The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors 1937 Chevrolet truck headliner

I bought this truck without a headliner Im thinking it mounts under the windlace on both sides and just pushed up and screwed to center channel and front and rear without any strips . Does anyone know how its mounted?

Mine was a total pain to install. I purchased one from Jim Carters back in 2000, you had to soak the corners in vinegar if I remember correctly then bend them over something about the same radius. Once bent you quickly shoved it up into the cab and secured it. It didn't work at all! I couldn't get it bent with out tearing. I then went to the local upholstery warehouse and bought three sheets of the same type of headliner for about 1/2 what I paid for the first one. I figured one out of three I could get into place. It took two of the three and that one I cut slot in the rear corners. Its not 100%, but I am happy with it.

The sides are held in with the same trim that holds the door seals ( the piece shown in your first picture with the screws in it ). The front and back have flat sheet metal trim that hold the liner in place. The trim pieces follow the indention or recess in the front and rear pieces. I will get you a picture of mine, its nothing fancy, just flat sheet metal with some holes in it.

Here’s a photo of the ABS headliner I installed in my ‘37. The fiber board liner installation effort was a total failure and wasted effort. Sounds like Joe also had a similar miserable experience. The ABS liner was bought from Jim Carters almost 20 years ago.

How did the factory get the headliners in?

Here is my 38. I made it using plastic sheet about 1/16 in thick. I glued the hyde to it. I had to cut several relief cuts in the corners.
My grandson loves it!

So did you attach trim pieces also front and back?

Yes, look at the photo, you can see them installed.

I asked the same question back then and don’t recall ever getting an answer. My guess is they used a press and steamed the fiber board into the correct curve radius. The shape might hold using the process used in shaping a cowboy hat, but on a much larger scale???🧐

I do know the headliner installation for my ‘46 wasn’t nearly the hassle experienced for the ‘37. I was able to install the ‘46 fiber board liner solo using pads some wood props and squeeze clamps. The curve radius is not as sharp, which likely makes the task easier too.

My guess would also be some sort of press and wet headliner. There is a compound curve in it, just to roll the sides is easy enough, its the second curve front to back that I could never get. Once you got it curved, you still had to trim it to fit!

Do the new ones that you purchased from Jim Carter or elsewhere not come with the proper curvature already molded in?

I wonder if a clothes steamer would help with the installation?

I purchased a headliner for my '51 and it comes rolled up in a box. So I'm thinking a steamer will help get it flattened out a bit and get the curvature correct to get it installed (still a ways off, as the cab isn't in paint yet.) Maybe put it in the bathroom when you're getting a nice hot shower.

Yea, the cardboard ones do not fit very well. On my 53 I weighted the 2 pieces so the would somewhat flatten out for about a week. I then connected them correctly to the “S” shaped metal piece and duct taped the back side to keep them together. Just prior to installing I misted water /ammonia on the back side to make it more flexible. To install the whole headliner as a unit I had access to heavy packing cardboard corners and cut 2 of them to hold up the whole headliner against the roof but could still wiggle it around to position it for maximum coverage and least gaps. There is a good “Cardboard Headliner installation” in the Tech Tips. Link below that I followed. I was not satisfied with the cardboard (bows and moves because of our typical 99% humidity down here) and have already bought the 1 piece (not installed yet) and will have the same door panel upholstery glued to it.

Cardboard headliner install

I wonder what tricks professional upholsterers would use to install these?

I would guess cut and fitted cardboard type material with thin foam and material over the top so you couldn't see all the work needed to get it into place!

I have a 1940 Chevy truck and I have been dealing with this issue for a while now. You can make the headliner out of anything but I wanted to make it out of cardboard as was assumed to be the original material. I did consider epoxy laminate but....... My story goes as this.....

