Hi Folks
My 420 headliner(pressed fiberglass) has crumbled in pieces,I looked at "Masonite" but it was too heavy and could not be curved easily,I though about ABS but where I am located its hard to find a piece large enough.
If anyone has any thoughts I would be most grateful.

Best Wishes Dan Gardner

 

Hi Dan,

Glue foam backed Union Cloth direct to the dome like S Types did until late cars with boards or try aluminium formed/shaped on an English Wheel. Presume your glass fibre board is too damaged to take an impression from & mould a new one? The dome or board needs to be perfectly prepared or you will see bumps or depressions in the headlining.

This is my S Type glued direct to dome. Cloth only pulls taught on front metal former once mirror, sunvisors & wood are fitted/mounted & all pulled tight to dome. (excuse colour shift on second pic. Contrast too high for cellphone cameras ~ top pic is colour correct). (Colour combo Biscuit). Remember S Type & 420 are identical shell from scuttle/windscreen back.










Here is a '68 420 for comparison in Cinnamon. (Cinnamon interior & Sable (brown) exterior was offered on some of the final cars)






Board picture credit Cass (Rob) from his 68 S Type.

 

As you can see from the above photo I took mine out and repaired it when I rebuilt my S Type. As Glyn states the head lining in the late S Type 1966/67 and beyond is the same as the 420. Mine was cracked and chipped so I laid it out as you can see and gave it a coat of clear resin just brushed on. I made the mistake of trying to remove some of the white surface as this was peeling off when I removed the old head lining material before applying the gel resin. I mistakenly thought that the head lining fabric would cover the headlining with no problems as it was now strong and smooth but unfortunately the dark patches where I had removed the white paper showed through the fabric. I ended up putting a second layer of fabric over the first and gluing them together. No more dark marks and I have the thickest, softest head lining around.
Just as an aside you cannot remove or install the head lining board in to the car through any of the doors it has to go in through either the front screen or rear screen apertures.

 

Yes Cass ~ my car has anti drumming pads (side to side) stuck to the dome under the foam backed lambswool Union Cloth. I believe this was dropped when the centre roof panel was introduced. My guy did a great job of applying contact adhesive to the foam backing & roof dome with a spray gun & then worked from centre outwards to ensure no lumps or bumps or glue soak through that I have seen on some. I had him chat to Jon Skinner in the UK before doing the job for advice as they do plenty of them. A cell phone call paid for by yours truly that was well worthwhile. Let the two trim masters talk to one another without me as a go between.

 

Hi Glyn
Thanks for your very detailed reply and great photos and advise,I like the idea of sheet aluminium and the foam idea is worth checking out as I did not want to remove the front windscreen if I could avoid it.Mine is a grey interior but the beige looks much nicer.


Much Appreciated Best Wishes Dan Gardner

 

Hi Cass
Thanks for your very detailed reply and great advise,Unfortunately my liner literally fell apart in pieces and the foam idea is worth checking out as I did not want to remove the front windscreen if I could avoid it.
Here in Western Australia the heat is so intense on the roof(my car is dark blue) the it literally kills foam.Aluminium sounds interesting I would need to locate an English wheel service.


Much Appreciated Best Wishes Dan Gardner

 

Here is a grey interior on a dark blue car. I think it can look very smart. Regarding your foam worries, we face similar conditions in SA. How much of it's life is the car really going to spend in the sun? On a relatively low use car I don't think it will be an issue. My lining was grubby but fine after 90K miles. A daily driver is possibly another matter.





If you don't take the windscreen out you need to work the front very carefully. The liner is supposed to be glued into the rebate & then the screen rubber fitted or you end up with a mess like this. There are obviously "work-arounds" to do it neatly.





Good luck!

 

I have thought of using carpeting instead of fabric! haha! it is a lot tthicker and needs no backing board.

 

Has anyone converted a Mk2 to this arrangement? It has some attractions over the steel hoops.

 

I have a roll of XJ-6 boot carpeting material that is thick but thin enough to maybe be used to cover the roof inside. At this point originality is not a concern to me. In fact it may end up being more interesting.

my experience with 1/8" thick foam is that it will start to desintegrate sooner or later, separating from the fabric and there we go again, another headliner job. You start with a real pretty headlining job and end up with a mess.

just recently, the front cabin headliner fabric in my Ford minivan started to separate from the fiberglass pad. I removed the entire pad with fabric, (it is quite easy), pulled the fabric off of it and I found the foam has dissolved into a gummy dust. I am tired of this headliner foam crap. What is the use? I am going to look for carpeting that has a solid woven backing and glue it to the pad.

In the S type, I will use some sort of stick-on material applied to the metal roof, then glue carpeting material to it so that it can be pulled in the future if needed. I do not want to remove the front or rear windscreen, too many risks. What if the glass cracks? I do not want to even consider it.

 

In the sartorial trade, they use something that I think they call interfacing. It's a kind of fabric impregnated with gluey stuff so that it can be ironed on to other fabric to make it stiffer. It might be possible to use something like that to attach a good quality felt to a suitable board. Or, of course, there's contact adhesive. Spray it on the board, let it dry completely, lay the felt on top and then go over it with a hot iron. And hope the smell of the adhesive doesn't hang around too long. Both these would need a suitable lining board as I'd not fancy ironing on to the underside of the steel roof panel. I'm beginning to see the advantage of the Mk2's horrible hoops!

 

Peter those hoops are not exclusive to the MK-2.

my S type has them, I have seen MK-X and Big Saloons like MK-8 and MK-9 with them.

One thing is certain, I don't care for them.

 

Peter ~ See Ian Callum Mk2. He used S Type/420 STYLED headliner. Remember Mk2 dome is higher in the centre.


















CMC Brochure

http://www.xkjaguar.com/wp-content/u...m-Brochure.pdf

 

All. Let me pass one comment. When it comes to foam. There is quality foam that will give no issues & last longer than you will, & there is crap. Any good trim specialist will guide you in the direction of top quality very long lasting foam that will give you zero deterioration worth talking about in a lifetime.

It's a material quality issue ~ nothing else.

 

The headlining is one of the changes that Callum and CMC got right. For me, they got a lot of others wrong, but that's their right.

Surely no foam can be as awful as that dust infested excuse for carpet underlay that Jaguar so solidly stuck inside the roof of the Mk2.

 

Indeed! There are many high quality closed cell foams on the market that will well outlast us. That Jag Mk2 stuff was junk. I'm certainly not in favour of everything Callum did but it was his car. I do like his headlining. The trouble lies with skimping on materials quality to save a few bucks. There was nothing wrong with my headliner foam in my car after 90K miles in SA's scorching sunlight. But it was an SA manufactured headliner suitable for our conditions.