[chopped 36]

Question ; Looking for different ways to do a roof headliner, I do not want to go with bows as interior is custom. Would like to build my own roof type head liner like a van type. I have filled in the roof - used a 38 chev.- contour was perfect so no opening in the roof. Anybody have any ideas?

[bentwings]

I'm going to splash some water on your idea. No offense, just what I considered. I'm comfortable working with epoxies and resins so that wasn't the problem.

I wanted a one piece headliner in my "plastic" Willys too. However after a lot of investigating I think it is too expensive and difficult to do at home for a one off deal. I looked at some different materials, fiberglass, paperboard and various plastics.

If you can have the body on a rotisserie it might be possible to roll it upside down and make it out of fiberglass. You will need to build the mold into the car such that it is removable. It will have to be finished smooth with no ripples. The edges will need to be considered. Are you going to mold them in or add them to the finished form.?? Both ways add a lot of time to the project.

There are thixotropic epoxies that you could apply overhead but it still will be one big mess before you are done.

I even thought of using a slow setting epoxy resin and blowing up a weather baloon inside the car to smooth things out. I also considered vacuum bagging the whole mess.

I finally scrapped the idea and made oak bows and oak tack rails and glassed them in. I got a 2 axis laser level and squared things up and 'boom' done deal.....other than scrapping out $100 or so of prime oak wood relearning carpentry. haha

It's been done before but OMG what a job.

The guy that is doing my upholstery has shown me some seams that he will use and they are tight and no wrinkles in the leather. They will be ok on the headliner.

[NEW INTERIORS]

What I do is make a fiber glass headliner off the outside of the car, Then cut it down to fit the inside..

[302 Z28]

The method of using the outside of the body to form a fiberglass shell will work resonably well. If you can flip the body upside down that is the ticket to obtain a glove like fit. Check out this link to see how one person did his headliner with this method.

Vince

[heyjude076]

Originally Posted by chopped 36

Question ; Looking for different ways to do a roof headliner, I do not want to go with bows as interior is custom. Would like to build my own roof type head liner like a van type. I have filled in the roof - used a 38 chev.- contour was perfect so no opening in the roof. Anybody have any ideas?

I studied this link: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=38449 and did my own version.

[bentwings]

The Project is a 36 Ford. Be it a coupe or sedan it still has nothing but curves and big ones at that. Far more than the examples shown in the links. The black paper board commonly used for panels can be heat formed. Apparently heat causes the matrix bond to soften. It's tricky but it can be done. The guy doing my upholstery showed me how he does it....very carefully. You possibly could do an outside form then modify it to fit in the inside. You could then lay a single coat of fiberglass cloth and resin on it. We were going to use that method but the sheet size is not quite big enough for the Willys so it would also be not nearly big enough for the 36 unless the top is really chopped. Then you might make it. If you could live with a splice around the edges, it is possible. The upside down method is the most promising.

[chopped 36]

Thanks for the ideas bentwings the upside down won't work car is essentially done like the idea for thr roof though I bought a 4 ft x 8 ft x 1/8 inch sheet of ABS plastic might try and heat a small piece to see if that would work - going to need pieces for the sides anyway.

[DanTwoLakes]

You can heat and form PVC foamboard with an industrial heat gun. (also called closed cell PVC and expanded PVC. Brand names are Komatex, Sintra, and Celtec. Available online or at most sign shops) That will be at least 1/2 lighter and much easier to work with than ABS. The forming temperature for ABS is 325 to 350 degrees which would be tough to do in your garage. I would not try to heat and bend waterproof panel board, I think you are asking for trouble down the road.

[chopped 36]

Thanks for the info Dan, I will try to find some. I agree the ABS is heavy.