Headliner Restor Project

[MrRolla]

A couple weeks ago I picked up a 1989 Corolla Sedan DX. Motor is a 4A-F with an auto trans. It has 150k miles currently on it. So it should have a lot of life left in this car. The plan is to fix it up a little cosmetically and drive it as my daily commuter. Body is ugly but I feel the interior can be fixed up easily with a few mods. So a new restored headliner is in the making. Pics to come soon.

I'm going to pic up some fabric and spray adhesive tomorrow before I start the dismantling.

I have never pulled a headliner out of a Toyota before so I'm not sure where best to begin. I would like to ovoid breaking anything if possible.

Any advice will be welcome and appreciated.

[SuperRA]

I've done this job on my sedan. You should remove the panels from the A, B and C pillars, dome light, front trim, passenger handles, 2 hole covers next to the driver, and rear trim. I think that's it, but there may be more. Just don't force it, if everything is removed that needs to be, the headliner will just come off without force.

Once it's removed lay out the fabric and cut it down to about 6in over each edge. I used Super77 adhesive, (it says not for headliners, but that means the vinyl ones). Lay the fabric out on the headliner and then without creasing, fold it back halfway. Spray about 6-10" of headliner and same for the fabric. Wait a little and then go under the fold and start smoothing it out from the center towards the sides. Once you've adhered that 6-10", repeat with the next 6-10" and repeat until you reach the end. Then fold back the other half and repeat again for that side. Once it's all stuck on, go back and trim the edge and any holes.

Did that make sense?

I repeated with 3-4 layers of fabric because it was light and fluffy and gave a padded effect.

[MacktasticSlick]

I need to get that adhesive... I redid my headliner in plaid but a few months later it pillowed down. Fail. Where did you get Super77?

[MrRolla]

Yes...makes sense

Thanks for the pointers...we will see how it all turns out tomorrow. I picked up some felt and adhesive at Hobby Lobby. I went with bright red. Felt was probably the least expensive fabric. They didn't have 3M77 so I got this other adhesive with Tree House label. I glued a test peice of fabric on some cardboard to see how it did. Seems to be good stuff.

Felt-$7.89
Spray Adhesive- $5.99




Hopefully it will be a large improvement from this...annoying. Can't see hardly anything plus it touches my head!

[SuperRA]

Originally Posted by MacktasticSlick

I need to get that adhesive... I redid my headliner in plaid but a few months later it pillowed down. Fail. Where did you get Super77?

You can get 3M Super77 at hardware stores like Lowes or Home Depot, craft stores like Michaels, and probably places like Walmart.

Yea, if I get a chance, I'll snap some photos.

Oh and another pointer. Try not to strectch it too much on concave curves. It may tend to pull up if the fabric has too much tension. A place this happens is the indentations where the sun visors sit up against the roof.

[MacktasticSlick]

Here's a step by step of mine if you need a little help. We have different cars but they should be about the same, as far as the steps go. A little down in page 9:
http://trdforums.com/community/threa...s.33756/page-9

[MrRolla]

Thanks for everyone advice on this. I'm proud to say nothing got broken

some pics:

I started with the seatbelts on the columns.



Made my way around.



The most fragile clips are definitely on the rear. None were broken.



A bit tricky coming out. I laid the seats back all the way to make way.



Couple of the corners cracked off so I taped them up along with any other cracks. Very fragile.



Cleaned up the old foam backing with a wire brush and used compressed air to blow off the loosened materials.



Laid out the fabric like SuperRA said and put everything back in. Total time took about 2 hrs once all the supplies are acquired.

Results:






I'm loving it ...hope it ages well. What do you think?

[SuperRA]

Niiiiice

[gr91]

Good job and all, but damn Bright Red with Grey interior? not my style, but seems to be an easy job ;]

[86camota]

Damn, nice job. Reds not my color, but again, i say damn. Clean.

[MrRolla]

I know red is a bit bold but that is what I was going for....BOLD. It was either going to be bright red or a bright lime green. With a good fabric store the possibilities are endless.