Hi all,

I got my '66 F250 Camper Special without any headliner and I didn't really liked the look. I decided to remove the rust, paint the roof, installed sound deadening mats and a custom made headliner. Here I want to share my experience with the whole headliner journey. I hope this helps others on their installation process. If you use a different method, please share it too. I am always happy to learn and improve the next time.

My starting point was the headliner PDF which floats around since a while and can be found e.g. here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...pattern-5.html post #64. If you have access to a poster printer you will have a big advantage. I used a regular laser printer with letter size paper and stitched it together using clear tape. Make sure to verify the correct scaling, some printer drivers to weird re-scaling and the dimension will be off (ask me how I know). Next, I cut out the template and fixed it the Lexan Polycarbonate. Here clear tape is also working well. I bought the Lexan Polycarbonate of EBay for $72. 1/16" thickness worked well. Not too stiff, but still bendable. A sheet with 48" x 96" is sufficient for the entire headliner. I used a Sharpie to mark the Lexan, but you could also just follow the outline of your paper template. I used some tin cutting shears to cut the Lexan, which works well. Make sure to cut at the outside of the line to have enough material. If you have all the pieces ready do a test fit in the truck and re-trim if needed. I used self tapping screws #8 to keep the headliner in place. Make the center of the headliner and your truck cabin to help with the alignment. The edges are sharp and will scratch your paint and upholstery. Use a moving blanket to protect the bench and masking tape at the door edges. A second person is extremely helpful for this task, but it can be done alone. After the trim is good I applied a heat gun to remove the tension in the bends. Especially the two lower pieces have to bend 90 deg and have a lot of tension. The heat helps. Use a scrap piece first to get a feeling of the amount of heat you need. At one point the Lexan will bend and stay in shape. Even with a lot of heat it was not burning through, but this depends on your heat gun. Better test it before.
Next I removed the pieces again and used the heat gun one more time to get a better bend. Now it is time to install the fabric to the Lexan. Remove the cover foil and rough up the surface with some sanding paper so the glue has something to grab. I cleaned it with isopropanol. For the fabric you have a lot of options. I choose black Sunbrite Headliner Utility from Joann. 3 yr is sufficient. Cut out the headliner with enough overhead. May plan was to bend the fabric around the edges so it looks nice and clean. You want around 1" overlap so you have enough material to glue it to the backside. I used spray glue (3M 77) which seems to work fine. Let it tack and press on the headliner at the front. To go around the corners you need to cut little triangles. I used a lot of clothespins to hold it in place.
Now comes the final installation part. Here again a helper is great, but can be done alone. I didn't use the clips in the front but decided to use trim screws (#8) in the front, side and the center reinforcement of the roof. Mark the center, align the headliner to the roof and drill a hole. You can drill through the headliner without messing it up, at least the one I used. Start in the center and work your way to the sides. I have 5 screws in the front and it seems to be fine. Next are the two side pieces. If you pre bend them well it is easy to install. They go under the rear window seal and I used the same screws to keep them in place. I don't have the trim pieces so I tried to align them nicely to the door frame. Most difficult is the piece with the dome light. I got a dome light from Dennis Carpenter. Make sure you wires are long enough for the electrical connection (GND and 12V). Here I used the clips and started at the center. Getting the clips in and stuff the piece under the rear window seal is not fun. I used trim screws at both sides to hold everything in place. Here I messed up a bit and the piece is not totally centered, which leads to a small gap at the driver side. Not too bad, but I am not totally happy. Here a helper would have avoided this.

Overall I am happy with the result. Definitely much better than before.
However, keep in mind it is a lot of work and the total costs add up. The Lexan was $72, the headliner $94 plus two cans of spray glue and some screws. The cheapest headliner you can get is around $200, so not much different. But of course you can customize it however you want it.

Here a some pictures:

Paper templates for the dome light and both sides.

Paper templates the Lexan.

Headliner fabric glued to the pre-bend Lexan.

Keep everything in place until the spray glue dried.


Three pieces are in. You can see the trim screws I used to keep it in place.

Done. You can see the clips in the back.

 

Thanks for the write up. I'm planning on doing something similar, in my truck using FRP, from home depot or lowes.

 

Great! Please share your experience here too.