[heyjude076]

I took the following from another thread. Can you elaborate as I am just starting my headliner and was going to use PVC. What are your experiences with materials other than luan?

Thanks

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

I only use luan plywood as a headliner base, also. It's the only thing I trust to stay up there. All other panels are made from either plastic or waterproof panel board.

[DanTwoLakes]

We're talking about a "hard" headliner, not one that's hung from bows. The headliner itself can be on anything.........black waterproof panel board, PVC, whatever, but the base for the headliner should be solidly attached to the roof. Not directly attached to the roof. If there isn't any metal to attach the base to, you need to install bows to attach the base to. If you look at my project journal, the '47 Ford did not have anything on the roof to attach the base to, so I fabricated a wooden framework grid to attach the base to. The three wooden bows installed from side to side were cut from 3/4" oak plywood and interconnected with front to rear wooden braces. This is what I attached the base to. I prefer to have this base be 1/4" luan plywood. The headliner itself is glued to the base with contact adhesive, and around the perimeter, before the headliner is pulled to the outside, it should be attached with mechanical fasteners as much as possible like staples or screws. This is just a safety factor. The contact adhesive, when applied correctly, will hold the headliner to the base just fine, without any help, and the glue bond gets stronger over time.........BUT, It makes me feel better to also add the mechanical fasteners. I know that luan accepts contact adhesive extremely well, and is probably more rigid in a suspended form than other materials. I'm sure that 1/4" PVC foamboard would probably be fine as a base, but it also would be 4 to 5 times more expensive than luan plywood. I know luan plywood works as a headliner base for a reasonable price, and frankly, when I find something that works, I tend to stick with it. I hope this explanation makes sense.......if not, ask more questions.