(saggy) HEADLINING

As of m73 models the headlining was a one piece fibreglass pressing, clad with fabric. The fabric is glued on, and if your car has the original headlining, the glue should begin to/has begun to let go by now. Saggy headlinings are quite common.
The C-pillars are also padded with a fibreglass pressing clad with fabric, and are usually in a worse condition than the headlining. The fabric has gone brittle and is full of cracks, due to sun-exposure. On the 5-door, these have a rather complex shape.

THE CURE
- Find a newer Saab at the scrapyard/buy a parts car that has a nice headlining, and replace the saggy one on your 99. Or:
- Refurbish the saggy one on your 99 with new fabric. Now you can choose the color yourself! Saab only offered two colors: Off-whiteish/grey, and a light chocolate brownish shade I've seen on an m77 EMS. I chose black.
According to Haynes, this is "a tedious operation, not to be undertaken lightly, so its best left to the dealer". I can confirm that it is tedious work, but it is not at all difficult. All you need is a lot of patiense and a friend to assist you. The headlining is very fragile and will breake if not supported while it's taken out of the car.

HEADLINING / C-PILLAR LINER REMOVAL
2 door saloons
To exit the large headlining, you'll have to make space in the cabin. Lots of it.
- Unbolt and remove the front seats.
- Unbolt and remove the rear seat.
- Unbolting the headlining, see "3 and 5 door hatchbacks".
- When the headlining has come loose, take it out through the passenger door.

4 door saloons
This one I haven't tried, I can only refere to what I've been told. According to my 1975 SAAB WORKSHOP MANUAL, the procedure is the same as for the 2 door. It should go in and out through the PASSENGER door.
Popular belief has it that the headlining will not go out of any door openings, so you'll need to remove the rear window. Personally I would try the metod for "2 door saloons" first, to see if it is possible to avoid removing the window. It is not the thought of removing the window that unsettles me, but the thought of having to put it back with the new headlining in situ.
-Unbolting the headlining, see "3 and 5 door hatchbacks".

3 and 5 door hatchbacks
- Fold down the rear seat.
- Remove the parcel shelf.
- Unbolt and remove the parcel shelf brackets. Two 10mm nuts and two crosshead screws.
- If your car has rear seat belts, unbolt the guides on the c-pillar. If not, unscrew the plastic blind-plug.
- Remove the c-pillar liner. At the upper front edge, a large plastic pin is moulded into the c-pillar liner, and pressed into the body. Insert a flat blade screwdriver between the c-pillar liner and the body, and gently prise out the c-pillar liner.
- Unbolt and remove the front seatbelt upper guides.
- Unbolt and remove the b-pillar upper padding.
- Unbolt and remove the a-pillar padding. Near the door gasket are three screws, and near the windscreen are two plastic plugs. With a thin flat blade screwdriver, prise out the center pins, and then the plastic plugs. Pull back the a-pillar padding and disconnect the air duct.
- Unbolt and remove the mirror and front interior light.
- Unbolt and remove the rear interior light.
- Unbolt and remove the sun visirs.
- Remove the two rear edge headlining plastic clips. (Pull them down)
- At this point put your friend in the car and ask him to support the headlining.
- Open the tailgate.
- (5d) Unbolt and remove the three passenger grab handles, and drivers side blind-covers.
- Carefully lower the headlining and take it out through the rear hatch.

STRIPPING THE HEADLINING
- Lay the headlining upside down on a table.
- Pull the staples at the back, using nose pliers. I forgot to count, but it looked like three houndred.
- Remove the fabric and backing foam. The backing foam and old glue will not come off easy. I scraped it off with a toothbrush and my fingers, and it took the whole afternoon/evening.

