another headliner question...

[strvger]

ok, my 1983 Ranger reg cab did not come with a headliner. nothing up there but bare metal. any thoughts on insulating and covering it? i thought about just using adhesive backed carpet squares, cutting them to fit. also maybe using some dynamat type insulator and cover that with fabric, but not sure how well the fabric can be glued to that. any other ideas? thanks.

 

[AllanD]

a factory headliner will retrofit in.

AD

 

[strvger]

thanks. guess i'll start searching the web for a new one.

 

[fastpakr]

I'd search a local junkyard long before I tried to order something that size online.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

yeah, go to the junk yard, anything from 83-88 should fit and you may just have to re-cover it with some new fabric which is pretty easy to do.

 

[TheNicky]

I would go to pick n pull and get the hard board out of another ranger... Im sure it will have to be redone as well, and go to a local fabric store and grab headliner material (Soft cloth w/ foam back) mine was 8 bucks a yard and i only needed 1 yard... grab a 4 dollar can of elmers spray on adhesive and your set i did mine took about 30 minutes...

 

[strvger]

well, as there is nothing to attach the headliner to, were they just glued or were there some attachment clips spot welded to the roof?

 

[TheNicky]

Its like a thick cardboard that is held up by your plastics and a Sun shades... Not sure how much they go for mine had 1 in it and was fairly easy and really cheap to do myself...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yeah, there isn't much up there to work with when you have a factory steel roof.

Edit: here is what mine looks like, I am pretty sure my parts truck that had a headliner was different. I think it had a different profile for the ceiling too, but it has been 7 years so I may be thinking of something else.

I wouldn't trade the steel roof for anything, it will neither stain or come down.

 

[TheNicky]

I was pretty tempted to just leave the Red bare Metal up there becuase it looked really cool... the paint was flawless up there haha... but i decided to cover it up... thats always an option too... just leaving the bare metal if its still in good shape

 

[strvger]

it's more of a sound insulation situation for me. i like my tunes and plan on deadening the rear panel behind the seat, the roof, and the doors if i can get the panels off easily. also plan on doing the same to under the hood, and the bed and topper there. will be using sticky-back carpeting on the bed sides and topper ceiling. will most likely use a 'Dynamat' knock-off for the rest. that's why i was thinking of just using self adhesive carpet squares on the inner roof panel. not sure if they will stick well enough though.

 

[mrcarcrazy]

for me the heat insulation alone is worth having something up there.

I had my dome light out for repair...its been 105 deg. F here lately. anywho. you could feel the heat coming out of the hole in the headliner where the dome light goes. I was shocked.


To those who have done their own headliner how do you remove the foam from the old headliner (after the fabric separated all I'm left with is foam attached to the board.

does the foam pull off easily once the headliner assembly is out of the truck?

 

[odie1969]

for me the heat insulation alone is worth having something up there.

I had my dome light out for repair...its been 105 deg. F here lately. anywho. you could feel the heat coming out of the hole in the headliner where the dome light goes. I was shocked.


To those who have done their own headliner how do you remove the foam from the old headliner (after the fabric separated all I'm left with is foam attached to the board.

does the foam pull off easily once the headliner assembly is out of the truck?

Well the foam was not that hard to pull, you just need to be careful cause any crease in the cardboard will show in the new material. you might try using things like a plastic scraper and then sandpaper.

 

[fastpakr]

For what it's worth, I was quoted about $60 to have a regular cab headliner recovered at a local interior shop (if I pulled the liner myself). It's an option if you're uncomfortable doing it yourself.

 

[TheNicky]

For the foam stuff i used a putty knife to scrape most of it off...
And no its pretty stuck on there...
60$ wow honestly?
I spent
$9 on headliner fabric w/ foam on the back already
$4 on Elmers spray adhesive

And about 30 minutes...
The hardest part was lining the sun visors back up... SO FRUSTRATING haha