Redog

Hey all.

1985 2 door Delta 88, saging headliner.

Looking to replace it, but what is the best way to remove the headliner board? My mech said he thinks the headliner was put in the car without the windsheild in place. I have to replace the power seat transmission so I was going to remove the driver's seat for that. Is that the best way to get the board out?

henryk8398

I did this on my 83 not too long ago. It's going to come out of the passenger door, rotated 90 degrees. Getting the board in and out will take longer than application of the new material. It will take some finesse, but it can be done. I'm sure it would be easier without the window! Check this link out:

http://www.wlsheadliners.com/tutorials/bonneville/

Make sure you get enough material to cover your visors, too.

Redog

Cool thanks for the info.

Yeah my visors are pretty beat too

NorTown Olds

GOOD ADVICE HenryK!!

GOOD luck getting this done -- such a common problem for these cars of that vintage!

OLD SKL 69

Thanks for the link. I need to do the same thing in an 84 Eldorado.

kartmaster

I replaced the headliner in my 85 Toronado. Came out the door with MUCH patience. Then lots of scraping and prep to get the old material off.

But after the cost of materials and the time it took, come to find out the local upholstery shop would have done it for about $100. Which in retrospect would have been money well spent.

I say call a couple local shops and see what they say. Might be cheaper than you think.

DeltaDevil88

+1 there are great shops out there who do great work for cheap

87customcruiser

I had the headliner replaced in my Customer Cruiser for less than $200. That being a two piece rather large headliner, I thought that was not a bad price.

Redog

Well I shoulda had it done professionally likke everybody said.

I pulled out the headlinder pretty much in one piece (broke off one of the ears in the front) then put it on the ground. As I go to pick it up a gust of wind comes along and it started blowning donw the street, so I chase it and it stops. I pick it up and then the wind comes again and I'm trying my best to keep it under control, but the wind snapped the thing.

Take it up to my apartment and put it on the floor to notice a crack in another place. So I cover it anyway and try bringing it back out to the car. I did find getting thru the building, but back outside, the wind whips it around again.

The fabric is loose, the board is cracked, and it won't stay in place.

Bottom line, 3 pieces and it ended up in the dumpster

olds59

Any luck finding a place that remakes the entire headliner for RWD deltas?

joe_padavano

I've never seen a complete replacement headliner board for the B-body cars. Note that cracks can be easily repaired with fiberglass before recovering.

Redog

No I'm going to pull one out of the junkyard

Good to know

rainandsun

hope that this works. if you are going to remove the headliner from the front door, it will bend a lot and might brake but if you getting new headliner it can flex more when you install itold comes out just in an angle thru the right front door you bend it if you like you can take the door out, but the best to do it is to bend it slight to come out thru rear windshield. i got this advise from one of the philadelphia auto repair shops mechanic.