I need to make a headliner, i plan to use the same fairly heavy vynil as used on the seats, it is on bows and tucks into a toothed strip around the perimeter of the roof, at the front it folds over the lip that the windscreen rubber fits over. I plan to make it panel of vinyl by panel of vinyl and trial fit between adding panels. I also want to add pipping to the joins. can i do this or will it eventually sag from the extra weight? will it have trouble holding onto the teeth? will i have trouble with the winscreen sealing? will the piping tuck into the teeth ok? can i make a patern with the original hoodliner or will the different elasticity require size adjustment of the panels?
FCC... Dont do it panel by panel. you will have to pop the front and back windows to get a good fit up. just layout the old liner on a flat floor and take out the bars (dont mix them up !)... measure and cut and sew the new panels together , you will have to sew in new roof bow cloth tubes and make sure you have a couple of inches overhang all round the old liner size. You can trim it to size after its in the car. when you install you put in all the bows and hang the back bow first and moving forward fit up all the roof bows before attaching anything else. its good check that the bows are standing upright at this point use good contact adhesive and apply to the rear flange inside and out and the vinyl. starting in the center...only lightly stretch the liner when wrapping over the rear flange fitting the back window first, dont pull too tight as the first bar has to remain standing upright and slightly to the rear, use plenty of the missus cloths pegs to hold it in position , every inch across is good, now move to the front screen and pull up tight ( do a dry fit first and just peg it) check to see that the sides are even and dont hurry it. second fitup is to glue the windscreen flange stretching as required.Check the tension of the entire lining front to rear only at this point. Now you can go around the door openings . You will be surprised how easy it is. I used to fit up an HQ on the ***embly line at GMH in 4 minutes. (2 people inside the car) My opinion.. piping will look like **** and ...no it wont fit inside the shark teeth
I would not use the heavy seat vinyl it will be much too heavy to hang from the original bows. I would use panel weight material, Lebaron Bonney has a good selection of matching vinyls in panel weight. Better yet, I would have a pro do it for you. The cost is reasonable and the results would speak for itself...Good Luck
I am in australia, the supplier i went to wich is a very large one and the only one i can buy from on saturdays when im not at work didnt have a vinyl that matched the white colour and grain as on the seats but i might look further, i wanted to start sewing tomorow night. also, after doing everything myself it would be a shame now to get the head liner done outside. is panel weight material a vynil like the weight of factory headliners?
Ive had seat grade material in my headliner in the FC panel van for 20 years and its still like new and no sag.
I made my own for my chopped Caddy, I figured if bought one I'd have to modify it anyway. I used a perforated vinyl, it was heavier than the original headliner material but lighter than the seat vinyl. I think the answer to most of your questions about sealing, fitting, piping, etc. will all depend on the thickness and weight of the material you're using. I'd incorporate some contact cement at the edges to help it hold. You could probably use the original for a pattern though. I made a pattern from scratch using butcher paper. Good Luck!
Here's an old thread that might help. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38449&page=1&pp=20
I have been in the trade for 35 years and have made several headlinings from seat vinyl.The extra thickness makes it quite heavy and bulky when you are putting it in the vehical particularly if it is a wagon or panel van.Dont use piping.It will be much too thick where it folds under the toothed strip even if you cut the cord out
after doing everything myself it would be a shame now to get the head liner done outside. I like your at***ude man! My thoughts exactly!
Use heavy duty threads, we have a car someone did the headliner in the same heavy leather-like stuff as the seats and it's fallen down off the bows (if it even has bows, but I ***ume it hung right when they put it in there), someone has the fun job ahead of taking it out and trying to re-hang it again.
Now im worried, i just dug the old headliner out of the shed, its a very thin vinyl, the vinyl i have to make the new one is capri marine vinyl, its a bit like typical nuagahyde vinyl. and yeah its a wagon.
In the early 70's there was a Red, White, and Blue 56' Chevrolet 210 2 door sedan in the Everett area, called "Love American Style" (on the doors). It was somehow connected to Pacific Speed ( a speed shop), and the 1320 Express Company (a club) I looked at it when the body was for sale in Snohomish. The interior was done in trunk splatter paint, and the headliner was an American flag! I often wonder what became of the car. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Also, mark the bows so that they go to the same side of the car as they originally did. You can also cut and sew a headliner from modern "foamback" cloth material. It is very easy to stretch and form. It comes in various thicknesses, so use the thinner version, as it will work better under grippers and gl*** rubber. When working with the old headliner for a pattern, make sure the panels have not shrunk with age. If there is too much shrinkage, your seam allowance will not be correct and cause a mul***ude of problems. When you dis***emble the old headliner to use it for a pattern, mark each panel on the left side (or right if you prefer) with chalk and also mark each so that you will know the direction. In other words, chalk an arrow on each pointing to the front of the car. Then , number each panel as to proper order. Each panel will also have small alignment notches cut in the seam allowance on both sides of the panel. Be sure to reproduce these alignment marks faithfully, because they tell you if the panels are going together properly. If you do not do this job panel by panel as it was from the factory, you would have to sew the sleeves for the bows directly to the one large piece of vinyl and that would look really bad. Also, it would be nearly impossible to get the required curvature correct. The sleeves for the bows should be made from cloth...not the thick vinyl you are using for the headliner. Use the original bow sleeves for patterns and sew them between the panels. DO NOT USE THE OLD BOW SLEEVES in the new headliner. There are many tips and tricks involved in the job...hope the few I've given here help.
I did the headliner in my '31 Plymouth Sedan using heavy (Mellowhide) seat style vinyl like what I used for the seats. I stapled the loops at the seams to the new wood bows that I put in the roof though, so it's a different type of installation. It was a ***** installing that home-made headliner, especially since it was so heavy, but it came out nice. It's easier to work with the vinyl on a warm day, because it's more stretchy. I cut some long strips of s**** vinyl to figure out how much I wanted to stretch it. Keep track of the direction of the vinyl because it stretches more in one direction than the other. I used a test strip to figure out how long (front to back) to make each section. By seeing how long the test strip had to stretch to pull it tight, I think I figured on stretching each section some amount like 1/2", so I made the distance between the seams 1/2" shorter than the distance between the wood bows (I can't remember the actual amount I stretched it though). On that car, I started at the front and worked my way back. Draw a centerline down the middle of the backside of the headliner, and draw a centerline down the middle of the roof so you can keep it centered as you go. Use a pencil or a piece of chalk to draw the centerline on the back of the vinyl -- don't use a marker pen, because some inks bleed through the vinyl. If you can find some lighter weight material though, go for it. It's a pain in the *** dealing with heavy material for a headliner.
i went to get some lighter vynil yesterday, got friggin traffic and red lights all the way and got there 2 minutes after they closed after 1hr and twenty minutes driving, i dont know how i will go about getting a matching light vynil. the vynil i have is marine grade, its not much different to nuagahyde (we compared them) in stretch and weight but cheaper here. the back is white and fuzzy.
well i had dramas with the machine, i bought the lighter vynil, my machine is a juki ddl-555, i think its identical to a singer 241, it used to sew but now it just tangles up a big birds nest between the bobbin and feeder. i am hoping to get back to it as i am running out of other jobs to do on the car.
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