MGB & GT Forum

I need to remove the sagging headliner in my GT. How do I install the Moss headliner?

Do a search. There are many posts on this. BTW, the Moss headliner isn't the only solution. I purchased an interior kit from the UK that came with headliner cloth. It's put in place with adhesive. Not an easy job for sure.

Steve

The cloth is glued to a pressed fiberglass-fiber board, which usually falls apart when you remove it. The board simply slips under the edges of the front and rear header rails and the side cant rails, so is held in place along the outer edges. You can try to carefully remove the old one by gently moving it towards the back and to one side until an edge is exposed, then carefully work it out. It has to come out of the car through the back hatch. It’s nearly impossible to get it out intact.

I made a new board out of fiberglass mat and resin, using the outside roof of the car as a mold, and using the pieces of the old board to trim the new one to size. Then covered it with a layer of glued headliner foam, followed by gluing on the headliner fabric (I used OEM fabric sourced from the original supplier in the UK - less expensive than Moss!). If you do an archive search, you should find a write up I did about a year ago on making and installing my headliner.

10 years membership and second post so I guess you don't visit much. You have your brief answers on a complex subject in #2 and #3. Get yourself some and get reading. Most of us shy away from the Moss/M-E/MGOC et al kits and work out a way to DIY. But are you Experienced (apologies to Jimi) as it's quite a complex process which you'll read about when you follow up the search suggestions. Some were attached as John notes and other years were glued directly to the metal but IDK the years of each. I'm still tossing up if I'll do as John did or hang it or make a new board. And before you ask the cants and header are unavailable in OEM format.

PS mine's not even drooping as I bought my GT without a headliner so I follow all the discussions on this subject as well as watch Mark Burton's video he kindly left us on how to make a FG board using the outer roof.

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Mk1: CKD 11/66 first registered 8/5/67; owned since 3/77. 18GB +40 balanced. Peter Burgess BVFR head. Piper 285. 123. FidanzaFW. 4synch c/r box. Superpro. Nut and bolt rebuild 2010 - 2015. Tartan Red.

GT: 12/78. VW Golf guards, flush fit front and rear valances, frenched indicators, Mk1 rear lights - LED lights. 'Worked' Rover V8, Monsoon ECU for EFI. Commodore VSV8 GM4L60E, Lokar tiptronic shifter & Quick4 controller. Vintage Air A/C. FC IFS. CCE 4 link rear. Salisbury with Quaife. Jaguar Storm.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-06-04 02:41 PM by MGB567.

Paul Hruza has the best way. Flip the car upside down on a rotisserie and glue in leather.

Short of that I plan to use some heavy duty magnets and spray adhesive. I haven’t figured out what I’m using for substrate yet.

In my 67 gt since no board and just bare metal and slightly rusty, after cleanup and prep I simply glued on a modern foam backed headliner. Had a friend hold back at center and I held front. Contact adhesive on roof and headliner to about 6in from cant rails all round.
Simply aligned centre lines on roof and headliner and gently smoothed down centre. So light it just hung then gently smoothed out to sides working to back and front.
Cant rail piece went on beforehand of course.
Then adhesive on remaining area and tucked in. - Need to protect cant rail covering when doing this and have some thin tool to tuck headliner the gap.
Was actually pretty quick. Most time in protecting the cant rail when applying adhesive and removing that after job done.

Alan

I guess this is kind of a neener, but the upholstery shop that did my door panels, asked me if I wanted my headliner fixed, since it was almost touching my head.

Answer when I heard how much he wanted was H*LL yes

He charged me $60

added, he did do it after hours on his own time, for some extra scratch, and it looks marvelous now, new foam, same cloth, etc

I would NOT have ever tried that myself.

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I ate the last mango in Paris
Took the last plane out of Saigon
Took the first fast boat to China
And Jimmy there's still so much to be done...
(RIP Jimmy you were a treasure)
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We can all do better. - Jim Jeffries



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2023-06-05 01:36 AM by bloomz.

Thanks Noble!

The C/GT is next...

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Those who confuse Burro and Burrow don't know their @ss from a hole in the ground...

