The Upholstery Forum

Hi John
My headliner is in two pieces. The front piece has a pocket for the rear air conditioner vents. I need to remove the AC vent covers. Do I need to un-glue (separate) the pieces that form the pocket and if so is there a certain glue I need to use to put them back together. ( Photes attached)

Welcome to the forum @JWeldin !!!!
Oh boy that looks fun! I'm pretty sure that those vents will pull out and are just pressure fitted in there. I would carefully try to pull them out.
Are you able to see or feel the back side if there is anything holding them in there from behind.

When I try to wiggle and pull on them I can feel they have tabs holding them in. If I work them out I'm afraid I would get them back in snug because I won't be able to flatten the tabs. Is there another way to snug them back in if I gently remove them?

Here is a picture of the back side of your vent. You need to bend those square tabs up. Are you able to fit your hands in between the 2 headliner boards and bend them up?

Thank you for the photo of the air vents that helps alot.
But I can only feel the edge of that first vent. I can't fit my hand/arm in that opening.
I attached more photos.
The opening is 2 1/2 X 10 1/2 inches with a molded cavity.
Maybe I took on more then I thought but I am determined to complete this, even if I have to separate the pieces. Which I really didn't want to do. But if it comes down to that I defently want to make sure I use the proper glue to put it back together.

Are you able to get some one with smaller hands to reach in there and bend up the tabs? It looks doable to me. If you do have to cut it apart you don't need and special glue. I would probably use construction adhesive that come in the calking tubes.

Thank you for all your help. I will send a photo when compete.

I had this headliner come in that needs a repair and lined again with a darker grey headliner fabric just like this one.

I am looking for the forums input on how to repair the ripped portion of the pan.


Thanks Guys!

Here she is and know this is not going to be the last of these coming my way.

@BigRig is it a fiberglass board, egg carton type Styrofoam or fiberboard? If it's the Styrofoam your pretty much out of luck, about all you can do with that stuff is tape it back together and hope for the best. If it's one of the other two just scuff it up and lay a piece of fiberglass mat over the break and your good to go.

Have you watched @John's headliner video? He shows how to fix that in one of them. Not sure but looks the same to me. But then I'm a noob

@Kra z Bill ,

It is the egg carton stylse so I am in luck! I have not got the headliner video yet actually never thought I would do one well here we are

@BigRig I stand corrected, I just watched a video of a guy with a c 6500 headliner that completely falling apart and it looked to be the egg carton crap.. He basically coated the backside in fiberglass resin and then added mat to the missing sections and it turned out pretty dang solid.

@Bondo497 Ok then I guess its bodywork time. Thanks guys!

Yeah fiber glass and resin will be the best way to fix that because its actually broken there.

The old S-10 and S-15 trucks had those styrofoam like headliners that would break all of the time. Depending on how well the owner was willing to pay we would either tape them with duck tape or lay some glass mat on the backside. Have to be careful though as some of that styrofoam type material will melt when certain catalyzed material are placed on it.

NEVER EVER, EVER use body filler. You will destroy that styrofoam material.
This is the voice of experience on that one.

You can also use that metal tape that is used for duct work in HVAC systems. It is tough and sticky. As long as your surface is very clean when applied.

Again, if you use a catalyzed material to do the repairs always test a small inconspicuous spot first.