The Upholstery Forum

Hello
On my 1938 Oldsmobile business coupe I want to make a one piece headliner I have a sheet of abs plastics and was wondering if I could use the bows and Atachments to the body to mount it ??

here is a few pics.



Thank you kelly

Just to warn you. This is going to be a pretty complex job. Usually on these you have to build and upholster the headliner inside the car and it will not be removable. when I do those I try use the existing structure to attach abs to the roof with self tapping counter sunk screws. Your roof has a lot of shape so you might need to get creative to get things to form to the shape. Just make sure not to make any holes through the roof....

Right on the back bows that attach to the back window area I was thanking if adding 1/2” wood cut to the radius of the bows the cross bars are 1/2” lower so if I add the 1/2” furring it will be flush their and will give room to screw with out hitting roof.
And was thanking of making the rear corners out of sheet metal since I have a English wheel and a welder to get the compound curve and then glue 2 pieces of 1/4” lando foam together if needed to sand to make a good curve if my work isn’t perfect.

I have the 1/8” abs to bend.

John I was thanking of maybe being able to get a fire blanket to set on the out side of the roof then lay the abs down and heat with a heat gun ?

But I’m not sure because the car is painted and I don’t want to hurt the paint .

What material should I use for the roof ?
I was thanking of useing the vinyl but it’s not wide enough and not sure if it would conform to all the compound curves

Oh guys you make me nervous that looks like a job alright!

@John, well on the topic do you have a source for lightweight vinyl say 10-12 oz that wont end up sagging? I read how @John Long had that problem.

Yeah its a good idea to build added structure to mount it to.

Thats a really good idea with laying it on the roof to shape it! I would be worried about the paint as well. It doesnt take much heat to shape abs. I dont think you would damage the paint with heat. It would be scratches that I worry about.

If you want to use vinyl your going to have to work around that fabric width you have and adjust your design accordingly. Most vinyl is 54" wide but sometimes you can get it in 60"

This book Custom Auto Interiors https://amzn.to/3bkcSK9 has a good section on making one piece headliners in a car similar to yours. Its an old meathod of doing it but it will give you some good ideas. That book is worth every penny!

Here are some picture of the first 1 piece headliner I ever did in a ford panel truck. Notice how I added the accent strips to accommodate the width of the vinyl.

Hope this helps a little

@John, looks amazing and that is black ABS board?

That’s a great job .

Yea I saw that you can get some wider withs.
I measured 60” from tack trip to tack strip by the rear quarter windows and about 6’ going from frt window to below back window.
This will be the first time doing any interior.

How would the filler accents look as black on black and the car is black?
Also when I do my door panels and all the rest I will want to make swooping curves lines to flow withe the fat fenders and all the swooping lines on the car .

What would look better abs then 1/4” lando foam cutting the swooping lines out ?
Or abs then abs pieces with 1/8” on the pieces so they would match heights ?
Remember it’s all the same black vinyl?
I have 16 yards of marine grade vinyl.
I also have been wondering what to do if I do a two tone any ideas?
I’ve been thanking if a two tone maybe a gray ?
Thank you everyone for the help and ideas
I installed the carpet sat and it’s black cut pile 5000 series carpet

Yea John I have that book and

I am thinking I really like the enthusiam of the two tone but looking at the hollow and blacking it out would be super wickied. You also mentioned its yoy first interior so black on black is easier to work with.

I tryed to install the abs sheet but it wasn’t working need more help?

I put in the 4x5’6” and used long screws in the center and pushed up for the screws to catch the block of wood for the light then I used a propane torch to warm up the plastic then pushed it up.
The compound curves seems like a problem ?

Do I need to use smaller pieces and figure out how to glue it back together after I get it shaped

It looks like if I try to do it in one piece I would have to cut a piece out and then glue it back together in those spots and I would have to use the lando foam to fine tune the shape .

Any ideas ?
Thank you kelly

You may have to come back in spots will body filler to get the shape perfect. Also you might have to consider making the compound shapes out of fiber glass.

Hello I made some of the abs headliner and it’s not flat so I’m not liking how it’s going and now thanking of buying a bowed headliner for the coupe . I’m thanking it’s going to be a lot less work doing the bow type ?

My windows are installed and around the fort and rear windows their isn’t a place for tac strip it’s just metal. Do I just glue the headliner their ?

What do I use for a steamer I don’t want to spend a lot for a steamer it probably won’t be used much just this one build ?
here is a pic I did abs all the way to a tack strip that’s on the panel area since I was going to make a one piece but now I thank the headliner material went down to the bottom of the back window straight across the sail panels their is a round rod from the rear side windows to the rear window piece

Yeah one piece conversion are a lot of work. Bow headliners are much easier and still look great depending on the style of interior.

I have not done the headliner on your specific car. Sometimes the windows need to be removed because the window molding finishes off the headliner edge. Sometime there is a metal trim around the windows that finishes foo the headliner and you dont need to remove the windows. Also yes it is common for some spots not to have tack strips and needs to be glued.

For the steamer if your only going to use it once they sell cheep home versions for steaming clothes that will work fine. Any home appliance store that sells irons will have them. Or there is always amazon.

Thanks John.
Their is a place that makes one for my coupe out of vinyl I’m waiting for a sample
Should I be using vinyl or cloth ?
Some places I’ve seen said that vinyl doesn’t work with steam it only gets wet they say.

I have garnish moldings around all windows

I thank the place I saw for headliner was only 250

I would use what ever material fits the interior your making. Steam works like magic on vinyl, so I dont know why anyone would say that it only gets wet.

One common thing I do is just but the cheapest premade headliner I can find, cut it apart, use it as a pattern and make one out of the same material I use in the rest of the interior. $250 bucks for a pattern is money well spent because It is a lot of work to pattern it your self.

Thank you John I don’t know how to post the amazon link so I took a pic.
How about this one


Here is how one shop does the headliners I’ve found today

Yep that steamer will work for what your doing.

Here is a tutorial on how to do that style headliner in your picture. Hope this helps.
www.how-to-build-hotrods.com/headliner- ... ation.html
Make sure to remove the s on Https when you click on this link