Custom Headliner

[drewskiren]

I am wanting to have a quieter cab and was thinking about a padded cloth headliner like later model trucks have. One that would cover all the metal overhead. I have seen on a TV show a sprayed in and then sculpted with a hot knife type headliner that later was covered with headliner cloth. Another way to make the shell to cover might be fiberglass??? Not sure how that could be done though. What about a junkyard headliner from a late model modified to fit? In all these senarios I still need to figure out how to attach it to the truck roof.
Does anyone have any ideas?

[pmpski_1]

I was thinking about putting some sound deadener up there and covering it with one of those highliner speaker systems from LMC. But if that's hard plastic or fiberglass won't some of the sound just echo back at you? I think you're on to something with the headliner cloth.

[drewskiren]

Anyone????

[john]

Heres one with a cloth fabric glued on. My upholstery guy does a nice job on them.

[cdowns]

have you done the floor firewall inside doors and in back by gastank yet//i think theres alot more sound that can b reduced in those ares b4 worrying about the roof sound infiltreation

[Mondo]

I love that look... but saving it for the last thing done (will be a while). I had a highliner and was going to have it upholstered as it's fiberglass. But that still leaves around the rear window etc..

[pmpski_1]

I've done a single door with fatmat so far and there's a noticeable difference. I agree with cdowns.

[drewskiren]

I will be doing EVERYTHING I can for cutting the sound down, extra weatherstripping (Rockrin), b-quiet mat, jute padding, etc. I was wanting a smooth surface for my headliner without the factory ribbing if I just applied directly to the metal, plus I wanted sound deadening between the fabric and the metal somehow. Does anyone have any ideas for sound deadening more than these?

[cdowns]

you can drill holes in the inner roof panel and use a product like lizardskin with a spray wand to coat the outer roof panel

[marks1972]

Originally Posted by john

Heres one with a cloth fabric glued on. My upholstery guy does a nice job on them.

I dont have any pictures anymore but i had my 68 done like this. mine was padded tuck and role with the same fabric my seat and door pannels where done with. looked real nice but sorta made you feel like you where riding in a coffin. only thing is if you dont have good insulation/sound deadner on the fire wall and floor, a headliner aint going make a bit a diffrence in a quieter cab.

[C10-Driver]

I covered the firewall all the way up to the dash, entire floor including down in the cab corners, the back of the cab, the doors (outer skin as well the bottom of the inner part of the door) and under the factory headliner. My truck is amazingly quiet... So much so that with the doors closed and windows rolled up my truck sounds "quiet" running inside the garage even with my loud exhaust exiting out the side. As others have said, I would focus on sound deadening in other areas before you look at covering the entire roof with "fabric".

[pmpski_1]

Originally Posted by cdowns

you can drill holes in the inner roof panel and use a product like lizardskin with a spray wand to coat the outer roof panel

That's pretty hardcore. Not sure if you're serious or not, but sounds promising if I ever got that hard up for sound deadening. Or insulation.

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by C10-Driver

I covered the firewall all the way up to the dash, entire floor including down in the cab corners, the back of the cab, the doors (outer skin as well the bottom of the inner part of the door) and under the factory headliner. My truck is amazingly quiet... So much so that with the doors closed and windows rolled up my truck sounds "quiet" running inside the garage even with my loud exhaust exiting out the side. As others have said, I would focus on sound deadening in other areas before you look at covering the entire roof with "fabric".

Are you talking about your green truck? It is fantastic!!! Do you have any more interior pics? I love the dash undertray, door panels, and console. what hides behind the small doors in the console, any pics of that? How did you build and attach the under tray? Are you using poppers on the doors or are the handles just hidden from view?

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by pmpski_1

That's pretty hardcore. Not sure if you're serious or not, but sounds promising if I ever got that hard up for sound deadening. Or insulation.

This is a good idea, although from the factory there is a thick wax saturated piece of material sandwiched between the inner and outer metal. The Wax mat is only in the main center section of the roof, about the size of the headliner. It is there to permanently separate the 2 sheets of metal so they would not vibrate against each other. All around the perimeter is a void that you could fill with Body Shultz spray with an undercoating gun and wand.

[67gmcstepside]

John, love that cloth look!! He just applied it right to the metal with glue??

[drewskiren]

I am going to resurrect this question since I have started my build, Young Frankenstein. Since it is a crew cab made from scratch, I need help with a headliner to cover roof braces that are not pretty. I was wanting something smooth and one piece that I could cover in cloth. Any ideas??

[cheyenne shortstep]

I had my upholstery guy do a '67 small window I built a few years ago in the same manner as the pic posted by John. He used black Tweed and it looked great, I will be doing this to my '72 Cheyenne but will leave the stock headliner and trim in place.

[drewskiren]

Originally Posted by cheyenne shortstep

I had my upholstery guy do a '67 small window I built a few years ago in the same manner as the pic posted by John. He used black Tweed and it looked great, I will be doing this to my '72 Cheyenne but will leave the stock headliner and trim in place.

That would be great, except I don't have that pretty inner roof. I need to make the pretty inner roof out of something.