Interior: Headliner Woes

[chrise2]

I purchased a headliner for my 57 silver hawk and am having a h#ll of a time getting the wrinkles out between the rear window and the quarter windows. I mean these are not little wrinkles. I started from the back stretching and smoothing and have about 4" excess material at the rear and only about 1 1/2" in the front. Perhaps I should have started from the front??? Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

[doofus]

I have installed several and the key seems to be that cloth tube sewn to the back of each seam. they must be split so you can pull the headliner down the bows. it's tedious and a sharp knife like an Xacto hobby knife is needed. i also have a bunch of cheap mini clamps to clamp headliner to body seam where it wraps around glass opening. take your time and dont get flustered. Good Luck , Doofus

[57pack]

I have done several headliner in the distant past, and seem to remember being instructed to start the installation from the center. Is this right way or is my brain playing its usual games with me ?

[RadioRoy]

Starting at the centers, front and rear, are how I do them.

[thunderations]

Using a steamer will help remove minor wrinkles. Work the material to get the least amount of wrinkles first because it's not going to shrink large wrinkles enough to remove them.

[JoeHall]

I replaced the headliner on the 62GT a few years ago, and the 63GT is scheduled soon, when the weather cools a bit more. Not a fun task.

I remove both windshields, take my time, and try to make a few improvements behind the headliner while it is out: seal off the trunk better, two coats of Por15, black followed by silver, then a coat of black Herculiner. I use about 50 small alligator clips to hold the headliner in place on the both windshield seal lips, and reset as needed when working the wrinkles out. when I have worked as many wrinkles out as possible, remove the clips and glue the liner in place. Then call my friend to reinstall the windshields, then I complete the rest of reassembly.

I have done at least half a dozen 56J headliners, and they too are a PITA. But procedures are different with their cardboard headliner. Though, at least their windshields can stay in place.

[wdills]

Here is a link to a thread describing how I did mine. Maybe it will help.

C body Headliner Installation Tips

[48skyliner]

The 47-52 roof panels have a lot more curvature than later cars, which have much flatter roofs. The headliner I installed in my 48 Starlight Coupe would lie flat on the floor - that should have told me I had a problem, but I had no experience installing a headliner. If I had to do it again, I would install it with the bows, cut the sleeves as described above, and then mark the point where the edges would be trimmed. I would then remove the headliner and sew some small darts, maybe 3 inches long, at each seam to use up about an inch of extra material at the edge. As it was, I had quite a bit of it glued before I realized the headliner would not fit the car. I used a sharp blade and cut the seams in several places, folded the extra material and glued it together with contact cement. Mine is vinyl , not cloth, and neither heat or steam had any noticeable effect so far as shrinking the wrinkles. It is not perfect, but I can live with it. I would say that installing the headliner was the most unpleasant task of this entire project.