Hey all you interior gurus :-) I am finally getting ready to cover the insulation in the cab....been staring at it for a couple of years now......... I seem to be restricted to the stock headliner due to the failure of free trade and the outlandish shipping/customs/taxes to this little island.........anyway I can get a headliner, behind the seat section, gasket and clips for a good price from across the water in Vancouver but it is stock and only comes in grey............. the interior designer, aka my wife, has visions of a tan interior.......... so the question is has anyone had success in painting the stock cardboard type pieces? Thanks.

 

You could get some light weight material and 1/8" foam and glue to the card board

 

Would you ' like ' to go with a custom liner,..but are restricted for some reason??
Why not try a large piece of ABS plastic and give it a go? Maybe make a pattern from lightweight cardboard first, then trace it to the plastic...

Give TRUXX a PM and say ' HI! '...he's into that kinda stuff...

 

Hey Comox, buddy, I share your pain......... but bite the bullet ($) Roddoors, roddoors and roddoors interior kits. !!!!!!!

RodDoors Home

 

my 49 currently only has the "behind the seat" section of the cardboard stuff and it is painted to match. The truck was painted over 15 years ago and its held up very well and looks nice.
Personally I dont like the looks of the cardboard so once I'm doing the interior my neighbor is going to help me cover the cardboard with leather to match the seats and center console that is planned.

 

The stock cardboard can be easily painted with whatever paint/color you like. Cloth headliner material looks a little nicer by today's standards but painting will work just fine.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I may be being pig-headed but so far I have done pretty much everything myself....... not a lot of aftermarket bolt-on things..... mostly fabbed or adapted by me............so although roddoors makes nice items and I am sure it would be easier.... I kind of like saying yeah I made that...... so maybe I will try the ABS thing.... wish I had the old one to use as a pattern....... or possibly cover a "new" stock headliner so it is acceptable by the interior designer

 

The last time I built a great hot rod (a five window deuce coupe) I did the headliner by bending up headliner bows with wire, and having a headliner sewn up. It is so small on a truck cab and a deuce, that a good uphoilstery guy can do it quite easily without a super high price. Then you have a great looking fabric headliner that has shape and style. I mention this only because the prices for the stupid cardboard headliner are ridiculous and are not worth it. If they, in some way, looked halfway decent, it might justify the cost, but a real headliner is far better looking and can be done anywhere. You can use naugahyde, typical headliner flocked fabrics, or drapery material, as you prefer. That is what I am going to do for my '53 project. Since there are no tacking strips on the truck, we will add some near the top door channel and pull the fabric down and around to the tacking strip. In the front we will glue in tacking strips to just against the windshield rubber, ditto on the rear window and to the space behind the seat back. Thus, the entire area will be covered to about 2" behind the seat back. We will make kick panels with 1/4" plywood and also door panels. Won't be no ******* cardboard in my F-250!!! So think about it and see your car upholstery guy. I can get one sewn up for $200 if I make up the bows. I only need 4 bows for the top and I'm going to make 4 bows for the rear to pass the rear window. They sew loops into the fabric which the bows go into. you just have to be able to snap in the bows. That is quite easy to do. You just make a bracket with a hole and make the end of the bow with a bend (crimp) so it locks into the hole. The bow can't turn due to the loop it is in. Works great. Oh, there is an advertiser on this forum that makes sewn headliners for about $12 a panel. www.wlsheadliners.com Look for the classic car headliners. You would have to make the bows, but they will make the headliner up from panel sizes you provide. You have tremendous color choices also.

Regards

Alan

 

Thanks muchly alanco for the info........ the interior designer has already mentioned making one like that....... there is actually a good upholstery shop in town.....so I guess I will drop by........... can't hurt :-) and I still get to finish it then install it myself

 

Have you looked into using PVC backing. Thanks to a couple FTE'ers I have the template for the headliner. I am going to attemp to mould it out of the 1/8" PVC and cover it with vinyl.

Tom

 

Actually it was a thought, have had many since I decided to attempt the covering of the insulation this year The only thing I see as a problem would be making the compound curves in the corners........ but I guess a heat gun should help out a bit........ still deep in the planning stages..... I have also heard of another plastic type material.... name escapes me at the moment... that is easy to work with and bends with heat and retains shape apparently.......read about it on The Hamb.........

 

I haven't tried it yet, but you should be able to cut the corner, shape it and splice it with PVC cement, using a backing material. I experimented with glue and it holds very well.

Tom

 

Hey Sparky! I was looking at the new classic-haulers catalogue that finally arrived (Canada you know) and I know its not what you wanted to do and not in the budget but as well as the Rod Doors and for the same price (too much) they have pre-upholstered panels in fabric and colour (Canadian spelling) of your choice! I’m going with the Rod Doors but thought the other ones where interesting.

 

I can't wait to do my interior, I think tan is the best for my Glacier blue color

 

ooo nicely done! Tan and brown has really grown on me over the years. I can't wait to do my interior either, one of the funnest parts!