Headliner For 1972 Suburban 4X4

[djolley]

Here are some pics of the woody-style headliner install. Still getting my chops down on how to upload to the forum, so I may have to share these in several doses. Thanks for the interest and patience!!

First the materials: 1 x 3 New Zealand select pine strips purchased at Lowes. Lengths in 6, 8 & 10 ft. Whatever I could find that was straight. Ran them thru the table saw to make them 1/2 thick, then beveled/rounded the edges that would be showing (a ton of hand sanding!). Then finished the strips with Minwax Golden Pecan stain and 2 coats of Minwax Helmsman poly. (More sanding!).

Meanwhile: ran a clothesline down the center of the Burb's interior from which to suspend the vinyl headliner material. The material was purchased from Brothers, roughly 6 ft wide and 12 ft long. Seams were already located at every 2 feet to match the spacing of the roof supports. Hung the material over the clothesline to hold it near the the roof, carefully centered L/R and positioned front/rear so the seams matched the roof supports. The pic shows the suspended material, and insulation material (from LMC) mounted on the roof by wedging edges under the roof supports to hold it in place.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner continued. (Seems I can only upload three pics at a time.... Sorry for the tedium!)

Starting at the rear, used shims to tuck and hold the vinyl headliner material into the channel at the interior roofline. Cut shims shorter, and then secured in place by drilling thru the channel and screwing shims in place with #10 sheet metal screws. Excess headliner material was trimmed to about a 1/2 inch overhang, to be concealed later with trim.

Attached first wood strip down the center of the Burb by drilling and screwing into the roof supports, again using #10 sheet metal screws. Careful not to drill through the roof! Screws were countersink slightly, so they can be concealed later under final cross-pieces. As to the vinyl material... get it close to where you want it, attach the wood strips to the roof supports, and then position the material by loosening each screw in sequence along the wood strip and tensioning the material as you retighten the screws. Work from the rear forward.

Working outward from the center strip (hardest one to start!) attach other strips in similar fashion, tensioning the vinyl material outward as you go. Continue shimming and screwing the shims in the roofline channel as you work outward from center.

Wood strips do not need to run the full length of the interior - they can be butt- jointed in sections at the roof supports every 2 feet, and the butt-joints will be concealed later with final trim.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner continued...

As you get closer to the outer edges, tension and tuck the vinyl material into the side channels running the length of the interior above the window line. Hold the material in place with shims as before, but don't secure with screws until the outermost wood strip is in place. otherwise, the tension of the material may be goofed up by the need to allow for the proper curve of the roof toward the edges. As each wood strip is attached, tension the vinyl material by loosening the screws in sequence, tensioning the material, and retightening the screws against the roof supports to hold the material in place.

There's a channel at the front above the windshield, but I removed it and tucked both the vinyl material and the wood strips between the roof and the panel to which the visors are attached. It's a tight fit... shaved the ends of the wood strips a tiny bit thinner to fit them into the gap.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner continued...

Once the wooden strips are all in place final outward tension of the vinyl material can be achieved, and material secured in place by drilling and screwing the shims in place along the window line. Material above windshield is held in place with tight fit of the wood strips in the gap between the windshield and the roof.

Headliner edges along sides above windows is concealed by a long strip of 1 x 4 hem-fir, shaved to match the 1/2 inch thickness of the ceiling strips. These long side pieces are attached with #10 wood screws into the roof supports, and tidied with finish washers. These screws need to be about 2 1/2 inches long to reach the roof supports which are curving at the outer extremes of the roofline.

Last, the cross pieces to conceal the screws of the wood strips. These too are made of the New Zealand pine, but shaved to 1/4 inch thickness to allow for the bend required. They're placed at each of the roof supports to hide the srews and butt-joints of the ceiling strips. These cross pieces are tricky to install: Measure the distance along the curve of the roof from the top of one side-trim piece to the other. Cut the cross pieces to that length and tuck their ends against the tops of the side pieces. The cross pieces will bow downward under tension, but can then be "snapped" upward against the roof strips to fit the side-to-side contour. Once snapped into place, they can be secured with #10 wood screws and finish washers. Similar cross pieces can be fitted to the rear and above the windshield, but they'll need to be carefully trimmed to fit the curvature of the metal panels at the front and rear of the roof line.

