How do I apply the new headliner fabric to the headliner board?

[barrys]

77 is their general purpose adhesive. 76 is the "High Tack" flavor which is supposed to be better for this application. Even though I'm no expert, I've used both for upholstery projects and the 77 has delaminated where the 76 actually eats the foam and gave me a better bond that I've never seen fail on foam-to-foam or foam-to-fabric. But, you have to be careful with that one since you don't want to eat too much of the backing foam or the glue will bleed through the fabric.

As far as using a roller, when my 45+ year experience upholstery dude applied the fabric, he pressed the big flat areas by hand and used the butt of a screwdriver to push it in to the crease areas. I thought that was a cool trick.

The Permatex is a good deal, but I've used other products of theirs and was repeatedly disappointed. So, with all the work we have to do to get the headliner board in and out, and scraping down the board, why not spend the extra 9.00 on the 76 adhesive?

As far as what stockinteriors said... It doesn't make much sense to me even though they are experts. That fiberboard is so porous that I'd be nervous about the opposite -- the board soaking up the adhesive before I could apply the fabric. The 77 goes on very thin. The 76 is more like snot which will not soak in to either the fabric or the board. The problem is that our headliners are very contoured with reasonably sharp creases. So, that's where it gets stretched the most and where mine is starting to delaminate.

Anyway, if I do it again, I'll get an abs board. The 76 should eat into that a bit too and hopefully the bond will hold.

 

[shane96ranger]

77 is their general purpose adhesive. 76 is the "High Tack" flavor which is supposed to be better for this application. Even though I'm no expert, I've used both for upholstery projects and the 77 has delaminated where the 76 actually eats the foam and gave me a better bond that I've never seen fail on foam-to-foam or foam-to-fabric. But, you have to be careful with that one since you don't want to eat too much of the backing foam or the glue will bleed through the fabric.

As far as using a roller, when my 45+ year experience upholstery dude applied the fabric, he pressed the big flat areas by hand and used the butt of a screwdriver to push it in to the crease areas. I thought that was a cool trick.

The Permatex is a good deal, but I've used other products of theirs and was repeatedly disappointed. So, with all the work we have to do to get the headliner board in and out, and scraping down the board, why not spend the extra 9.00 on the 76 adhesive?

As far as what stockinteriors said... It doesn't make much sense to me even though they are experts. That fiberboard is so porous that I'd be nervous about the opposite -- the board soaking up the adhesive before I could apply the fabric. The 77 goes on very thin. The 76 is more like snot which will not soak in to either the fabric or the board. The problem is that our headliners are very contoured with reasonably sharp creases. So, that's where it gets stretched the most and where mine is starting to delaminate.

Anyway, if I do it again, I'll get an abs board. The 76 should eat into that a bit too and hopefully the bond will hold.

What flavor of 77 did you use? Classic is what I have experience with and it sticks very well. We use it at work to hold phenolic material to metal which repeatedly gets hit with literally tons of pressure with paper sandwiched in between. It holds great as long as you don't let it sit too long before trying to adhere to it.

 

[barrys]

I used "3M 77 Spray Adhesive" whatever that means. Phenolic and metal are non-porous and the headliner boards and foam backing on the material are extremely porous. That's the only reason why I think the thicker snot stuff might be better.

I tried 77 gluing fabric to foam backing for an upholstery project (no I'm not an upholsterer) and the fabric came right off.

 

[shane96ranger]

Hmmm, the stuff I've used specifically mentions foam right on the front of the can. I'll keep the 76 in mind when I do it. My headliner has gotten wet from the high mount light and/or the rear glass. It doesn't look like the stain wants to leave.

 

[whocares]

I just finished doing the headliner in my BII. It was in rough shape, but I got it pretty well scraped clean and used the Permatex headliner adhesive. I bought 4 yards of desert camo fabric and recovered it. Looks good with the tan interior and the pattern of the camo hides the rough spots in the headliner board.

 

[4x4junkie]

On mine, we used the special stuff only the upholsterers can get. But, since we put new fabric over old, that's probably why it's coming off. I think the expensive 3M stuff will work as far as I heard -- #76 in the greenish can. But, I don't know for sure.

Mine was in a large orange kindof industrial-looking can w/blue lettering with an adjustable fan nozzle, and was pretty $$$ too. It came out like snot similar to how you describe the 3M #76 as. That different from what you used?

 

[barrys]

I don't know exactly what my upholsterer used. But, I do know he has to have it shipped in since sellers in CA can't sell it. It's dyed yellow. I think that's just so they can see where they've sprayed. Also, recall that I put new fabric over old which is not what we're supposed to do nor what he usually does. It's just that that fiberboard started falling apart when we tried pulling the fabric off. His comment was funny:
"I've only had to do this on a couple of Fords of this vintage which have that kind of headliner board. I never heard back from those customers. That's either because it worked great or because the fabric fell off and they thought I was a crappy upholsterer."

 

[4x4junkie]

lol

Well, I guess Commifonia not allowing it proves it's something else then.

i did everything right, and mine's coming apart. Don't buy Permatex adhesive in Commifornia, it's worthless ($24 for two cans down the shitter, and soon to be a saggy headliner).

Guess I'll have to see if I can find some 3M #76 next time (in Oregon, if need be)

 

[barrys]

You can get 76 mail order in CA. I did. I got it from a1foamandfabrics.com. They totally rip you off on shipping though.
Amazon has it too:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-76-Hi-Tack-Adhesive-Aerosol/dp/B000LDIL3Y/?tag=959media-20
Home D might even have it.

 

[4x4junkie]

I'll have to look around then. Thanks.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

+3 on the good 3-M adhesive just be careful how you apply the felt not to stretch it too tite just lay it down easy with enough slack to form the low spots and not get any wrinkles.

 

[Xandor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MmT72NDtTs

I thought this video was very helpful.

 

[barrys]

That guy is really good and that is indeed a helpful vid. If only our headliner recovering were that easy...

 

[HRTKD]

^^^ No kidding. He made it look soooo easy. And start to finish in only three minutes!

 

[HRTKD]

Did my headliner this weekend. It came out looking really good for an amateur. There are a few lumpy areas but I'm OK with that. The video posted by Xandor was very, very helpful. Thank you!

I used the adhesive and headliner sold by stockinteriors.com. The color matched almost perfectly - enough that my wife didn't complain. The adhesive came out like snot. I suspect they put a label on the 3M product. I ran out of adhesive and ended up using 3M Super 77 on the edges where the headliner material folded over the edge of the backer board. It seemed to stick pretty good.

Tips: Don't cover up the accessory holes when you fold the material over the edge. I didn't trim enough off and covered up the holes and had a heck of a time finding them. Do gently stretch the fabric as you lay it down. I think mine would have been less lumpy had I done that. Don't add any sound insulating material to the roof where the sun visors go. The headliner will be affected. Instead, I shot Great Stuff into the cavities to provide some sound insulation/deadening. I ended up shooting 7 cans of Great Stuff into the cavities throughout the cab. Lots of (messy) fun!