73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Interior & Equipment => Topic started by: Tx_Phil on October 04, 2012, 11:37:49 am
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Is this even possible? Well I figure anything is possible with enough effort and money but how practical would it be?
My 87 suburban came with a gutted interior but I have most of the big parts like seats, door panels, console and some trim but it’s all piled up in the back of the truck. One thing that I don’t have is a headliner or any of the trim that holds it in place. I thought I’d just leave it out but with this south Texas sun that thing gets silly hot. Way hotter than I expected!!
I called a few local salvage yards hoping to find an old headliner, something I could repair and recover but they only laughed and said they don’t have any vehicles that old in the lot. I figure my only option now is to build something from scratch but I don’t have a clue that it should look like. I mean I know what a headliner is and more or less where it goes but I don’t know the overall shape. I’m guessing as large as this roof is that the headliner is two pieces but how far down should it come toward the windshield? What about on the sides of the truck? Does it just run along a straight line from front to back over the door openings or does it dip down between the door openings?
- While it may be possible to build a headliner from scratch do you think it’s feasible?
- Has anyone on here tried something like this before? I tried searching for threads related to headliners but I didn’t find any where they were built from scratch.
- What kind of material would one use for the base structure? I was thinking about some really thin plywood or paneling. Something 1/8” or thinner.
- Does anyone have a mid 80s suburban with rear air that wouldn’t mind sharing some pictured of the headliner? I’m thinking if I could get a good look at one I might be able to figure out a lot of this.
Also, I am not trying to do a factory perfect restore. Functionality is what I’m aiming for, something that helps cut down the heat and noise.
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Where are you located? I was at a junkyard in San Antonio and they must have had 20 pretty much complete Suburbans. You really need the headliner backing. It comes in 2 pieces, front and back. You can glue new headliner material (using contact cement) to the backing.
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San Antonio, really? Do you remember the name of the place?
I'm outside Houston but SA is only 2.5hrs away. The suburban is in Cuero and that less than 2hrs away from SA. We used to live in SA and I still have several friends living in that area.
No question this little project will be much much simpler if I had the headliner cardboard stuff.
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Yes, the place is called Pick-N-Pull, 11795 Applewhite Road, San Antonio, TX. When I was there about a year ago, there were a lot of nice Suburbans sitting out there. They also replace windshield on our trucks for a very good price.
Wow, I'm just down the street from Cuero.
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How about that!! My dad and brother live in Cuero. We all grew up in Victoria.
Thanks for the info on the pick-a-part. I need to plan my trips better. Went through SA yesterday headed out to the lease. Sitting in the blind now. Low 50s with a 20mph wind. Bow hunting is awesome!
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I sell replacement headliners, you can see what they look like here:http://acmeauto.us/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4335