Hope that helps. It's a boatload of work, but the result is pretty pleasing. Makes me wanna hop in and drive! You can pm me with questions etc by email:

dljolley@gmail.com.

Thanks for looking!

[Beach-Burban]

Thanks for the extra pictures djolley...you did a mighty fine job explaining your work! Your workmanship looks fantastic! I do have the tools (and some woodworking experience) to pull it off but luckily, I have a friend that has A LOT of experience and every woodworking tool I can think of! I have already double insulated the roof so now I need to decide if I will hang my vinyl palm trees the way that you did or adhere it to my original headliner panels (or even something different?) while my buddy takes lead on the woodworking...but I guess I should let him know what I'm recruiting him to do !!! I've attached photos of how I insulated my roof...it really made quite a difference!
Uploading pictures to this site was a challenge for me as well...but with a few hints from other board members (the people here are the best!), I figured it out. My tip to you is: when the "Manage Attachments" box pops up, you will see five "Choose File" buttons...click the top one, choose your picture then it returns to the "Manage Attachments" box again but there are only four "Choose File" buttons left. Click the top button and choose another picture (I know you have already done this part). The trick I found to work was after I have two (sometimes three) pictures in the buffer, click on the "Upload" button that is in the same section as the "Choose File" buttons. A "Current Attachments" box will appear with your formatted picture code...and then go back and retrieve more pictures. You will be able to get five pictures into the "Current Attachments" box, and then you should be able to get them all inserted into your post the same as you did already. I hope this helps and that I explained it correctly?!

Woody

[HO455]

Great write up! Write ups like yours are one of the reasons this place is so great. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

You're choice of using the different materials was spot on. The wood's coloring works great with your blue interior.

Those cross pieces must have been the trickiest to cut to length. If you didn't have help that's a lot of crawling in and out.

Did you use the same finishes on the Hemlock pieces and the cross pieces? It may be how the grain reflects the light but, the cross pieces almost look like they are a darker color.

It looks like you cut the Hemlock pieces somewhat short in the front. Was that for clearance so the visors didn't rub them?

Again. Great Job! I'm pretty sure you've already inspired some people.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner continued....

A couple of afterthoughts/details:

Spacing between the slats is exactly an inch. Slats themselves are 2 1/2 wide.

Long hem-fir trim along sides is positioned so their bottom edges align with the bottom edge of the side channel into which the vinyl material is tucked and shimmed.

Per the questions posted: Hem-fir strips were given the same color stain as the slats. It just took the stain a bit deeper for a darker tint Cross pieces were also given the same stain, but given two or three coats for a bit of color difference. Meanwhile, the front ends of the side trim pieces were cut at an angle, with the top edge kinda poking up into the gap between the windshield panel and the roof, and still leaving room for the visors. I'll take a detail pic of that and post. I found it useful to make a pattern for the cut angle using a scrap of the trim material (1 x 4) to test the fit. Likewise for the contour at the rear ends of the same pieces. Measure, measure, measure. Don't wanna miss on a ten-foot length of the fir! (Full disclosure: I bought spare pieces in case I goofed!). And yes, the cross pieces were tricky, but if shaved to 1/4 inch thickness they have enough flex to tweak and snap them into place.

[djolley]

And thanks to BeachBurban for the tutorial on uploading the pics! Love the forum and support.

[dagnabbitt]

That's beautiful.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner cont....

As promised, some pics of the trim at the front, as it relates to the visors. Cut angle goes from the end of the headliner's fabric channel (along bottom) to the gap between windshield panel and roof at the top. Hope that makes sense. Corner of the visor does hit the trim, but not enough to bother. Could shave the visor's corner, but.... no worries.

[HO455]

I don't know if you noticed but you got a thread link in the pickup section. You've made the big time!