I have a 1986 F150 XLT Lariat. (At least that is what the shiny badge says...)

Question 1 - Has anyone had any experience with LNC upper door panels? My OEM panels are quite chalky after 23 years in the Texas heat.

Question 2 - It appears that the missing headliner material was glued to the inner metal roof? (There is foam and glue residue on the metal panel over my head.) Was gluing the fabric to the metal inner roof the norm, or was this a "modification" made by a PO? What would be my best stategy for gluing on new fabric? I thought that most headliners backers were removable fiber board.

 

Hi, I had a truck here that had a head linner in it, yes it had the fiber board and the fabric was glued to it, cant help on the other question, Mike

 

LMC has quality products

The headliner did have a cardboard liner w a faom backin then a piece of fabric glued to that. It Should not of ben glued to the steel headliner. The trim around the roof holds it up

 

Hi, My 82 had a cardboard liner with a vinal headliner. I took a liner out of a 1992 removed the fabric and foam and sanded the cardboard. I then purchased new headliner fabric from an auto interior shop and used 3M super interior adhesive.
Diesel Brad is correct, the board is held up by the trim.
You can also find headliner material at some fabric stores. Her in CT we have Jo Ann Fabrics and they have some basic colors for a good price.
I also upgraded the suvisors to the 87 and up set up. Much more stable.
Good luck

 

Thanks for the replies! It didn't seem "right" to be gluing headliner material to the metal inner roof.

 

Like others have said, there is supposed to be a piece of card board or foam board up there and then the headliner material gets glued to that.

My truck did not come with a headliner, and when I tried to find one all of them were either warped or cracked. Talking to my friend that owns an upholstery shop, he suggested gluing it directly to the metal roof. He does it all the time.

I thought about it for a while and decided not to in case I wanted to change the color of my interior. But, I did like the idea if it were going to be semi-permanent. The metal roof has some nice contours to it IMO and gluing the liner material right to it would look pretty good IMO.

I finally found a good donor piece of foam board from a later model truck and he glued a nice piece of headliner material to it for me and it came out really nice. The only thing you need to be aware of is that 87+ sun visors have an extra clip out near the end to keep them from flopping around. 80-86 do not use these clips and you will have to fill the holes in the foam board it they will show through the headliner material.

Either that, or use the later model sun visors and the clips that go with them. I choose not to do this because they did not offer the color I needed (Fawn) in 87+ trucks and the saddle tan was too dark for the rest of my interior.

One more thing: Make sure that your cab has the necessary square holes in it for the clips on the trim pieces. It is not so easy to add a headliner to a truck that did not have one from the factory. The trim pieces and those metal clips are what holds the headliner in place.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle.stosh

Either that, or use the later model sun visors and the clips that go with them. I choose not to do this because they did not offer the color I needed (Fawn) in 87+ trucks and the saddle tan was too dark for the rest of my interior.

I got some 87+ visors & clips that are grey; although they don't match my
Wedgewood Blue interior, they complement it OK IMHO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle.stosh

One more thing: Make sure that your cab has the necessary square holes in it for the clips on the trim pieces. It is not so easy to add a headliner to a truck that did not have one from the factory. The trim pieces and those metal clips are what holds the headliner in place.

I also picked up all the pieces to add a headliner and rear trim (into which I'd
like to mount speakers a-la-later models) to my truck, I even made templates of
the sizes & locations of those holes you're talking about. I haven't installed any
of it yet and I'm not gonna 'til I first deal with the rusty floor but, the more I
think about it, the more I'm thinking of merely screwing the parts to the inner
cab sheet metal instead of trying to make those holes (which I'm thinking
would perhaps be made with a rotary tool but I can imagine it being imprecise
and a PITA).

 

If you use the 87 and newer trim all that is screwed in place without any clpis like the 80-86 style

 

True, but the seat belt mounting on the B pillar is different.

 

True true true

 

Re: Headliner material.

Instead of going to an upholstery shop, I used one of those fuzzy nylon blankets from walmart. It has a nap to it, kind of like the old wool headliners from the 1940's cars, and provides decent sound dampening. I just used 3m spray glue to stick it to the fiber backing material.

It's held up pretty good for about 5 years now. Wager it might be cheaper than getting official headliner material.

 

I paid $40 for my new headliner removed, recovered and installed and thought it was a very reasonable price.

It came out as good if not better than the factory IMO and I didn't have to buy the material or the adhesive or waste my time doing it myself.

 

We needed a headliner and a way to install a modern radio too. The "Highliner" that LMC (ond others, probably) sells fit the bill nicely. We left it black, but could have painted it to match teh rest of the interior trim.

The speakers aren't the best and we've since replaced them, but the concept is good.

 

I too paid about $40.00 for my material and the removal of the old material and reinstalling of the new headliner at a small local upolstery shop. I had painted each and every single piece of my interior to get a solid match with the color and used the newer style of visors to prevent them from flopping around as Uncle Stosh mentioned. I had spent alot of time on my interior, it gets compliments, and I'm rather proud of my work thus far.



Door panels can be hard to find in the yards. Some members here (Uncle Stosh) may have some to offer. The panels in my truck are going to be replaced with another set I have that looks nearly new when the doors are replaced in a few weeks. Most of the ones I've came across aren't in any kind of useable condition either.

I've seen the "Higliner" pictures in the catalogs, but never seen one in person, or even a picture of one actually installed in a truck. Care to share?

 

I've wanting a "highliner" for a while, but the $300+ LMC charges for it is alittle steep. NPD sells them for alittle cheaper, but its still over $250 IIRC.

Mel over on OBN has one installed on his truck and its all decked out with switches, a fan, radio, and more.






Looks good IMO