VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1971-1979 1970 Headliner Instsall

A friend and felow chevy guy asked me for some help installing a new headliner in his 1970 Nova. The car has just recently come back from the body shop an is just a shell .One of the problems that I first notoiced was I seemed to be missing some parts. All the rods and metal grab plates are there but I think I am missing something that holds the headliner to the grab plates. Also when the rods are incerted into the fabric pocket dose it just snap up into the plastic clips or do you make cuts in the fabric. Is there a prefered method of streaching the new headliner ? Ie , secure the sides and streach front to back or visa vera. Its always fun working on somewone elses puzzels.

Start in the middle and work toward the sides and ends. There should be some "nailing" strips of cardboard (maybe plastic or other material to hold nails {older models} or staples) or fingers to hold the sides and ends of the headliner in place. The "nailing strips" might have been removed if damaged or they were in the way of body work. They are typically held in place with fingers or tabs.

Once installed the wrinkles can be removed by light heating for vinyl or steam for fabric. Just take it slow and easy and it will work out. Putting in a headliner in a '57 Nomad with my wife was nearly fatal for our marriage. Luckily both were saved.

I can't speak for the 70 Nova but the 66-67 Nova only had tack strips in the rear around the backlite. The sides were held in place by glue and the metel strips. The metal strips were sprayed with yellow contact glue and the headliner was sprayed lightly with the same glue in the area where the headliner meets the metal strips. The headliner was streched and held by the glue and the excess was spooned behind the metal plates and then trimmed. The windshield area was held in position the same way. Before stretching the headliner be sure to mark the center of the front and rear of the top and headliner and center them when you start to stretch the headliner. The factory installers stretched, centered and attached the headliner to the front or rear and then worked from the center to the sides. If you have tack strips invest in buying,borrowing or renting an electric or air powered staple gun and get the correct staples.The pressure on the staple gun must be adjusted correctly or the pressure will shoot the staples thru the headliner. On most replacement headliners the sacks that hold the bows will need to be torn some on both sides in order to correctly stretch the headliner.Installing a headliner can be very complicated so be patient if you attempt it. Good luck.

DD

I forget to mention there is no need to trim the cloth pockets or sacks where they attach to the clips, just take a plastic hammer and knock them in place.

Thanks for the help. Its been a long time since ive installed a headliner in such a ("new car") . The last one I did was in a 32sedan.It had (Blind Nails).We cleaned all of the old glue (contact cement ) from the metal tack strips . Is there a finishing strip or rubber seal that finishes the edge off?