Sagging Headlining

[Jimocles 0]

Checked the Haynes book, said you have to take the windows out

leave to a professional

So I went ahead and did it anyway, pretty difficult but you can do it

take off all the pillar trims, sunvisors (and wires)

lights door seals, sunroof seal if applicable

there is a fibre and foam panel in the ceiling, you can get this out through the door

takes a bit of manoevering but it will fit, on a coupe anyway.

now you have the panel on a bench you can rip off all the old material

clean it all up ready for reupholstering.

I got some grey vinyl from spotlight which was a fairly close match

was thinking about material but chances were the glue would soak through and look pants, and vinyl is easier to clean. $15.95 a metre, I erred on the side of caution and bought 2.5 metres ended up with just under a metre left over

but better safe than sorry.

Get some Ados aerosol contact adhesive $18.99 at placemakers

one can was plenty.

In hindsight I should have started at the rear where there is not so many tricky bits

to get the hang of it, but I didnt so there you go also in hindsight a pair of surgical gloves would be good, by the state of my hands it doesnt come off very easily.

spray the glue on about a foots worth of the panel and the backing of the vinyl

then apply making sure you have it taut otherwise you'll get big wrinkles but you have a good 2 mins to sort it out before it really sticks (you really need this)

then keep on going

once you have it all glued on, and pretty much dry go round all the edges and trim them up I used a stanley knife but some good scissors would not go amiss.

there will also be quite a few places that need a bit more glue.

now the hard bit, getting it back in the car.

there is a lip on the rear edge of the panel that needs to hook on to a ledge.

get a friend to help. or you can do what i did.

Sit on the back seat and hook the rear lip onto the ledge while holding up the front with your feet, do it quickly as you get very tired doing this.

then keeping the tension going forward to hold the rear lip on

get the middle pillar covers on as they support the panel these are the covers with that the seat belts bolt onto, and then the front pillars.

next put the door seals back on, they overlap the panel which will give you more support so you can start screwing the grab handles back on after that its all pretty straight forward,

make sure you cut all the holes you need in the garage I missed a couple and its a bugger to do whilst holding the panel up with your head.

this was my first attempt at reupholstering anything, not the greatest job but it was better than it was, so I'll call it a moral victory

i'll try and sort out some pics, digital camera died on me

[*sic 1]

nice write up

tops.

[Guest Spargo]

Sweeet, if you were at the meet, you'd have seen how rooted mine is, but i've got it booked in with my mechanic, and he's just going to replace it with an M3 anthracite item. I'd do it myself but I just don't have time with uni and work.

[Gus 5]

moral victory....all good!

[MADBMA 0]

good write up, but just got to ad a few things, after reading this i pulled my saggy headlining out and followed what you wrote up there, came out good at first, wasnt the best but it looked ok, anyways after puting it back in the car, and the car siting in the sun the glue came unstuck and bits started to sag again, red the back of the ADOS spray adhesive and noticed its not good for anywhere thats in contact with heat, and we should no how hot a car can get in the middle of summer, mine came unstuck with the few warm days weve been having.

talked to an aphoulster who was doing work on my girlfirends valiant and he uses stuff called Selleys KWIK GRIP, heat resistent water resistent, its a paint on type of glue so not as handy as the spray stuff but its done a bloody good job, alot stronger and has come out alot better then the ados stuff, and wont sag in the heat, got it from mitre 10 $21 for a litre and you need a litre, takes a little longer and a bit more elbow grease, but the aim is for a headlining thats not sagging and i think it was worth it.

oh and add one more thing take the headlining out the passenger side door.