Olle,
If you have the new head lining you need to make sure the casings, (the sewn pieces that get tacked to the bows, usually a white fabric sew in the center to make a folded piece) are in the correct spacing for your bows. The wood bowed cars all varied with spacing and usually the headliner is sewn to match the car. If the spacing is not correct, they can be fudged some. If the spacing from the rear header to the next bow is too much, you can nail a board the correct thickness to the front of the bow. If the spacing seems longer, you can lower the casing down on the rear header and also leave it lower on the next bow adjusting as you go to an average. (hope this didn't confuse you)
NOTE: All marks on the car bows and ALL nailing of the casings is done on the forward facing sides of the bows. The front header is the only exception where the headliner is nailed to the back.
If the spacing looks correct, mark each casing with a felt pen in the center. (the easy way is to fold the head liner in half with the casings out, this will give you the center line) Make sure you don't get any on the headliner itself when putting the marks on. Then, mark the center line on all bows in the car, including the rear header and front header. Depending on the car, the first listing is usually at the rear header by the rear window.
Lift the top edge of the casing to the top of the bows, just under the slats and holding both sides of the casing together, tack the center of the casing at the center marks to the front of the bow. The casings are usually about 1" so put the top of the casing up to the slats. This should leave about 1/4" from the head lining to the bottom of the bows. Pull the casing out towards the sides always pulling tight until you complete the first bow. You will need either a good air staple gun with good staples, or a tack hammer and tacks for this. A cheap HD or Lowe's staple gun and staples will NOT do the job.
Once done with the rear bow, move forward to the next bow where a casing lines up and repeat the procedure. If you have a dome light do NOT cut a hole in the headliner at this time. This is done AFTER the whole headliner is in place.
You continue all the way working forward and nail the front of the headliner to the last bow or board right in front of the windshield. Always work from the center out and pulling some to keep tight.
On the sides of the car, the headlining gets secured and this is a somewhat tricky part as it needs to be nailed in the right location to be tight but not too tight when the upper trim pieces are put in place. I usually put the trim pieces up in place and make marks. My nail line for the headlining is then a 1/4" lower than those marks. You can put a line all the way around the roof for reference. (recommended)It must be kept straight and even all along this edge or your headliner and trim pieces where they meet will not look good.
Once done, if you have a dome light, you push up with your hand to locate the location of the dome light board. With a sharp razor or X-acto knife, put a cross slit in the center but not out to the edges of the hole if you can help it. Push the first piece up the hole and tack to the side of the hole repeating all the way around. If your block has a light bulb shape cutout (a circle with a stem), do NOT cut the stem area. You only cut the + shape in the center of the hole and tack. Put plenty of tacks as this is an area where most people's headliners end up sagging and coming loose.
Hope this helps, Ted
Last edited by Chistech; 01/26/16 10:37 AM.
