For those of you who have successfully installed their own headliners in a 68-70

[Dennis K]

I decided to try to put my own headliner in my 68, and I hit a roadblock before I finished step one. I put all the bows in the headliner and now I am trying to get the bows into their clips, but I can't get the front headliner bow to stand up like it should. I can't pull the headliner foreward far enough. I know I have the bows in the correct order since I marked them when I took them out. I don't know if I am doing something wrong or if my headliner is too short since I've never done it before. My headliner is made by R.E.M. and it has the loops for the short bows sewn in like it should, but I can't get it to pull foreward. For those of you who have installed their own headliners, who manufactured the one you used? Did you have the same problem I'm having, and how did you solve it? Thanks

[Upholstery guy]

How much tilt does the front bow have from being aligned like the other bows

[Dennis K]

Thanks for the reply. I was going to say it seems to be off by about an inch, but I was just out in the garage doing a little more troubleshooting to see if I could answer my own question. I measured the distance between all the seams in the headliner and between all the bows while they were installed in the car without the headliner, and the part of the headliner between bows 2 and 3 measures only 7", and the headliner bows are 8" apart, so I got a bad headliner. All the other measurements between the bows and seams are within 1/4" of each other. So now it looks like I'm going to go headliner shopping again. Can anyone tell me who sells good ones? I remember a post here where someone got a headliner without the loops for the short bows in the back, so not everyone makes them the same. I also remember telling that person that my R.E.M. headliner has the loops, so if that guy bought an REM headliner on my advice, I hope it was a good one and mine was just an oddball screwup. So if someone knows where I can get a correctly made headliner that's guaranteed to fit, please let me know. I don't even remember where I bought mine or how long ago I bought it, so returning it for an exchange is not an option.

[UFO]

I got mine from Legendary auto interiors.I had no problems with fit.

[Brock Samson]

that sucks man, i'm sorry you hit that snag...  I had my carpet, headliner and v. top all put on at the same time by a guy who's outta the city now... although it was pretty cheap, it wasn't without complications either..

[JrJohnston]

Legendary auto interiors is the best place to get them from,fit is great and quality is damn good.I have installed almost every repop  headliner made and if I supply the headliner Legendary is all that I will order,and they are who I recommend to anyone looking for any Mopar Interior.

[keepat]

 

[c5_nc]

I decided to try to put my own headliner in my 68, and I hit a roadblock before I finished step one. I put all the bows in the headliner and now I am trying to get the bows into their clips, but I can't get the front headliner bow to stand up like it should. I can't pull the headliner foreward far enough. I know I have the bows in the correct order since I marked them when I took them out. I don't know if I am doing something wrong or if my headliner is too short since I've never done it before. My headliner is made by R.E.M. and it has the loops for the short bows sewn in like it should, but I can't get it to pull foreward. For those of you who have installed their own headliners, who manufactured the one you used? Did you have the same problem I'm having, and how did you solve it? Thanks

I installed an REM not long ago.  I thought I had a one off problem.  Didn't think to go through an measure.  Anyways the front bow was a slightly short of being pulled right.  I tied off the front bow to the front of the roof by putting small holes through the loop that you don't see installed.  Looks good but rigged.  I thought I had made a mistake working from back to front or something.

[bill440rt]

Dennis,
The one I installed was also made by REM. I had no problems with it.
Mkae sure you have the little "J" shaped wire hooks installed by the back window that holds the rear bow in place. I actually used an old fashioned T-handled pull rod (used to pop out dents) to grab on to the bow to help pull it forward. Some can be a bit stubborn. A bent coat hanger would work also.
I caught the front bow first, & snagged the headliner to the front teeth to hold it in place. Then I worked toward the rear window.

I would call the supplier that sold you the REM headliner to see if they can send you a replacement. If it's a defective part, they should honor a replacement.

[Dennis K]

Thanks for the replies. After the last 2 posts I'm starting to 2nd guess myself and think maybe it's normal to have a headliner fit so tight. I have the wire hooks in the back of the roof, which is why I thought I should work from back to front since those hooks are the only way to positively locate 1 bow and go from there. I also thought of making some wire hooks for the front that are similar to the factory ones in the back and trying again working from front to rear, but then I decided to measure and found the one segment doesn't correspond to the distance between the bows, so I figured I had a bad headliner and stopped. Could someone with a headliner installed measure the distance between the seams for the 2nd and 3rd bow and tell me if it is supposed to be 8" like I suspect, or if it is indeed 7", in which case I will come up with a plan B and try again, maybe going from front to back next time. Thanks again.

[keepat]

Between the 2nd and the 3rd it's 7 1/4" this headliner is from Legendary.
I hope this helps!
Pat

[Dennis K]

Yes, that helps a lot, thanks! Now I believe that my headliner is probably made right after all and I will have to try a different technique to put it it. I noticed that I can alter the spacing of the bows a little by sliding the clips in the roof foreward and backward a little, so maybe I can get the bows closer than 8" apart, and maybe the headliner material will stretch more than 7", so I'll try again this weekend.