is a professional solution to this problem. Go to Home Depot and get the medium size can of contact cement with two cheap paint brushes then paint the cement covering all area on the headliner also on the back of the liner material then let it dry about 20 to 30 mins then carefully apply the liner from the middle out to the corners and there is no chance for error because once you lay it down it will stick for life.

 

I personally recommend Weldwood (DAP) contact cement. Make sure you get the 'original formula' yellow. The white one isnt worth a crap. A quart is less than $5 at Home Depot.

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the only problem with gluing new fabric on is that ALL the old glue and fuzz must be removed or it will just fall/sag again.

 

Yep. But it's not that hard to do...the glue I bought came with fuzz/glue remover. Any adhesive remover oughtta do the trick.

 

***I sure thank you all for the suggestions but I'm afraid I'm just too old to take on a project like that one... frankly, this old body o'mine just doesn't bend easily enough to pull it off, wish it did as replacing rather than repairing really go's against my grain...BUT that's life...so I'll keep looking perhaps someone knows how to contact GM and see if there might be a new one in their factory parts inventory somewhere, these agencies these days seem to find it a tough duty to get online and do an intensive search anymore...tough job touching all those keys on that computer huh guys?

AGAIN, many thanks to all for your comments

K6TC***

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too old? my dad is in his late 40s and does this (well, did this). To me, i really dont think that it is that hard. And adding the foam and what not is really nice touch too. Seriously, i dont know his steps, but whatever he did, is still up there after like 5 years, and looks cool as shit too

 

jon

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too old? my dad is in his late 40s and does this (well, did this). To me, i really dont think that it is that hard. And adding the foam and what not is really nice touch too. Seriously, i dont know his steps, but whatever he did, is still up there after like 5 years, and looks cool as shit too

 

jon

***WELL YOUR DAD IS A LOT YOUNGER THAN I AM SON AND A PILE OF "SHIT" COULD HARDLY BE CALLED COOL EVEN AFTER 5 YEARS, UNLESS YOUR INTO THAT SORT OF THING??? BUT IT'S GOOD NEWS THAT YOUR DAD WAS ABLE TO DO THAT FOR YOU***

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the spray glue does not work good for re-fabricating your headliner. It lasted about a good day in my freinds car and that was with moderate applications of it. that cement glue stuff sounded like a good idea

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um, sorry, dude. But first, this wasnt done in my cutlass, but in his silverado. He also redid it recently in his Regal too. Hell, it looks a lot beter than many headliners ive seen in some Mopars! Ive only owned this CS for 2 years. I dont know if he had upholstry experiance or not...im pretty sure he didnt though.

 

Actually...now that I remember, he built a headliner for his regal (he didnt have one). It looks pretty stock to me.

 

I didnt mean to be rude...just show thats its not as hard as it may sound. It may just be for me...but something like this i would take any day then changing a head gasket or something. Im sure the dealer may be able to help you out with finding an OEM one. They possibly may be able to dirrect you to a company locally that does uphostlry like this.

 

Sorry again, in no way was i trying to encite an argument or anything, just trying to help . And, hate to bring it to you...but the only thing my dad does for me is mechanical work. He doesnt touch the interior or paint on my car. Hell...when the buicks painted im the only one to touch the paint!

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geeze, settle down you crabby old fart. :P

 

the kid's just trying to help.

***Crabby old fart" am I? well maybe so that sort of language online is a bit hard to explaine to my Grandchildren where we've tried to teach then that decent folks don't talk that way in public...but thats just us "Crabby old farts" way of doing things. I do appreciate the kids trying to help as I've already said to all, perhaps you missed that?

K6TC***

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um, sorry, dude. But first, this wasnt done in my cutlass, but in his silverado. He also redid it recently in his Regal too. Hell, it looks a lot beter than many headliners ive seen in some Mopars! Ive only owned this CS for 2 years. I dont know if he had upholstry experiance or not...im pretty sure he didnt though.

 

Actually...now that I remember, he built a headliner for his regal (he didnt have one). It looks pretty stock to me.

 

I didnt mean to be rude...just show thats its not as hard as it may sound. It may just be for me...but something like this i would take any day then changing a head gasket or something. Im sure the dealer may be able to help you out with finding an OEM one. They possibly may be able to dirrect you to a company locally that does uphostlry like this.

***I did find online a number of companies that have ready made replacment headliners and have sent a request for some information as to price and possible location of someone qualified to do the R & R. your Dad is like I was with my four sons. we built a number of decent street machines and a couple of fun ski boats together...all grown now I do miss the times we had together. I do appreciate your input for sure.

Tom K6TC***

 

Sorry again, in no way was i trying to encite an argument or anything, just trying to help . And, hate to bring it to you...but the only thing my dad does for me is mechanical work. He doesnt touch the interior or paint on my car. Hell...when the buicks painted im the only one to touch the paint!

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***Crabby old fart" am I? *

 

if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck... guess what... it is a duck.

 

btw, if "crabby old fart" is an offensive term which your grand children should be shielded from, tell me, how do you explain to them your use of the word shit in your eloquent reply on page 1?

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***Crabby old fart" am I? *

 

if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck... guess what... it is a duck.

 

btw, if "crabby old fart" is an offensive term which your grand children should be shielded from, tell me, how do you explain to them your use of the word shit in your eloquent reply on page 1?

***Mearly a response to a comment now as for your part...exactly what or who included you in this conversation....you are looking to cause a confrontation to feed your smart mouth...look somewhere else I'm not interested in it or you***

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There WAS some useful information in this thread

 

If you were refering to the "dap contact cement" suggestion, I thank you.

I thought it was a good idea too, thats why as soon as I see somthing usefull, I copy & paste it into my own little worksheets. Now I just gotta apply it.

 

As for eveyone else , ...can't we all just get along?

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i agreee! I love getting along. I love sharing info here too! Thats why i come back every day. But...its good to see its alive.

 

For example, the detailing forum, i really only go there to check out cars. B/c every day, the same newbie posts the same question, and then you get 50 diff replys

 

jon

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