Finished restoration of a 1967 GT last year. Repaired the board with fiberglas patches, used 1/4 inch neoprene foam, vinyl material to match original and spray can adhesive from a large vintage British car parts supplier. Within six months it was sagging and falling down. Replacing it using the method recommended by the same supplier would be close to impossible to do without removing the whole interior. After taping and covering everything I cannot imagine how to get in there to do apply the adhesive and do the install. Fortunately found that MGOCspares stocked replacement boards made with a gel coat. The board fit perfectly (rare for reproduction parts) and has right combination of flexibility and sturdiness. Used 1/4 inch landau top foam instead of neoprene and same vinyl as before to match contrails etc. Real key was using DAP Wildwood Contact Adhesive for Landau Top & Trim HHR Solvent Type Spray Grade. As a trial we sprayed some pieces using a 3M disposable needle spray gun. Ready to stick after three minutes at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the pieces contacted each other there was no pulling them apart. Very pleased with the result. The board and associated shipping is not inexpensive, but well worth avoiding the labor of experimenting with different materials to fabricate a board.

Here is the thread that Barrie alludes to, (I haven't found the video lately) but if you read from post #396 here; https://www.mgexp.com/forum/mgb-and-gt-forum.1/1977-gt-restoration-project.3513512/page-27 you will see how to make your own.

Several years ago I pulled out and repainted the headliner in my GT. The foam board was in very good condition. To get it out I shifted it around and pulled it down as John (#3) mentions. Later I found out the right way is the open the hatch way more, remove the trim panels, and the foam slides out the back. That would have been way easier.
I don't know what foam panels could be substituted, maybe multiple panels of thin foam board, glued in an arch, BUT the original panel is curved in 2 directions (front-to-back & left-to right). (Who's stupid idea was that?)
I would be hesitant to just glue up something thin. Years ago I had an MG 1100 (4-door sedan) and the headliner let go. I pulled it out, left it out and rainstorms sounded like hail storms on a tin roof. I could not hear the radio, and that was before the artillery when my hearing was still good.
Good luck and do lots of neck and back strengthening exercises.
An interior shop might be a good choice. A man has to know his limitations.

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The important thing is not to get ahead, but to get along.

You have to use a really good quality contact adhesive. The type you buy in most DIY stores just won't hold when the sun gets hot on the roof.

Local interior shop sold me some vinyl roof adhesive. Easy to work with, stuck like dog 5hit on your sneakers.

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The important thing is not to get ahead, but to get along.

I have today finished making my headliner board, this is Mark Burton’s idea but it is incredibly simple. My GT is still in primer but I wouldn’t have any qualms in making this headliner on the roof of a show car. The PVA release agent is water soluble and washes off without leaving a trace. The cost was less than £100 but I have enough material to make two more left over. Exactly as Mark Burton described and Using poly sheet and masking tape to protect the paint it took just four hours from start to finish to make it. Trimming it to shape today took about an hour and a half, if you have the old headliner cover then you have a template and it would only take a few minutes. I didn’t use gel coat simply because I will cover it with closed cell foam then the headliner material.
I would recommend this method to anyone.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-12-18 10:43 AM by mgb281.

@#14: Philip to save me going back through Mark's exhaustive topic that's the version he did by laying over the top of the roof and is therefore curved and locates to the body rather than the flat board? Do you have anything between it and the roof's underside? Are you sticking it to the roof or just relying on the cants and header rails to hold it in place and,if so, how thick is it? What PVA release agent did you use so I can try and find in AU?

PS want to make me one and ship it out - just kidding as shipping/packing would be an arm and a leg and I need both.

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Mk1: CKD 11/66 first registered 8/5/67; owned since 3/77. 18GB +40 balanced. Peter Burgess BVFR head. Piper 285. 123. FidanzaFW. 4synch c/r box. Superpro. Nut and bolt rebuild 2010 - 2015. Tartan Red.

GT: 12/78. VW Golf guards, flush fit front and rear valances, frenched indicators, Mk1 rear lights - LED lights. 'Worked' Rover V8, Monsoon ECU for EFI. Commodore VSV8 GM4L60E, Lokar tiptronic shifter & Quick4 controller. Vintage Air A/C. FC IFS. CCE 4 link rear. Salisbury with Quaife. Jaguar Storm.