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Gen 1: Comprehensive Headliner Removal and Wrap

27K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  lookinsidethebox  
#1 ·
Well, finally got around to wrapping my headliner. Did quite a bit of research before jumping into it. Much to my dismay, most of the solid information for doing this is spread between multiple threads(builds, questions and what not). Figured I'd go ahead and collect what information I can into one DIY.

Before we get into the meat and potatoes, this is a fairly simple mod, but things can go wrong if you're not careful. I am not responsible for any damage you do to your vehicle.

What you'll need:
-Philips screwdriver(I used a flat head as well for prying open tabs).
-Rachet with 14 and 10mm sockets.
-Allen key size 8.
-Razor blade, preferably new.
-Tab popper(butter knife works as well)
-Paint roller(optional, helps smoothing out the fabric)
-3M hi-strength 90 adhesive spray. Used one can, and part of a second. (Can also use contact cement, but many people would recommend 3M 90)
-Your chosen fabric. You'll need at least 3 yards to be safe, 58-60 inches wide works well with the headliner being 53" wide.

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Now, lets get down into things. These are the major components you'll have to remove to get the headliner out:
-Sun visors and retainer clip
-Rear view mirror
-A, B and C pillars
-Osh!t handles
-Dome light assembly
-4 plugs

Starting with the sun visors and retainer clip. Remove the main part of the visor by unscrewing the two screws in the corner post. You'll be left with this:
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To remove the retainer clip, use a philips screwdriver to remove the screw inside it and then simply pull down and try to turn it sideways. With a little force it'll pop out of place.
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Repeat this process for the other side.

Now to remove the rear view mirror. Slide the cover back and you'll be left with two screws holding the mirror on. Grab your philips and have at it.
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To make things simple, might as well take the A pillars out while you're still up front. First pull back the weather stripping(can remove it entirely, you'll need to pull the other side back to get the B pillars out)
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From here you can either get your fingers behind the top or in through the side, it's held on by two tabs in the back so a little tug will pull it loose, at which point it comes up and out.
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Repeat for the other side.

Moving onto the B pillars. Go ahead and pull back the weather stripping if you haven't already. Using a flat head or other tool of your choosing, pop the cover off the seat belt retainer to reveal the bolt.
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Use your 14mm socket to remove this bolt, put it somewhere nice and safe for the time being.
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The upper B pillar panel has two notches towards the bottom that the lower panel loosely fit into. You'll want to pull one side of the lower panel out and then the other to free the upper panel. Now you can pry the upper panel away(there's a tab up top and a small tab at the bottom that slides into a hole.
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Repeat for the other side(beginning to see a pattern here? :p)

For the C pillars, you'll have to remove the rear seatbelt retainers, this is just like the front retainers, except there is one small bit that's different. Go ahead and snap the cover back and take the bolt out with your 14mm socket.
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When you remove the bolt, you'll find this:
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Keep this in mind for when you reinstall everything, The retainer does not fit properly without it assembled as such.

While doing some research, ran across a handful of posts saying that the lower C panel had to be removed to get the upper panel out. This might be the case for the Gen2, but for the gen1 you do not have to do so(unless you like making your life difficult).

Using a size 8 allen key, remove the two allen bolts(cargo cover clips onto these).
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Remove the 2nd one positioned forward of the rear speaker. Pull back the rear weather stripping as well. With those two allen bolts removed and the weather stripping pulled away, you can pull the lower panel back far enough to remove the upper C panel(Held on by a couple clips on the back, be careful with these, they seem to be slightly easier to break than the others)
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Almsot there...
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Anyhow...turn off your dome light if you have it on. In order to remove the dome light, pop off the plastic cover. With the cover off you'll see three screws. Only two of them screw into the headliner/roof, the other one keeps the switch in place.
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With the screws out, the housing will fall down. Just unclip the plug.
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I removed the four plugs from the headliner next, for no particular reason.
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Last major component to remove, the osh!t handles. Each handle has two bolts into the roof. Pull back the little covers hiding the bolts and remove them with your 10mm socket.
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With all of the ocrap handles removed, the only thing keeping the headliner in are two little blue clips on both sides, just above where the b pillar panel clips in. Push these aside and the headliner should come on down. Also note that there's a little unit in the back above the headliner that you'll want to check before removing the headliner completely, it has wires that are taped down to the headliner. After all that work, you should be left looking at your blank headliner.
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From here, wrapping the headliner is up to you and the fabric you have. If you're using a lighter weight material such as suede or velvet, you can leave the oem fabric on and simply cover it. However, if you're using something thicker and heavier, remove the factory material with denatured alcohol. To do this, fill a squirt bottle and spray a bit at a time, soaking up an area and peeling back the fabric(while being careful not to peel the actual headliner).

For my wrap I went front to back, doing a little at a time and smoothing out wrinkles and creases with my hand and a roller(not necessary, but it helps). My best advice is to take your time. I spent about 5 hours wrapping the headliner and I think I did a great job for a first time, pretty much no creases and two small spots where glue bled through the fabric.

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If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to respond :D
 
#7 ·
Thanks everyone!

As far as fabric goes I actually used velboa, found it on ebay for $4.50 a yard. It's a short pile faux fur.

For finishing touches I'll probably wrap the little plugs to hide them, but for now it doesn't bother me. I have quite a bit of extra fabric still even after leaving some extra off the sides to tuck around the edges.
 
#11 ·
Wasn't planning to be up this early...Oh well...

I was going to buy one can since each one is supposed to cover something like 67ft² and the headliner total comes out to roughly 40ft² but decided to go ahead and buy a second can, just to be safe.

The back seemed easier when I was first looking at it because its mostly flat, but when I was taking a look at the edges I decided against it. Starting from the front, once I was past the recess for the visors it was pretty straight forward.
 
#19 ·
Something I found out when doing mine - when finished and cutting out holes for visors, mirror, dome light, etc. cut from the back side an "x" and pull fabric to back side and glue. If you go from the front side you may mess up and cut too much (personal experience to my dome light).
 
#20 ·
I am bookmarking this page-awsome breakdown!I had a weird thing happen a month after I bought my xbox-my flatscreen dropped out of the ceiling on a bottoming out pothole!So looking at how the set up the mounting-they used MDF attached to the roof braces with fine thread drywall screws holding in the flat screen.I tried putting it back in with wood screws but one of them spun out-so I have to drop my headliner to swap out the MDF for 3/4 birch ply (NYC streets beat the hell out of any car)so I can feel more secure about the flatscreen not dropping out again!And of course once I have it all out it is the perfect time to do some new fabric.Great pix and perfect step by step....now I ain't skeeered to do it myself!
 
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