Headliner repair question

[fastcars]

Although my headliner is not ripped, it is sagging. I'm going to put new vinyl on it so I removed it. What I was going to do was pull out the headliner board from the truck, remove the vinyl, scrape the sponge material off then spray glue and attach the new vinyl. My issue is that there is no hard board holding any sponge material. It was just insulation only with nothing hard behind it. Its the yellow sticky itchy insulation. It was compact and shaped to the ceiling. Is this how it came from the factory? Oh and by the way, Its a 77 c10 Silverado.

[srozell]

I did the same thing to my truck last week. You describe the same thing I had in my truck.

[Jason S]

From the factory, the headliner consisted of a 'foam' molded piece to which the vinyl is attached. There wasn't any hard board or other strong backing.

[Tjerica1201]

My 87 was the same way. I bought a replacement setup.  I've bought 2 of these 1 was for an 85 s-15 and the other was for this truck. The one in the s-15 was great, the one in this 87 was sagging again in a month. So it's a 50/50 shot as far as good getting a good head liner from them.  Kinda expensive to buy it for just the pan tho.

[fastcars]

From the factory, the headliner consisted of a 'foam' molded piece to which the vinyl is attached. There wasn't any hard board or other strong backing.

Jason, that's what I'm talking about when I said board. Seems like a lot of people call it by a different name. It is a yellowish foam thats molded into the ceiling and has the same shape. To that foam, you would a sponge lining between the headliner and the foam mold. The sponge lining is what fails over time resulting in the headliner sagging. What I was going to do was scrape off the failed sponge lining and just leave the foam molded backing. My truck does not have that foam backing and didnt have the sponge between it the headliner and foam either. It just had insulation that looked like it was molded then it had the headliner glued to it. I'll get some pictures of it tomorrow so you can see what I'm talking about.

[Jason S]

Fastcars, I believe we're on the same page, but just to make sure... 

For a factory headliner, you can remove the interior trim panels around the headliner (pillar trim and trim above doors, front & back glass) and detach the dome light which will allow the 'foam' board to drop down so you can remove it from the cab.

Once removed and on a flat surface, it's relatively easy to scrap off all the old 'gunk' and attach (or reattach) the vinyl or fabric covering material.

Definitely post photos, just in case we're talking about two different things.

However, I think you've already got it pretty well covered (pun intended)...

BTW, Howdy from Kansas... You might want to post in the new member forum to introduce yourself and your '77 Silverado!

[fastcars]

Here are the pictures I took. You can tell that there really isnt a foam backing or any other type of harder support. It's just insulation from top to bottom. The dark side is where the vinyl was glued on. The material isnt different.

[Jason S]

It makes me itch just looking at the photos...

I'd think you should be able to use a somewhat stiff brush (e.g., a large nylon bristle brush for cleaning tires) to get rid of the residual foam from the headliner. Then, once it's cleaned up, use a quality headliner adhesive and attach the new material.

[fastcars]

Glue it right on the insulation? Is that a good idea? I can understand scrapping off the old failed spongy material until you get to the harder foam but both are missing and where never there.

[Captkaos]

That is a factory headliner.  You need to get all of that glue and "fuz" off for the new material to stick.  I suggest using a brush as Jason S suggested.

[fastcars]

Maaan... I just dont see it happening but I will do it. I'll post some pictures in the coming week or so.

[jumbowolfe]

I just did this in mine last month.  I took all the old flakey black material away from the yellow, then used 3M adhesive.  I stuck the vinyl directly to the yellow insulation.

Now what I will say, it looks good for now, but this is not a long term solution.  The best thing to do is buy the replacement headliner with ABS from any vendor, and then install it.  The ABS I would assume would last longer and at least buy you 5-10 years.  My current solution to glue the vinyl to the insulation is only temporary for me because I'm spending money on other things.

The other thing you're going to face after getting the black flakey material off there is lumping.  I had to smooth out areas as best as I could, and even then every little high spot with the insulation showed up when pressing the vinyl down.  Sometimes it just pays to go with brand new as opposed to trying to hack this stuff to keep on working.

My plans are to get the ABS version with perforated vinyl (like stock) soon.

[fastcars]

Oh good. I needed someone with pictures who has done this to talk about it. Thanks for taking the time to show me. I'll get some pictures as soon as I get it done.

[Captkaos]

If you are not up to it, we have replacement headliners in the store for sale.

[jaredts]

I did the same thing jumbowolfe did, and I'm perfectly happy with it.  Did it about two years ago and it still looks great.  Just don't put too much spray adhesive on as it can melt the vinyl.  I did mine in small sections (10" wide or so) starting with a stripe down the middle so I could smooth it out as it dried.  I think spraying it and smoothing it out all at once would be tough.  My insulation wasn't lumpy or damaged, so it turned out pretty smooth.