Sagging headliner

[Cap'n Carl]

I'm buying a '93, and will be driving it ~300 miles to home. The headliner is sagging enough that it rubs the top of my head, regardless of seat position. It's fine for a short drive, but would drive me crazy for 5-6 hours. Is this an easy fix? If so, I'll do it when I pick up the car. If not, I'll have to find an interior shop and wait for them to fix it before my drive home.

 

[greenberet]

The headliner is not stretched over ribs or anything. It’s glued onto the fibreboard roof lining assembly. If the vinyl has pulled away from the fibreboard, I guess you could glue it on again. I've never heard of that happening in an NSX, though.

Maybe the headliner is just not mounted properly. The roof lining assembly is screwed to the roof at its four corners and along its forward edge and it pops into place at other points with plastic clips – see the parts catalog here for a picture (http://www.nsxpartsdb.com/parts/G/B38). Maybe you just need to push upwards underneath some of the clips to get them to seat again or maybe some of the clips need to be replaced.

 

[Cap'n Carl]

It's only sagging in the middle, under the raised portions of the ceiling; so I guess the vinyl has pulled away from the fiberboard. I'll have to figure out some way to get it to stay up temporarily so I can drive it home. Then I'll take it to an auto upholsterer. Thanks for the help.

 

[shawn110975]

Use one thumb tack, very small only use one till you get home and can fix it properly, the hole will be so small you could live with it,, or just deal with the hanging liner, till you get home,, cuz removing it wouldnt help cuz it to big to put in the trunk, good luck

 

[ChopsJazz]

A standard stapler might leave smaller holes than a thumbtack.

Dtrigg always carries a window squeegee on a long handle just for this reason. Don't drive for long periods with it rubbing your head. It rubbed all Doug's hair right off.

 

[Dtrigg]

A standard stapler might leave smaller holes than a thumbtack.

Dtrigg always carries a window squeegee on a long handle just for this reason. Don't drive for long periods with it rubbing your head. It rubbed all Doug's hair right off.

Actually I have found it more useful to place the staples in the top of my head and not dammage the headliner at all.:tongue: Ask Ken what happened when the cover came off his dash.

 

[Soap]

Its not going to be a quick fix to just pull the headliner and then reglue it and get the headliner back in becuase you have to wait for the glue to set and to make sure the headliner is on properly with no wrinkles. once that glue sets it takes forever for it to come lose again and you could mess the headliner up when you try to have it come lose as well.

Staple +1

 

[Cap'n Carl]

I went to an upholstery shop and described the problem. He said he won't repair/glue it; he thinks the backing is too old; he'd rather just replace the headliner.

 

[shawn110975]

Dont let him do it, Use the original those things last forever, he just tring to get your repair bill up, if you take the headliner out for him and have him reglue it your repair bill will be like 100 bucks, if he does it its gonna be like 3-400, its an easy job, once you have it out,the headliner board is strong as shit, yea it may be old but it can still be used

 

[ChopsJazz]

^^^ He's right you know. I've done a couple of headliners.

Firstly, the foam usually separates from the fabric as the fabric ages and disintegrates. Simply re-gluing the old fabric will not solve your problem.

You must completely remove the old fabric and carefully scrape anu residue from the headliner. CAREFULLY!

Then simply have your upholstery guy put more fabric on.

Do the R&R yourself.

 

[Cap'n Carl]

^^^ He's right you know. I've done a couple of headliners.

Firstly, the foam usually separates from the fabric as the fabric ages and disintegrates. Simply re-gluing the old fabric will not solve your problem.

You must completely remove the old fabric and carefully scrape anu residue from the headliner. CAREFULLY!

Then simply have your upholstery guy put more fabric on.

Do the R&R yourself.

See if I have this right--using the old fabric won't work, because it's not connected to it's foam anymore, right? So I need to remove all the old fabric and foam from the fiberboard, so the upholsterer has a clean surface to work on. Do I have that right?

Also, how hard is it to remove the headliner?

 

[eyecandy]

Remove the A and B pillars, then there is a screw at each corner where the sunvisor mounts, then a screw at each clip to hold the inner side of the visor, then take the cover off the map light and there is another screw in there. I belive the rest is just plastic clips. Just slowly and carefully work the plastic clips out and your set. I took mine out a few weeks ago. Took me maybe 10 - 15 minutes total.

 

[shawn110975]

If you have any questions you know where to ask,, We KNOW you can do it, and dont worry if you have to bend the Head liner a little to work the clip out, and removing the head liner outta the car you gotta turn is a certain way to clear the seats etc. but the board can bend it feels flimsy but it will hold! post some pics so we can see the progress

 

[ChopsJazz]

See if I have this right--using the old fabric won't work, because it's not connected to it's foam anymore, right? So I need to remove all the old fabric and foam from the fiberboard, so the upholsterer has a clean surface to work on. Do I have that right?

Also, how hard is it to remove the headliner?

Yep, you've got it. Once you peel off the fabric, some elbow grease, a wire brush and patience will clean up the fiberboard.

Good luck.

 

[Cap'n Carl]

Thanks to all for the great advice. Still waiting on the sale to go through....it's driving me nuts I want this car so bad.