The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Headliner Install

I recently spent a day installing my new headliner, not the easiest of jobs on the AD. There was some discussion about the headliners not fitting. First I bought mine from ClassicParts.com a while back and it was stored on a bench so it would flatten out in the middle and the ends could still curve. Next I saved the early style (1947-48) center bow from a parts truck that uses the screw on center piece it looks like this.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/18770380205/in/album-72157631867396207/
Since I was using this style I ordered the early matching headliner. I had read that some others are short but this early one installed in this way I actually had to trim in a couple spots. Anyway a job I have been dreading worked out pretty well.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/18149693683/in/album-72157631867396207/
The interior bracket above the door controls this signal arm (from a 2-ton farm parts truck).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/18772877171/in/album-72157631867396207/

Again, thanks for posting your photo journal. I wish you'd get a 55 2nd series and work on it! That'd be most convenient; for me anyway

Brad

Hang in there Brad. With natural shrinkage, your factory original gaps will appear soon enough so that you will not be deducted by the AACA judges for not having a bit of the roof showing.
Carl

Looks real nice Brad. Love the Blue, but I gotta admit, I've
never been a fan of the red trim, but........
Did you have the windlace already in place?
And is the difference in the early center 'Z' cleat that it is
part of the center bow? I haven't had my headliner down but it
appears that there is now inner bow, only the 'Z'cleat, is that
correct? So, what difference would that make in the fit of the
two cardboard pieces?
tks
dg

Denny,

The bow here is not a Z like the '50 would use. It is a U shape with 7 screws in it over its length. It works by squeezing the back cardboard under a flat edge and the front slides into the U. As for the cardboard it is completely different with slots in it to clear the screws on the various surfaces including the door weatherstrip. I believe it is these slots that give it enough extra length on the sides. I had my weatherstrip in, I just trimmed and tucked during the final fit, basically trimming off the slotted holes on the sides.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/advance-design_parts_co/18614309870/in/album-72157631867396207/
I did this install before with the Z type trim and corresponding headliner and I was not happy with the results. So I cut (spot welded in) the top bow set out of a parts truck and to Chevrolets credit it is a better set-up but would have added to production costs. This cardboard set was just weighted to straighten them, I did not use any spray formula to mold them as has been described in previous posts here on the bolt.

Looks good Brad. That is the last item I have to install on my 47 GMC. I have been putting it off because of all the horror stories on fitment. Maybe his fall, I will get Denny to come over and help me!

You got it Bruce.

Thanks Brad, always learning, wish I had a few dozen run thru
the barn like you've had, great for documenting the slight
differences. Always thought that wetting down the cardboard
was a bad idea, had to be a better way. I still think the
cardboard was installed at the factory before they ran or
installed the windlace, that seems as though it would make
it a snap.
I've had two sets of the cardboard liners laid out flat
between two sheets of cardboard for several years now. They
should be flat by the time I'm ready to install them, if the
mice don't get to them before then.

dg

I installed mine today, it was much easier than you guys had me to believe. I was dreading it. Here is the story with photos:

https://ssrjim.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/headliner/

Nice job Ssrjim. The pictures and text will be very helpful when I get to it. Steve

It do look good Jim, that headliner. If they were so hard to
install them the factory would have used something else.
And as I've been saying for years, they would have put the
headliner in at the factory before the production line got
to the station where they put the windlace in. It's my guess
that's the mistake the guys are making and why they are having
so much trouble installing them.
Speaking of windlace, I've been looking at them whenever I see
an AD at a show and most of them that have the original
windlace replace have a pucker or buckle in the upper rear
corner. Apparently the reproduction rubber is compounded to
hard and it can't make the bend.
The original conformed to the radius very nicely:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/160622906
dg

Glad to help

I'll bet there is a trick, heat gun perhaps?

Since the windlace is such an important part of installing a
new headliner I'd like to offer my thoughts about that part
of the job.
I'm pretty sure the original windlace was natural rubber and
the reproductions that we're being sold are urethane. When it
comes to urethane it all depends on where the compound falls
on the Shore 'A' durometer scale.
Seems like the different colored windlace's are from different
suppiers and they are compounding them differently. I've seen
some that you had to fold to get around the corner and others
that 'almost' made the curve. But have yet to see one of the
reproductions that makes a smooth bend like the original parts.

Denny G