Lookin for some examples of coupe headliner installation

and cut...

 

Next head to the car with your staple gun... an hand operated non air stapler will work as well. I've flipped the cardboard over to expose the black side just so it would show in the pix. What you want to do is line it up with the back edge of your above door grip strip and sink a staple or two...

What we are creating here is a quick simple cheat to be sure the rear of our headliner gets stapled straight...

 

Continue rearward... You'll notice I work in a bit of a curve. That's just how I like my sail panels (the rear quarters) to look against a headliner....

 

Repeat on the opposite side (you may need to create a pattern from the 1st to get the second looking the same)and work around the rear tack stip untill you have a complete guide strip of card board from one door to the other...

 

Now get outta the car... it's time for the fun stuff!!! Spray contact cement on the backside of the headliner cardboard and on the 1/4" luan in the car. Again, we use 3 even coats allowing time for drying in between. Don't rush it... this is always a good time in the shop to read hot rod books!

If you're wondering what we use for spraying the glue, it's simple. A $20.00 paint gun... the cheaper the better cause the tolerances aren't close and the glue doesn't clog it up. The guns work for about 2 years and then we toss it and buy another...

 

Once you've waited for all 3 coats to tach (nearly an hour in the shop today at 70 degrees) it's time to put it in the car. YOU WILL NEED HELP... with another person carefully put the headliner in the car. With your helper at the front of the car and you in the back, line up your center marks (you did mark all of them as described right?). Then be sure you are set even with your 1/4" luan front to rear. DO NOT TOUCH this to the roof wood until you are CERTAIN you are square... if one side of the cardboard contacts the roof wood it will stick instantly... with terrible results if you try to pull it free!!! (again from experience).

When you are happy with it being square...stick it, and rub the entire piece to make sure it's set. This is what you should look like now...

 

Now looking up into the edge you will see that extra cardboard sticking out from the sewline. Fill that sucker full of staples. It's just extra insurance to keep you from pulling the stitch line free from the luan when you stretch the edges....

 

Now for the fun... starting in the rear center of the headliner, pull the tail tight...really tight. Set your stapler against the tack strip and slide it up till it stops at your cardboard guide strip. Sink a few staples...

 

Now move to one rear corner and repeat... Then the other rear corner... Then between the rear center and rear corners...etc. Pull the tail tight as you go and you'll be surprised how easily it all straightens out...

 

This is how it should all look once you've stapled the entire rear section. See how easy that cardboard guide strip made the install? At this point resist the urge to trim the tail hanging down... Just in case an adjustment would need to be made before you're finished...

 

The next thing to do is to move up front... no pics of this... but in this car we glued the tail into the windshield opening. Again starting in the center, then the outter edges and in between just as the back was done. Some cars have a tack strip in the opening to staple to.

 

Above the doors you will need a dull putty knife. Starting in the center of the door opening, pull the tail tight and stuff about 1/8" under your gripper strip...

 

Continue, center to front and rear of the opening... just pulling and stuffing that amount. Once finished, we mark the edge of the windlace with a grease pencil and carefully cut the tail off with scissors... Again be carefull not to scar the windlace under it....

 

Once it's cut, stuff the short tail up under your gripper strip. The ply-grip teeth will hold the tucked edge great!!! If the entire tail won't tuck under, you may have to trim more off... just go slow and only trim off what needs to go, to be sure the teeth catch the tail.

 

Once you're stuffed, tucked, stapled and glued... you should have a headliner with a tail sticking down

 

When you're satisfied everything is straight and tight as a drum, trim the tail within' a 1/4" of the staples in the back and trim the windshield against the glass (in this pic I havn't done the windshield as I'm waiting for the customer to deliver his painted windshield garnish trim moulding).

That's about it... not quite 3 simple steps, but it works pretty well in any car up to 1948. Newer cars get to wide for standard upholstery materials...They can be done similar,but that's a whole different can of worms!!

 

I smell a tech-o-matic.

 

Man...... That's some beautiful work and very well written, pics & instructions. Just like it was magic and I didn't even see you remove the mirrors. Thanks...H

 

shhhh... don't tell 'em about the mirrors!!! :grin

 

Look what I found ..... EXCELLANT

 

...

 

Bump..more people need to see this.

 

I'll second that!!!

 

Great thread......tech-o-matic

 

Thanks for taking the time. This is great!

 

very cool thread!

 

Back from the dead... This really should be in the Tech Archive.

 

I epoxied bandsawn wooden bows alongside each metal roof brace . Then the headliner was seamed with a seamlength tab that stapled to the wood . Then folded over to the next wooden brace and so on. I did my headliner in black fur so its a little tough to get a great pic

 

Skipstitch, great article. I was informed of this board from hotrodders.com. I am looking for ways to do my headliner and this is fantastic. Thanks for sharing your method, looks great.

Vince