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So my original headliner board is pretty beat up and cracking in my 1979 Cutlass.
Found a repro 1978-88 Cutlass Headliner Board made by Acme Headling made from ABS plastic, thought this would be better then trying to fix my old board.
However:
First problem is Acme folded it up and stuffed in a rectangular box with two folds, not flat. When I got it out of the box, where the folds where there were warps in the headliner board.
Left it out in the sun to relax warps..
Took the Acme Headliner board and did a test fit. Doesn't fit .
Comparing it with my old original headliner board, I see that the drivers side has kinda of a step to it and the wrong curve, passanger side has too much of a curve up as well. On the original board the sides have more of a gradual curve. See photos.
I tried to use a heat gun to make the correct shape on the driver side, but it turned into a big mess, and very warped and bumpy.
I gave up, and am going to fix my orignal headliner board with resin and fiberglass mat.
I think I read somewhere that the '78-80 headliner boards are slightly different then '81-88.
All I can say is that this did NOT fit my 1979 Cutlass.
What a piece of junk.
Fred....
Last edited by FStanley; April 13th, 2024 at 03:00 PM.
Very unfortunate that you are going through this. IMHO this is a real PIA job that I myself am dreading, I need to replace the headliner in both my blue 1979 Calais AND my 79 H/O (T-Top car). I'm planning on buying them (with the material on) from G-Body Parts. But, this will be a road trip, I will be making plans to visit their store so I can look at them before I buy and if ok will take them home for installation.
There's always what I've call the the 89 cent solution. That is, buying color coded thumb tacks from your local hardware store and holding up the old headliner material to the board with them stuck in the board. But that is only as good for until you get sick of looking at it.
Last edited by BlueCalais79; April 10th, 2024 at 06:36 AM.
Very unfortunate that you are going through this. IMHO this is a real PIA job that I myself am dreading, I need to replace the headliner in both my blue 1979 Calais AND my 79 H/O (T-Top car). I'm planning on buying them (with the material on) from G-Body Parts. But, this will be a road trip, I will be making plans to visit their store so I can look at them before I buy and if ok will take them home for installation.
There's always what I've call the the 89 cent solution. That is, buying color coded thumb tacks from your local hardware store and holding up the old headliner material to the board with them stuck in the board. But that is only as good for until you get sick of looking at it.
I think there is only one maker of the headliner stuff for our cars Acme. Ask G Body what brand headliner are they selling and also ask if they have your headliner in stock.. Most likely you get a drop shipment like me from Acme, as these are made to order. Also some of the headliner colors have been discontinued.
Last edited by FStanley; April 10th, 2024 at 06:32 PM.
A few years ago I got a dark blue headliner with the material already applied to a ABS plastic backer from Mike's Montes. This was for my '88 CSC, good quality and was shipped lightly rolled up, no creases or folds.
You might check a local uphostery shop. Last year I had a headliner installed in my 1984 Delta 88 total cost $500. A headliner from Mikes Montes is $270 plus $100.shipping
Last edited by jmcghee; April 12th, 2024 at 03:35 PM.
So I complained and Acme sent me another uncovered headliner board. Not quite as bad as the first one but still not great.
1. They again shipped it in a rectangular box again, and they folded it twice to make it fit.
2. I put it in the sun to relax that bends made by folding it.
3. Before I covered the board with headlining material, I did a test fit.
4. I used the driver side sunvisor mounting as a reference to start with. I then used some wide washers with the seat belt screws to hold up the board.
5. I found that the holes for the passanger side sunvisor mounthing was way off. I bullied some screws into the board and into the exisiting roof frame screw holes to hold it up.
6. I got a hot knife and carved out a bigger hole for the passanger side sunvisor.
7. I found the driver side coat hook hole was about 1/2 closer to the seat belt screw then the passanger side, Again, I got a hot knife an carved out some material to the left of the premade hole. Then installed the coat hooks.
8. The board does not come with pre-drilled holes for mounting the map light. I tried to make a tempalte from my original healiner board to locate the screw holes but found out the map light hole cut out in the Acme board is not the same as the original board. I felt around from the back and bullied the mouting screws through the board and into the roof frame screw hole, took them out and then mounted the map light base.
9. With all the rework to make this fit, I wonder if uncovered boards are rejects? If the board came covered with headliner fabric, I wonder how one could do all this rework and not damage the fabric.
Fred
Last edited by FStanley; April 16th, 2024 at 07:50 AM.
April 9th, 2024, 02:23 PM
