The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Headliner install

I searched the archives and a couple other sites for a general guide to installing cardboard headliners and came up dry.

Does anyone know of one? If I missed it I appologize.

I know there is advice for spraying the back with a mixture of Ammonia and water, but various mixtures have been used without a real recommendation.

Thanks,

and if I remember right those post said it is best to have TWO people when doing it. Do a search and something should come up about it....I have not checked the tech tips section but look there to.

Bill -

Let me suggest a different approach to the headliner issue.

I watched a counter top builder measure a counter top in a new home to fit to the various waves in the walls and into the not square corners and I used his method.

I used about four to six smaller than full headliner size pieces of cardboard or even poster board and "installed" them taped together to make the full piece "installed". After I was happy with my template, I cut my headliner board to fit from those assembled pieces. It worked great fo me. The one thing that I never could do is to get the cardboard to conform into the deep bends it appears it needs to have at the sides just above the driver spot and passenger spot. I finally realized that it can't and isn't supposed to conform fully to those bends as long as it slightly bends and overall conforms to the basic configuration of the top of the truck cab. The other thing I didn't take advantage of was the screws that are supposed to screw through the headliner and into the bow that is secured in place form the top of the right door frame to the top of the left door frame. The headliner stayed so well in place and conformed so naturally to the roof of the cab that when I started putting a screw into the headliner, it acturally started stressing it out of shape. So I left it alone!

I've read about spraying with ammonia water and that sounds like a mess, plus you need to have some good ventilation working with ammonia or it can get tough to breathe. BE CAREFULL!

Finally, mine has been in for twenty years and still looks good. I even added radio speakers in it right at the back over the driver's and passenger's head.

This may not be what you want to do, but it worked well form and I thought I would share the procedure with you. Good luck!

Joe

Joe,

I don't know why I don't just start with you. As always you have great suggestions.

Thanks,

Joe
Good idea

Nice truck, Joe

Bill, I don't know if your year of truck has the 2-piece headliner or not, but if it is like my '53, it was easy to install as a one-person job. I have one of those adjustable stands with a roller on top that is used to support long lengths of wood when running them through a table saw. I stood that on my seat frame and adjusted the height to hold the headliner in place while I worked the rest of it in. Worked like a champ. If it is the 2-piece, you will want to start with the center frame piece and insert the headliner into that piece first. I didn;t use ammonia water or anything to soften the cardboard. It was fairly pliable and curved easy enough without making any creases. Don't know if this will help you or not.

Bill,
I'll second what Rick said. I found it wasn't necessary for the ammonia thing. Went in easier dry. If you wet the back side, I found it had more of a tendency to wrinkle. What I did do was sort of pre-roll the areas that needed it. I took a 3" piece of PVC pipe and used it to gently roll these areas. I was real happy with how it came out.

Bob