I first purchased a cardboard replacement from one of the usual venders figuring that is should be at least close to working. It would not fit. The problem seemed to stem from the fact that in order for this to fit, the cardboard needed to bend in two directions at the same time... A compound curve.... In the corners. Cardboard can be bent in one direction easily but not in two. It's much like sewing cloth, you need to make darts to cover a curve. It behaves much like a piece of rope.... It's very hard to stretch and when compressed, it buckels. So I'm decided to build a form. On the underside of the roof, I placed thin strips of wood that conformed to the curvature of the roof hot gluing the strips together. It formed a complete pattern of the inside of the roof. I then covered the wood strips with heavy paper cutting darts and smoothing it to conform to the curvature of the wood. Having a complete mold of the roof, I bought a sheet of ABS and PVC plastic in an attempt to mold them to the shape of the roof using the mold I create. I found it was impossible to heat the plastic uniformly enough to slump over the mold without wrinkling. You can stretch the plastic, but impossible to compress without a oven to heat the entire piece over your mold..... It's actually not compressing their either.....

My next attempt was to take my piece of headliner cardboard and completely soak it for a few days and place it on my wooden mold. No luck, same wrinkling problem. Cardboard does no like to be compressed or stretched which is what is necessary to cover the compound curves in the corners. I even tried to mold it using the top of the cab as a pattern, same problem.
My friend Tom Burch (Thanks Tom) had some Home Depot cardboard floor covering that although is not as thick as the headliner, can be used to make a pattern. So, back under the roof........ I used the flooring cardboard and made a pattern off of the old messed up purchased headliner. I had to start somewhere. After much cutting and shaping with tape (wonderful for fixing bad cuts) I discovered the following:

You can't bend cardboard in two directions at the same time. Wet or not.... So how did they do it originally? I originally suspected they molded it, but I'm not so sure. If the cardboard was some kind of mash maybe or a fiber and tar mix......

It turns out that the headliner does not follow the curvature of the roof of the cab. On my truck, there is a metal support that runs across the the cab, door to door therefore lowering the headliner away from the roof. The metal inside panel behind the seat is fixed where it connects to the headliner. The front panel over the dash is flexible. If you run a straight edge from the back panel past but touching the center brace to the front panel .... You might need to pull the front panel back toward the rear panel to do this.... They will line up meaning that it is really a flat headliner. When you get to the curves over the door, .... the headliner simply curves down. The problem usually happens at the corners, trying to bend the cardboard around to meet the front overhead panel. If the overhead panel is not pulled back then the headliner must make a compound curve to meet the front panel usually creating a crease. If the front overhead panel,is pulled towards the back, there is no compound curve to deal with and so no crease. The entire headliner can be installed flat with simple curve (bend) down to meet the door. Now there is some funky cutting to cut around the door, front to back, but that's where you need to make a good pattern. The front panel seems to be the key here, it must be pulled towards the center of the cab for this to work and avoid the corner crease.

My door to door center brace has places to screw fasten the headliner to. Finding the hole can be tricky.... If you cut the heads off of the appropriate screws. This trick has been mentioned here before .....Sharpen one end to a point and screw them into the brace. When the cardboard is installed, simply press the cardboard against the sharp point of the screw and it will punch through. Remove the modified (no head remember) and use the proper fastener.

When I finally installed my headliner, I found that the curves I made at the doors were not tight enough so my headliner support screws near the doors would no fit without wrinkling the cardboard so I left them out..... I'm sure making a tighter curve will eliminate this problem........

Let me know if you clarification on this.... Or if I'm simply wrong.....

Waiting to fight another day.....

Mike

Very good write up Mike, looks like you figured it out with the straight bends. I like you figured out the card board, or what ever it was made from, doesn't bend it two directions. Yours looks really good.

Thanks, I believe the '37 has a similar but smaller cab than the '40 does so It would be interestting to see if installing the headliner process would work for both.... I see you have a '37, maybe you could do some checking/measurements to see if your headliner is flat.

Thanks,

Mike

Quin, there should be side, center, front and rear strips to hold the headliner along with rubber washer protected screws for the center run on a '37. i am not at that point but the cardboard in the box looks intimidating with all of the stories to go along with this project.

37_GC,

Go to home Depot and get some heavy building paper first. It's about 1/2 the thickness of the cardboard. you can double the thickness if you glue it together with a spray contact cement. Use your headliner cardboard and make a pattern. Then you can try that before you mess up your cardboard. Like most of us, you will mess up quite a bit.

Check out my message from before. I would appreciate it if you would let me know if it was helpful and what procedure you used.

Mike