[bluecat]

Fellas,

Does anyone have any information on the installation of headliners? I have a 70 standard and am having trouble with installing the headliner. First of all, I was unable to salvage the filler material. Is there someplace I can get this? If not, what can I use instead? Are there some special tricks to the installation? Anyway, any help would be very appreciated.

Thanks,

BlueCat

 

[swamper]

Prep inside of roof- Wire brush off old insulation and any surface rust and paint on a rust inhibitor.

I used aluminum foil faces bubble wrap insulation available at Home Depot. Used 3M High temp spray adhesive both on roof and insulation. Gives good sound deadening plus heat insulation and is very light.

Mark your location for coat hooks and shoulder harness before installation of Headliner.

The hoops have to go in the order as original locations. Thread all of them through HL (head liner) and mount in car. Start at back window trim so that you have atleast 11/2" extra material to go under rear window seal. Install wire retainer hooks. Paint on wood weld (DAP) adhesive on about 3/4" wide across section to back window and let it get tacky (carefull about dripps). Start in center of windor work out puching under weather seal keeping tight to avoid wrinkles. Let this set 2-3 hours before repeating at front. On front leave material to come down pillars. After dry do one side then other.

Streaching out wrinkles is tough.

I also sanded hoops for rust and coated with rust inhibitor.

 

[Grunt Doc]

I just did my 68 and Swmper's explanation is right on. Just take your time and let the glue on each section you do dry before you move on. And yes, the wrinkles take some patience and persistence.

 

[1fatcat]

make sure you have alot of glue remover !!!!
you will need to get the glue that is supposed to hold the headliner in off of yourself LOL!!!!

Just take your time
lay it out so it can heat up
I have also heard of people steaming them, I could be wrong on this though

 

[modifiedmark]

A hair dryer is handy for helping the glue to dry as well a helping smooth out the wrinkles. Be SURE to take the headliner out of the box days before and lay it out flat, preferably in the sun to help take the folded wrinkles out. mm

 

[6t8cat]

all of these guys are right on I did my 68 not long ago. Time is on your side for this job dont rush. A extra set of hands can be helpful also..

 

[wvcat]

When I did mine I had the rear window out which made it easy in the back because it is supposed to wrap around the rear lip. All of the suggestion above are good ideas as far as laying out or hanging it up. I had wrinkles in mine and the hair dryer helped aloy to get them out. You will probably still have small wrinkles when done but if the headliner is tight don't sweat it too much, they will dissappear after the car has sat in the sun a few times to warm it up real good. I used commercial grade carpet padding for insulation, its a foam that is sandwiched between 2 layers of a canvas type of cloth, probably hard to find but we had extra at work.
John

 

[bluecat]

Fellas,

What the heck did we do without the internet when working on our cars. Its wonderful to submit a question and within a few hours have great information on how to proceed with a project. Thank you very much.

Swamper mention to use wood weld (DAP) adhesive, I have regular contact cement, will that work as well. The problem with contact cement is that when you stick two pieces together, they're stuck. Do I want to use an adhesive that can be repositioned? Umm, where do the wire retainer hooks go (are those the elongated "S"?

Also, wvcat mentioned that the headliner should wrap around the rear lip. I have both the back window and the front windshield out, should the headliner wrap around the front lip as well?

Lastly, I just posted a few photos of my cat I think in the members section. I had posted one yesterday but deleted it because I had taken some shots with better resolution. When I deleted it it also deleted the comments as well. If any of you guys wrote comments, thanks. Someone asked what kind of paint and color did I use. The color is Code Q I believe, stock medium metalic blue. This was the original color. The top I believe is Code M, Wimbledon White. The kind of paint was base/clear. Specifically, the paint was RM Diamont.

Thanks again for your responses,
BlueCat

 

[swamper]

Wrap rear window only the front would interfeer with good seal on windshield. It is easier to do with windows out.

The S hooks are what I was trying to describe.

You can reposition for a little while. The improtant thing is adhesive that will hold up to heat. There are others out there.

The posts about relaxing wrinkles are correct. I put mine up on clothes line in sun for about 4 hours. This removed all of the packaging creases.


I used NAPA adhesive remover with Methal-ethal-ketone(MEK). As with DAP is just one brand. The MEK is the key sovent.

 

[toploader]

swamper- The front and rear glass is removed in my '67 as well. The original headliner in mine wrapped around the fron as well as the rear lip. The vinyl top also was glued to the front and rear lips.

 

[swamper]

Toploader,

The headliner was stripped out of mine when I got the car and the manual I had didnot show front wrap which of course maybe incorrect.

I didn't have to deal with vinyl top. Vinyl was not an available option for this car (Eliminator). It's amaising how much is not coverd in manuals. I found a lot of stuf I didn't have right when I went to show with a number of Cougars to look at. I took pictures of engine compartments to see correct routing of wires and vacuum lines. Diagrams just show what they connect to.


All I'm saying I guess is this Board helps a lot with more people giving information you can avoid mistakes.

 

[bluecat]

Fellas,

I forgot to mention that the headliner is white and I have to dye it. My interior is blue. Any tips on how best to go about it? What is the best vinyl dye to use? What sort of prep do you do? I'm not sure if there are more than one blue interior for a 70. Does anyone know what the color code is for blue interior? I have a local paint store where I bought the paint for the exterior. I've heard you can get the paint mixed and put in rattle cans or get it to use in a spray gun.

Thanks,

 

[bowl]

ooooooooooowwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeee that a lot of area to dye. i think autokrafters has dye in the correct color, or pepboys has plasticoat vinyl dye, or you could leave it white and make the cougar like a little i-max theater or planetarium, or mirror even but thats too kinky

 

[cougarguy]

here is what you do. get your headliner out spread it out on the floor look at it real hard the decide to do this right you need to take it to a guy who does them for a living and can make it in the right color for you. Okay all joking aside that it probably going to be your best bet as my upolstry guy can get the correct material in diffrent colors or at least it is a correct looking material. even if you dont want him to install it i would suggest taking it to them and have them make one and use your white one as a pattern. but im with bowl that is a whole lot of area to dye and not get streaks or dark spots.