Hey Bronco II owners, what are you all doing with the old ratty headliners in your trucks? I got one from a JY and it is very delicate, part of it is crumbling.
I am at a loss as to how to cure this problem. Any ideas and advice is welcome.
Lou
Maybe this will help.
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Apr 22 2002, 04:30pm #1
Paul
My way or no way at all!!
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Somewhere, PA
Posts: 36
Friends: (0) Anyone ever have to do this? (Headliner Board Repair)
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I found this via a search through Google:
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/S...headliner.html
Headliner Repair
Overview
Here is the message from Curt Martin on redoing the headliner. Email him or me with any questions.
Subject: Curt's headliner install info
Under No Circumstances throw out the old headliner board! The damn board is the most expensive peice of the headliner to replace. It's really easy to repair the board so that a new piece of fabric/foam can be applied on top of it
Note- this repair will ruin the fabric on the headliner board, so you do this only when you are ready to have the fabric replaced.
Materials: 1 pint Polyester Resin w/ hardener (MEK in a seperate tube), about three yards of 1oz to 6oz fiberglass cloth (bi-directional weave), couple of paint brushes (animal hair ones, not the plastic or foam bristle ones). 1 Wire Brush.
Get your resin from a paint & body supply store.. don't get it from WalMart or an auto-parts store... resin has a shelf life and you want fresh resin that will cure properly. (you'll also find it's cheaper from paint & body shops and the cloth will come from rolls..possibly wide enough to do the entire headliner in one peice.
1.) Take out the headliner and set it on the garage floor fabric side down. Put big wads of crumpled newspaper under it to support it in roughly it's original shape.
2.) Tape together any tears with paper masking tape (It's going to become a permanent part of the headliner)
3.) Cut out the fiberglass cloth to fit the headliner.. since the dimentions of the headliner is bigger than most readily available fiberglass skeins, cut out several strips and allow about an inch of overlap. Also leave a few inches of fiberglass all the way around the headliner.
4.) Mix up a batch of resin and apply it to the headliner.. get sloppy with the stuff, you want it to soak into the original headliner and hold the fibers together...if you need to use multiple peices of glass cloth, then only wet out enough of the headliner for one strip of cloth.
5.) While the resin is still wet, carefully lay the fiberglass cloth on the headliner.. work quickly.
6.) Apply more resin on top of the fiberglass cloth and smooth out the cloth on top of the headliner.
... if you needed to use multiple sections of cloth, repeat 4, 5, and 6 for each section until the entire headliner has been covered in one layer of fiberglass cloth.
7.) Allow the resin to cure about 30-60 minutes.. until it is just tacky but still rubbery... Take a pair of shears and cut away the excess fiberglass from around the edges of the headliner. If you wait too long, you'll need a grinder to remove the cured fiberglass..better to cut it while it is still rubbery.
8.) Allow the resin to cure overnight.
9.) Flip the headliner board over and peel off as much of the old fabric and foam as possible. Use the wire brush on the stubborn areas till all of the foams has been removed.
10.) Mix up another batch of resin and paint it on the surface of the headliner.
11.) Let it cure overnight
12.) Finish up by recutting the holes for the dome light, seatbelts, mounting clips, etc.
Tada.. two days of work (about 4 hours total) and roughly $20 in materials and your original headliner is now a solid fiberglass board ready to have fabric applied to it. (about another $20-30 worth of fabric.)
Only other warnings are that you need to work in a warm, ventilated, area. low temps cause serious curing problems for resins, and the sickly-sweet smell doesn't appeal to everyone.. (smells like industrial-strength vomit)
Curt Martin
Ormond Beach, Florida
I am replacing the headliner in my 89 and when pulling the board out It disintegrated in parts. If you guys want I'll take pictures during the whole process and post a little faq. Our Gen II trucks aregetting old and I can't find anyone who sells replacement headliner boards. We'll see how this goes...