REFURBISHING THE HEADLINING
- Lay two metres of fabric on the headlining. The fabric must be stretchable.
- Starting from the center, spray glue (3M 90) on an approx. 30 cm long area on both the fabric and the headlining. But not in full width, the sides shall be glued at a later stage.
- Allow the glue to dry for a minute, and join the fabric to the headlining.
- Gently wipe over the fabric with your hand, do not press too hard, as the glue will soak through the fabric and make it stiff.
- Work from the center, and towards the front end first, gluing 30 cm at a time. (Not full width, remember?)
- Stop when you're nearly 20 cm away from the mirror opening.
- Go back to the center, and start working towards the rear end.
- Stop when you're nearly 30 cm away from the end.
Now it's time for the sides. Mask the center section, to avoid spill.
- Spray glue on both the side-fabric and the headlining, the same distance you've glued the center section.
- Only allow to dry for 30 seconds and join the fabric to the headlining.
- Gently wipe over the fabric with your hand, this part requires more work. NOT TOO HARD.
- Repeat for the other side.
Now the front.
- Spray glue on the whole front-fabric and headlining
- Only allow to dry for 30 seconds and join the fabric to the headlining. It requires a lot of work
- Repeat for the rear end.
- Allow to dry for several hours, while constantly checking that the glue does not let go. Wipe over the fabric with your hand, from time to time.
Now its time to wrap the fabric around the edges of the fibreglass pressing.
- Do a 30 cm section at a time, spray glue on both the fabric and the headlining.
- Allow the glue to dry for a minute, and join the fabric to the headlining.
- Press firmly for a while.
Trim time! Find your Olfa knife and start cutting.
- Cut away excessive fabric from the back of the fibreglass pressing.
- Cut out all openings for the sun visirs, mirror, grabhandles and such.
- Do NOT cut too much, make the hole in the fabric 1-2 mm smaller than it is in the fibreglass pressing.
Now you may install the "new" headlining in your car!

STRIPPING and REFURBISHING the C-PILLAR LINER
Basically, this is the same procedure as the headlining, but the 5-door c-pillar liner has a rather complex shape, whitch makes this job very interesting indeed.
- Lay the c-pillar liner down on a table.
- Pull the staples at the back, using nose pliers.
- Carefully remove the fabric and backing foam.
Now we'll test your skills as a taylor. If you are a novice taylor, like me, have an experienced friend to supervice. She'll tell you what to do.
- The fabric is a two-piece affair, with one seam at the top front corner, and the other at the bottom rear corner. Carefully separate them with a razor blade or an Olfa-knife.
Do NOT cut the fabric itself, cut the thread.
- Lay each piece of fabric on a piece of gray paper. Stretch it (lightly) in all directions, until it has its natural shape. Make a drawing of the two pieces' silhouette. Also mark where the seam is.
- Cut out the two silhouettes from the pieces of paper. Now you have templates of the fabric, that can be used for BOTH SIDES. Write down on each side of the templates, which side is which.
- Lay each template on a piece of fabric, and cut.
- Turn the templates, lay them on a new piece of fabric, and cut again.
Now you have four pieces of fabric.
Depending on the thicness of the material, there are two alternative methods of sewing. If you've chosen a thin fabric like the original, the edges must be folded like the original were, before sewing. I, however, chose a thick material (without backing foam) and had to cut the edges flush with the seamline. Then my friend had to use a method she called "edge sewing". She also performed this with the pieces of fabric pinned to the fibreglass pressing! I was deeply impressed.
- When the two pieces of fabric have been sewed together, we're ready to glue. The method is the same as for the headlining.
- Only allow to dry for 30 seconds and join the fabric to the fibreglass pressing.
- Do one side at a time, and the edges last.
Trim time! Find your Olfa knife and start cutting.
- Cut away ecsessive fabric from the back of the fibreglass pressing.
- If your car has rear seat belts, cut a hole for the belt-guide bolt.
- If not, and you want to install rear belts, cut a hole for the belt-guide bolt.
- If not, and you dont want to install rear belts, dont cut. Throw away the plastic blind-plug.
Thanks to Liss Hege for supervicing this job!

INTERCHANGEABILITY, HEADLINING
2-Door: All 2-d 99's 90's and 2-d 900's can use the same headlining.
3-Door: All 3-d 99' and 3-d 900's can use the same headlining.
4-Door: All 4-d 99' and 4-d 900's can use the same headlining.
5-Door: All 5-d 99' and 5-d 900's can use the same headlining.

Note that on 99's and 900's up to m87, the interior light is on the left side, in front of the rear passenger grab handle.(4/5d) As of m88 900's, the interior light is in the center of the headlining. Exept for the different position (and shape) of the interior light hole, the two headlining types are identical and interchangeable. If you choose to reposition the interior light, a small piece of wire is all it takes.

INTERCHANGEABILITY, C-PILLAR LINER
2-Door 99: The c-pillar liner is used by no other models
2-Door 90: All 90's and 2-d 900's can use the same c-pillar liner.
3-Door: All 3-d 99' and 3-d 900's can use the same c-pillar liner.
4-Door: The c-pillar liner is used by no other models
5-Door: All 5-d 99' can use the same c-pillar liner as the 5-d 900 up to m81.