Headliner replacement (pics)

[Gary]

Other than the weak 305 the only major problem with the 85 I just bought was.. yep the saggy old headliner.

So after pricing replacements (holy cow $189 yoiks!) I hit the local fabric store and got some headliner (the cloth stuff) and blue vinyl and the spray on adhesive (probably coulda saved a cool $10 and got the basic 3M 08088 spray on but I got the "headliner glue" from the fabric store. Roughly $40 in parts later, I tackle the job.

Just finished it up, one of the visors needs the 3rd screw seated better (stripped hole, gotta get a thicker screw) and I hamfisted the little piece of pillar trim and broke the little arm on the top (me Gary me smash!) but other than that (and a few small glue spots I gotta figure out how to get off) it looks damn good if I do say so myself.

Pics: http://faith.dixiesys.com/Headliner

I didn't take pics of it, but I put dynamax (half of a "wedge pack" on each side over the driver and passenger heads.

Next project is probably recovering the seats, they're not tore but they're pretty damn worn and faded. I might just redneck reupholster it (seat covers from Wally World) or go ahead and spring for the blue vinyl replacement seat covers from one of the board vendors or wherever I can get it cheapest (so far no replies to my PMs). Sounds like the local shops will want $300ish to do it for me so I think I'll do it myself too. Wanna do something with the door panels, replacements are wowzers too expensive, so it's do it myself or live with it as is, or hope for a really sweet ebay deal. Some dude had an AWESOME set for like $150 the other day on there but I didn't bid, kinda wished I hada now.

[Slonaker]

That looks good!

My FIL bought me a generic cloth upholstery kit for my seat for Christmas. It was not too difficult to put on. A friend who has done it before showed me how, and it was suprisingly easy.

On that stripped screw, if you can get to the hole, try sticking a piece of paperclip bent into a U shape into the hole. It pushes the sheetmetal screw sideways, wedging the screw into the sheetmetal on the opposite side. It is kind of hard to describe but put on leg of the U on the outside of the hole and one leg inside just so it does not fall out while you screw it in. It keeps you from having to get a larger screw, which usually has a larger head, and won't match the rest.

Slonaker

[84slopwaggin]

Looks good. If your like me it just feels good to do it yourself and save money on top of it all.

[Ziptar]

Nice Job!! I was going to have a shop do mine but, your right. Save some money and do it right.

I need to do that with mine, gotta start hitting fabric shops and see If I can find blck perforated vinyl like the came from the factory.

[Gary]

Originally Posted by Ziptar

Nice Job!! I was going to have a shop do mine but, your right. Save some money and do it right.

I need to do that with mine, gotta start hitting fabric shops and see If I can find blck perforated vinyl like the came from the factory.

I don't mind paying a shop to do something when it'll take me longer than it's worth to do it myself, but all told this little project didn't take me longer than 2 hours total to do, if that, and $40 or so in materials, it's not a show truck I just wanted a clean looking blue headliner, and that's what I got It's a 1000% improvement over the saggy old liner. The seat cover replacement is my next project, $300 to a local shot or ~$170 to a vendor and do it myself, I'll do it myself, gonna go ahead and replace the carpet and dynamat the whole floor and back cab wall while I'm at it. After that it's the door panels, new window switches, and dynamat on the door. While the carpet is out I'll run the audio too, can't have a truck without some massive tunes...

But, I don't change my own oil, for $12 or so at most any oil change place, I'll let them do it, hell it's worth more than $12 to have to clean the grease off my hands

[kevinr1970]

What did you use to clean all the old "foam" off of the backing piece? Or did you just spray directly over it?

As for the stripped hole for the visor, seems all the visors I have pulled recently had u-nuts (aka "clip" nuts) on the holes. The screws didn't even go into sheet metal, just the u-nuts.

[Gary]

There was SO LITTLE of it left sticking on there, I just rubbed it off with my thumb and a broom (kinda jabbing like a putty knife with the bristley end of the broom) got it pretty much all off with no problems.

Ya I think the little u nut fell out when I tried to screw it in, it's on the driver side and I never use the visor and the 2 screws are holding it fine so I'm not in a huge hurry to fix it The passenger side (with the all important MIRROR for the old lady) now that one has all 3 screws and NEEDS THEM hahaha