The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors When to install headliner?

I have'nt installed the cab windlace or the front windows yet. Is it these two items that help hold in the headliner? Is the headliner the last thing installed in the cab? Are the cardboard ones of good quality ? Can you recommend a vendor? Thanks

On my 41 I am doing the headliner before the windows and trim and toher items .I will attach the other items after I am satisfied with the headliner. Jim Carter is a good source for the Headliner and they look good, before you mess it up{if you are like me}.

It only seems logical that the headliner was installed at the factory before the windlace. That's where all the problems happen, trying to force the chintzy cardboard reproductions in behind the rubber.
I've heard a bunch of stories about how poorly the reproduction panels fit. I've got three headliners here from three different vendors and they are all different around the outside when you lay them over each other. So it looks like it's a crap shoot where you buy it. I haven't installed any of them yet so I can't say which one, if any, is going to fit correctly. The original headliners were made from "panel board" as is used in door panels at decent upholstery shops. This was/is a water resistant material. The reproduction headliners are simply untreated embossed cardboard and I would fully expect them to sag after a while especially in a humid climate. .
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Steaming them or spraying them lightly with water sure does help. They can become kinked quickly w/o softening them first. I think the same problem of fit also applys to kick panel cardboard.

I am struggling with this right now and discovered that the Tech Tip is incorrect in terms of orientation of the metal bow, assuming I am reading it correctly. I have two bows and both have one wider channel where it was crimped ("[censored] punched" as the assembly manual calls it) holding the forward panel in place. This contradicts the Tech Tip. Following the Tech Tip, I was unable to place the rear panel in the bow, as you couldn't press it into the channel. Ended up bending/creasing the rear panel. I am going to try a different vendor, as the front panel didn't really fit anyway.

Kent

The front panel did not fit? Which vendor did you buy it from, if you don't mind my asking?
Thanks.
Charlie

I bought the headliner from Grumpy's in Phoenix. For me there is no shipping, so that is why I chose them. The front panel is not wide enough where it goes between the windshield ganish moulding and the rubber windlace for the doors. That area is sort of arrow shaped and the headliner cardboard doesn't cover that gap very well at all. Given Denny's comments about different vendors having headliners with different dimensions, I am going to try another source.

Kent

Thanks, Kent.
Charlie

Last!

Now Big, I would say just the oposite, First!
The cardboard is cheap enought so I suppose one could try headliners from several sources as long as they aren't comming from the same manufacturer.
DG

I can't stand the thought of a cardboard headliner; I know it's original but still it's cardboard for goodness sake. I am going to use one of those Mexican upholster guys, the one that built my seat. I'll have him do it up in the same green vinyl he did my seat in. Besides, I lost my center rod...

The cardboard headliners just dont last. I put one in my 51 pickup a number of years ago and it has actually shrunken. It sags at middle of the bow.looking pretty sad. So will replace it. Am presently working on electricals. will post there.