I took the time to dismount the headliner in my 1966 ford f-250, i'm sure you know it well. I'm not too concerned about replacing it with stock, as well, stock kinda sucks.

Now what I want to do is use water and steem to mold the unit back into shape, So far i've had limited success.

Once back into shape, I wish to apply a sheet of new vinyl, good stuff, nice and thick, though the use of spray glue and stitch work, as well as apply some form of liquid harding material that will assist in keeping it's shape. This is the general game plan.

Now, problem is the fact that this material is sorta that, hardly partical board, almost like a paper like material.

I was thinking about your usual run of the mill fibreglass resin, but I have concerns that it won't saturate the material. The general goal is to make it more of a shell rather then a bent woody piece of filth.

I was also thinking about shalaque (SP). While i'm sure that it will indeed saturate the wood like substance.

Anyone else have any ideas for making this older board saturate some form of epoxy materal to transform it into a happy shell?

 

I repaired broken corners on my headliner using glue and layers of poster board. I then covered it in heavy vinyl. You should be able to cut out a new headliner from flat heavy cardboard and bend it into place.

Jerry (OldTrux) Biskup
Itasca, IL

http://oldtrux.homestead.com/jigsaw.html

 

Just a couple of thoughts -- I was lucky enough to have a head liner in good physical shape so all I did was wipe it down with laquer thinner and use black vinyl dye -- it's not great but a ton better than the stock look.

I also have a headliner set that's missing one of the cab corners (can't remember which one off the top of my head) but all the other panels are in decent shape. Let me know off line if you're interested. Might be a better place to start -- especially if you're going to cover them anyway.

Bill

 

One of the a/m vendors (and I honestly can't remember who) is now making a molded plastic headliner that you can cover with the material of your choice. It fits really well, one of our local guys got one and we played around with it. It's not cheap, but it IS an excellent, permanent solution to the problem.
Seems like the name of the place had something to do with rods???

 

the name you are thinking of is Rod Doors. They have a website but I don't think any of the new 2002 products are in it. The headliner sells for $179 and is made of ABS plastic.

 

My 66 is a standard cab and had no headliner.Just bare metal.I went through the same thing looking for headliners.All were over $200 with shipping,and still had to be covered with some kind of material.I finally went to a local car upholstery shop and he custom made and installed one for $225 and it looks great!He used plywood between the metal roof supports and covered the whole thing in black material all the way down to the gas tank.JUST A THOUGHT.
Andy
Shasta Lake,Ca.

 

>My 66 is a standard cab and had no headliner.Just bare
>metal.I went through the same thing looking for
>headliners.All were over $200 with shipping,and still had to
>be covered with some kind of material.I finally went to a
>local car upholstery shop and he custom made and installed
>one for $225 and it looks great!He used plywood between the
>metal roof supports and covered the whole thing in black
>material all the way down to the gas tank.JUST A THOUGHT.
>Andy

I see exactly where you are comming from. There was an older building material, called masonite I believe. I have some of it where I live, and have even seen it on places like the home improvement channel, in the fact that it was reccomended as being the base to create an arch, and then using standard wet sheet rock ontop and mold into place. If I can indeed find this material I may consider dremmeling my self the two larger headliner pieces. But i'm not sure if this is sold anymore :S

While the $200 isn't out of bounds, I believe that I may ineed be able to salvage what I have existing, and cover it up with some new uphostery, or alternativly speaking construct a new shell.

 

I'm seriously considering using drawer bottom material. I've seen it used to make door panels and it can be curved with moisture and pressure. It's similar to pegboard material.