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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