I am new to the forum, and also the owner of a new-to-me 2+2. The previous owner undertook a complete restoration of the car's interior. However, something's amiss with the headliner panel - it pops down and does not appear to be adhered to the inside of the metal roof. As I am tall, it hits my head! How can I safely remove this panel and apply adhesive to it? What all needs to be removed, and can I do this without damaging the otherwise nice headlining bits?

Thanks for your help!
-Kevin McLemore

 

No quite sure I understand "pops down", but if it is sagging, you can fix that, in place. If the PO re-used the fiberboard insert, that may change the process. Some owners threw the board liner away and glued the new HL foam right to the metal roof:

https://forums.jag-lovers.com/t/e-ty...a-2-2/116278/3

Amazon or a farm store, get some large animal hypodermic needles and some superstrong glue.. many advocate glue for Landau tops, but I'm only seeing that in a one gallon size. I used the original Weldwood contact glue when I did my headliner about 30 years ago.

I started from scratch, marked the centers on all sides of the headliner, then measured and marked centers on the car. You have to have the cant rails off to be able to start over with the headliner. That entails removing the exterior door rubbers to expose the tiny screws holding the cant rails on.

I originally used a heavy duty spray adhesive from 3M, spraying both the foam backing of the HL and the metal roof. I had a linoleum roller that I used, after lining up all the markings, rolling from the center of the HL out to all sides. Even so, I had some spots that refused to adhere. This is where the Hypo's and the Weldwood liquid contact cement come in. I outlined the suspect areas with straight pins and then filled the hypo's with the liquid glue. I inserted the needle through the fabric and foam and squirted the glue in several areas of each spot and then rollered over that area to promote adhesion.

If you try to remove the HL now, you risk pulling off some of the adhered foam off the backside of the HL fabric. If you are able to mark the bad areas and then hypo the glue in, that may work. It's what I would do if my HL started to fall down.

 

The “pops down” is what it sort of does. I don’t think it was ever glued to the metal roof, and when you push it up, it kind of springs into position, almost like a tin can popping in and out… then once under way it will eventually spring back down and I’m tall enough that it hits my head!

Your solution of injecting glue sounds like a great idea. Thank you! I’ve trimmed a great many British cars over the years - I used to own a restoration shop back in the late 1979’s/early 80’s, but this is my first Jaguar, and it has a number of things like this that need sorting. I have much to learn!

 

OK, got it. the board wasn't fixed in place. The animal hypo needles are pretty tough, so they may pierce the board

https://www.chewy.com/neogen-hypoder...Bwv1IXq3NaRzRl

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...edle-pack-of-4


See if you can poke the needle through. press in place. You may need to rig up some sort of a T-bar like pressure/support to keep the board against the roof metal. I would concentrate on the center and out to a radius of 19-20 inches, then in the corners.

 

Thank you, Valerie! You’ve been extremely helpful!