Cascade Crew

[Jason_Culbertson]

so my healiner still needs to be fixed so i posted a vid so some one could help me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvG8jdJNP2A

[Dewey316]

Jason, that yellow stuff is the headliner fiber material. If that is going, you are probably out of luck with that headliner. Did you get water in it, or have bad t-top leaks?

If money is an issue, I would just take it out. These cars don't look bad without the headliner. Then when you get money, buy one of the ABS plastic ones, they will last forever. Any used or OEM one, is going to be that same yellow fiber material, it degrades, and won't last. Just save up and get one that will last.

--John

[Al Hasse]

My 89 has the same problems with its headliner, but not quite as bad. It disintegrates a little more every time the windows are down or the tops are off. I've decided to buy a new ABS piece when money is available.

[zer0321]

yep, had the same problem with all of the t-top cars i've had in the past. I was always happiest with the ABS plastic headliners as mentioned above. but if you are on a tight budget, go find a "backboard" (the yellow crap) in decent condition and re-cover it yourself to match your interior.

I've done it before and it's pretty easy, you basically just pull the old material off, use a dish scrubber to get all the old glue off the board and then get some foam backed fabric that matches your interior and cut it to about the size of the headliner and glue it down using 3M headliner trim adhesive...just go from one end to the other and it will turn out just fine.

Usually doing it yourself costs less than $40 and only takes an hour of your time (not including uninstall/install time, which you would have to do anyways with a plastic replacement).

[aaron_sK]

Yup, it looks pretty much the same as every other 26 year-old F-body.

Don't waste your time with the 3M stuff on your old headliner. That stuff works if you have a good foam backing, but the problem with the old Chevy headliners is that the foam between the base and the cloth turns into dust, so the glue is worthless.

If you are flat broke, I would suggest just removing it entirely, and waiting till you can afford to fix it. My IROC has been without one for quite a while now, and nobody really notices it unless I point it out.

[cameron7710]

i vote just take it off until u can afford a new one

[GREG DAVIDSON]

i vote to take it off i think it almost looks better kinda mine dont have it and i dont think i wanna put up a new one

[Quasi-Traction]

[Alphius]

I cast one more vote for the ABS plastic headliners. My t-top car had one, and it was well worth the money.

Then, I had one in my hardtop, but the cloth came off the ABS. I had bought it from hawksthirdgenparts.com, so I emailed them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wACfqPeuFo

I said I wasn't satisfied with my purchase, I had bought the headliner about 6 months previous and it was falling apart. I asked him if I should recover it myself, but I wanted to let them know before I did anything.

They said they have not once in nine years seen that happen with the ABS headliners they sell, so they sent me another new one straight from their suppliers at no charge.

I am really happy with their level of customer service, and I recommend them at least for purchasing headliners from.

[83Z28BlackBetty]

If the foam backing isn't in too bad of shape i vote just recover it. I spent $20 on new headliner material and was able to do my headliner and the sail panels to match. But it NEEDS something. My car didn't have one when i bought it and I didn't realize how complete one makes the car look. Without them it looks trashy inside.

I took the foam backing and sanded it with 220 grit very lightly to scrape off any old material and then used some heavy duty contact cement. No problems 1.5 years later.

~JAKE

[Xophertony]

the fiberglass repair material Chris is talking about is called "fiberglass cloth" and is available at auto zone, and sometimes napa. you get it in a package that contains about 3X3' square of it. one was enough to cover most of my t top headliner in my Firebird. it was in three pieces. on chris' car we used it around the seat belt holes and the edges to add strength. you coat it in 3m headliner glue and stick it on the foam, makes it ROCK solid. one word of caution on t-top headliners, it wants to pull the bends flat, it will flex your headliner out of shape, use some rubber bands to hold it in it's shape.

overall i would recommend abs for t top cars, and a recovery for hard top cars. the hard top ones are always in way better shape, and recovering is so easy. but the t top ones are usually shot. mine was in three pieces.

[Twilightoptics]

The problem with gluing the cloth to the fiber headliner, is that the fiber is in layers. Glue to one layer and it will pull the next layer down. ETC ETC ETC

[chevymad]

I glued my headliner on many times over the years. Hardtop car. Eventually I ended up with as much foam glued to the fabric as was on the board. I finally bought an abs headliner back in 2001.. no problems since at all.

[flea]

OK so it seems pretty simple to me then.

You need to decide whether it is important for you to have right away. If so, and if you're broke, Then just recover it. I recovered mine and it worked out just fine.

If for whatever reason that is not an option for you, then buy an ABS one. If you can't do that, then just remove the headliner all together.


But my humble unsolicited opinion is that regardless which option you go with you will need to remove the old. So while its out give it a shot. Try recovering it. If it looks good then reinstall it, save some cash and have a good looking car. If it doesn't turn out, well what did you lose? 20.00.

Its worth a shot and not hard to do at all.

[blue89]

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/camaroorfirebird82-92absheadlinert-toporhardtop.aspx

Holy crap thats expensive! $179 + $60 to ship?

[Jason_Culbertson]

well i cant do interior at all, if i bought all stuff to do it and paid for the S&H would some one do it for me? or some one around me? (south Tacoma) maybe blue89 or turbo jimmy?

[Quasi-Traction]

no offence dude, but asking someone else to "do it for you" is kind of a cop out. Its okay to have someone there who knows what they're doing, or doing some of the difficult work. I'll admit I ask for other guys in the crew's help a lot. But I'm ALWAYS there pitching in, trying to do my part, and learning what I can in the process.

if you want someone to "do it for you" there are plenty of upholstry shops around in the Tacoma area.

I'm sorry if it comes off as rude, but you gotta be willing to take the plunge a little bit. Asking for help is okay here, were always willing to help a fellow crewbie out, just as long as you're participating as well.

[Jason_Culbertson]

its not that i dont want to its that i dont know how too

[Al Hasse]

Hardest part is removing the interference (interior plastics) which are in the way. Sail panels are the hardest and largest pieces and may require the rear seats to come out (might be able to unfasten just the upper portion and bend them down), remove the dome light and visors and maybe the A-pillars. Then it should come out fairly easy.

[zer0321]

Everything I know about this stuff, I learned from other people over the internet. Check out these TGO write-ups, if you can follow instructions, this is a pretty easy job to do

T-Top Headliner Repair:
http://www.thirdgen.org/headlinerrepair

How to Remove T-Top Headliner:
http://www.thirdgen.org/ttops2

I was able to do it sucessfully when I was 17 and barely knew how to change my own oil.

Good luck!