Custom Headliner

Its a fact of owning a car with a foam headliner, the foam will deteriorate and pretty soon the cloth will start to fall off the styrofoam backing and rest on your head.  Which doesn't look too good.  So when this happened to my Grand National, I decided it was time to add another little custom trick.   I decided to add a checker design with the original gray color.  This technique is most widely used in Hot Rods for doing custom interiors.

This is done by taking another piece of material, cutting it to shape, and attaching it to the backing board of the headliner.  The extra piece of material adds a step, so when the outside fabric is glued on top, the height change can be seen, making the design come out.

Step 1.
Lay out the design.
(its hard to see, but there are red grid lines drawn on part of the backing piece)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Step 2.
Cut pieces of 1/4" thick styrofoam in the desired shape.  In this case a 2" square.  Then glue the pieces to the styrofoam board with headliner adhesive.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Step 3.
Now its time to glue the fabric down.  I spread glue across half of the board and started to smooth the fabric down from the inside out.  The fabric has a foam backing, so you shouldn't press too hard.  Just smooth it down with your hands.  When you get to the edges of the two different heights, use your finger to direct the fabric into the corners.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Finish gluing the rest of the fabric, and trim.

(Forgive the color differences in the two pictures.  These were taken in our garage, not a studio)
 

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