[V8] Headliner Replacement

[kevin kyzar]

As someone who recently did this in my 1990 V-8, maybe this will help.  The headliner can, and will come out in one piece if you are VERY CAREFUL.  First get a BIG bottle of whiskey, then remove the sun visors, and let the wires dangle through the holes in the headliner.  Then carefully pry out the light in the access cover to the sunroof motor, and look up into it, and remove the 2 screws, carefully remove the wiring from this little cover, and set the cover aside.remove the lights/grab handle above each door, there will be 3 screws in each of these.  Remove the pillar trim in the front, and the "seal"up by the windshield.  Also remove the rear window seal.   Carefully remove the covers around the front shoulder belts, and let it sag down into the car.  This may require removing the door trim to get at these panels.  There are no screws holding it in, but, this part is probably the trickiest.  Recline both front seats as far back as they will go.  Retract the sunroof, and from the top of the car, remove the wind screen that pops up.  You should see some little silver tabs that hold the interior sunroof trim on, carefully pry these back, and remove the interior trim ring.  At this point, if everything is removed, the only thing holding the headliner to the car, will be the foam blocks on the backside glued to the ceiling.  Once you break these free, the headliner can be "jockeyed"out through the back doors.  It will appear that it won't fit, but, with a little finesse, and some slight bending it should come out.  Once you have the new headliner glued to the corrugated backing, it would probably be a darn good idea to have really clean hands to reinstall it.  I took about 6 hours for the removal, and installation after mine was fixed.  It can be done in one piece, but, I would not plan on rushing anything, or it can be damaged.  Two people definitely make this job much easier, as one can jockey the headliner around, while one pushes wires out of the way, holds things straight, and keeps the whiskey flowing.
hope this helps.  If anyone needs it, I can send a pix of the removed headliner, but, I did not take any pix of the removal and installation.


kevin kyzar
readytow at earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.