Headliner For 1972 Suburban 4X4

[CG]

I always thought that would be a cool way to do a "headliner". I even have a folder with a bunch of older vehicles with the wood like that. If thats yours, great work on your part. Any pics of how it was laid out and done?

[djolley]

Originally Posted by CG

I always thought that would be a cool way to do a "headliner". I even have a folder with a bunch of older vehicles with the wood like that. If thats yours, great work on your part. Any pics of how it was laid out and done?

I'll upload pics of the install, as soon as I figure out how to do it. New to the site/forum, and still working out the bugs!

[djolley]

Here are some pics of the woody-style headliner install. Still getting my chops down on how to upload to the forum, so I may have to share these in several doses. Thanks for the interest and patience!!

First the materials: 1 x 3 New Zealand select pine strips purchased at Lowes. Lengths in 6, 8 & 10 ft. Whatever I could find that was straight. Ran them thru the table saw to make them 1/2 thick, then beveled/rounded the edges that would be showing (a ton of hand sanding!). Then finished the strips with Minwax Golden Pecan stain and 2 coats of Minwax Helmsman poly. (More sanding!).

Meanwhile: ran a clothesline down the center of the Burb's interior from which to suspend the vinyl headliner material. The material was purchased from Brothers, roughly 6 ft wide and 12 ft long. Seams were already located at every 2 feet to match the spacing of the roof supports. Hung the material over the clothesline to hold it near the the roof, carefully centered L/R and positioned front/rear so the seams matched the roof supports. The pic shows the suspended material, and insulation material (from LMC) mounted on the roof by wedging edges under the roof supports to hold it in place.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner continued. (Seems I can only upload three pics at a time.... Sorry for the tedium!)

Starting at the rear, used shims to tuck and hold the vinyl headliner material into the channel at the interior roofline. Cut shims shorter, and then secured in place by drilling thru the channel and screwing shims in place with #10 sheet metal screws. Excess headliner material was trimmed to about a 1/2 inch overhang, to be concealed later with trim.

Attached first wood strip down the center of the Burb by drilling and screwing into the roof supports, again using #10 sheet metal screws. Careful not to drill through the roof! Screws were countersink slightly, so they can be concealed later under final cross-pieces. As to the vinyl material... get it close to where you want it, attach the wood strips to the roof supports, and then position the material by loosening each screw in sequence along the wood strip and tensioning the material as you retighten the screws. Work from the rear forward.

Working outward from the center strip (hardest one to start!) attach other strips in similar fashion, tensioning the vinyl material outward as you go. Continue shimming and screwing the shims in the roofline channel as you work outward from center.

Wood strips do not need to run the full length of the interior - they can be butt- jointed in sections at the roof supports every 2 feet, and the butt-joints will be concealed later with final trim.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner continued...

As you get closer to the outer edges, tension and tuck the vinyl material into the side channels running the length of the interior above the window line. Hold the material in place with shims as before, but don't secure with screws until the outermost wood strip is in place. otherwise, the tension of the material may be goofed up by the need to allow for the proper curve of the roof toward the edges. As each wood strip is attached, tension the vinyl material by loosening the screws in sequence, tensioning the material, and retightening the screws against the roof supports to hold the material in place.

There's a channel at the front above the windshield, but I removed it and tucked both the vinyl material and the wood strips between the roof and the panel to which the visors are attached. It's a tight fit... shaved the ends of the wood strips a tiny bit thinner to fit them into the gap.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner continued...

Once the wooden strips are all in place final outward tension of the vinyl material can be achieved, and material secured in place by drilling and screwing the shims in place along the window line. Material above windshield is held in place with tight fit of the wood strips in the gap between the windshield and the roof.

Headliner edges along sides above windows is concealed by a long strip of 1 x 4 hem-fir, shaved to match the 1/2 inch thickness of the ceiling strips. These long side pieces are attached with #10 wood screws into the roof supports, and tidied with finish washers. These screws need to be about 2 1/2 inches long to reach the roof supports which are curving at the outer extremes of the roofline.

Last, the cross pieces to conceal the screws of the wood strips. These too are made of the New Zealand pine, but shaved to 1/4 inch thickness to allow for the bend required. They're placed at each of the roof supports to hide the srews and butt-joints of the ceiling strips. These cross pieces are tricky to install: Measure the distance along the curve of the roof from the top of one side-trim piece to the other. Cut the cross pieces to that length and tuck their ends against the tops of the side pieces. The cross pieces will bow downward under tension, but can then be "snapped" upward against the roof strips to fit the side-to-side contour. Once snapped into place, they can be secured with #10 wood screws and finish washers. Similar cross pieces can be fitted to the rear and above the windshield, but they'll need to be carefully trimmed to fit the curvature of the metal panels at the front and rear of the roof line.

Hope that helps. It's a boatload of work, but the result is pretty pleasing. Makes me wanna hop in and drive! You can pm me with questions etc by email:

dljolley@gmail.com.

Thanks for looking!

[dagnabbitt]

That's beautiful.

[djolley]

Woody-style headliner cont....

As promised, some pics of the trim at the front, as it relates to the visors. Cut angle goes from the end of the headliner's fabric channel (along bottom) to the gap between windshield panel and roof at the top. Hope that makes sense. Corner of the visor does hit the trim, but not enough to bother. Could shave the visor's corner, but.... no worries.

[HO455]

I don't know if you noticed but you got a thread link in the pickup section. You've made the big time!