Any helpful hints for installing headliner?

[Chlngrcrzy]

Will be putting in my headliner shortly, anybody have any helpful hints or is it pretty straightforward? I know the old one came out real easy,     but i dont think the new one will go in that easy.

[burdar]

Funny you should post this.  If everything goes to plan, I'm installing mine tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

I just printed off instructions that Resto Rick posted on his site. Here's the link.

http://www.restorick.com/tech/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7

[NC RMP]

I put in my own headliner and it went well but I had to learn as I went.  Thsee instructions you provided are really good, lots of things I learned are in there.  I could have used these for sure.

[72rtchallenger]

those are good directions,,and after you stretch it ,if there any places that wrinkle a hair dyer helps and a cube of ice will make it shrink down once it is warmed up also I did not use any glue,,mine stretched out to the gripper teeth and laid down just fine but thats just the way I did it,,its like stretching a piece of carpet just be careful not to rip

[Chlngrcrzy]

Awesome!  It never seizes to amaze me the vast quantity of information and help that is attached to this site.  Thanks guys and let me know how your installs go.   

[smallblocksrock]

I installed a headliner in a 70 Challenger last summer when it was 105 degrees outside.  I used glue, but it would not set up very quickly, so it may have been more of a headache than it needed to be.   However, here are my recommendations.
1. Try to remove the wrinkles caused by shipping before you install it.  They are the hardest ones to remove once installed.
2. You cannot have enough clamps.  The solid tip clamps work better then the others with the swivel tips.
3. The six to eight clips over the doors did not do a good job.  I went to Lowes and bought Small EZ Cable Clips #PAW-1525L1 for Exterior use.  Gardner-Bender Brand.   15 to a box for less than $3.   They are J-shaped to attached coax cable to walls and are metal.  I cut off the top part of the J and used pliers to clamp the headliner to the lip.  Work great and no one will ever see them.
Good Luck

[burdar]

The headliner is in and it looks fantastic!  If you follow the dirrections in the above link everything should work out fine.  The most important thing is to trim the listings OUTSIDE of the car.  Trimming them in the car when the bows are already inplace sucks.  AMHIK  Make sure you have lots of clamps.  The more the better.  It's not absolutely nessesary but it makes the job so much easier.

I was concerned about what hole to insert the bows into since there are three choises.  I think it just depends on the car and how the headliner was made.  However, for those who would like to know, the two rear bows were placed in the lower most hole.  The front two bows were origonally placed in the lower hole as well but they looked too loose.  They were moved to the front hole and looked much better.

I went with a headliner that is correct for 73-74 E-bodies.  It is not a perforated vinyl material.  It is a fabric called Yorkshire.  There were absolutely no packaging wrinkles and it has been wadded up in a box for a few months.  I'm very happy with it.

[Chlngrcrzy]

How do the sail panels go in? do they go on top of the headliner or before? the sail panels i bought have the same headliner material covering them.   

[burdar]

Cudas used a sail board that is wrapped in the headliner material.  Those go ontop of the headliner.  1970 Challengers (and possibly 71 abd 72)used a cardboard sail panel that goes on before(underneith) the headliner. 

My 73 did not have any sail boards.  I bought a pair but did not use them.  They are not needed with the Yorkshire headliner material.  They may be needed with the perforated material though.

If you have a finished sail panel then it is a Cuda piece.  Challengers just used a generic piece of cardboard.

[Cuda Cody]

Could someone tell me what the little bracket pieces are for?

[72rtchallenger]

Could someone tell me what the little bracket pieces are for?

they look like the door glass stops if your talking about the small brackets

[422STROKER]

Could be the rear side(door) panel brackets that bolt to the floor as well, can't tell from the pic for sure though.

Tom

[burdar]

The small brackets are for the interior rear trim panel.  They mount up by the 1/4 window fuzzies.  If you need a picture let me know. 

[Cuda Cody]

Thanks!   

[Skunkworks Challenger]

The small brackets are for the rear inside trim?  I have some similar looking brackets left over from my re-assembly with a tag that says rear side trim brackets.  I was trying to figure out what rear side trim would use such a bracket.  I was thinking OUTSIDE trim not inside.  I think you may have solved my problem.  If you have a picture that would be great.  Thanks, PK