Shipwright's disease nothing! This is more like battleshipwright's disease. Bravo! When you finish up, you will have an S-Type worthy of Sir William's blessing.

Spray contact cement, you can easily control how much is going on, so the chance of "bleed through" is almost nonexistent _ it's what I used on my Mk VI Bentley.
Some manufacturers use alcohol as a carrier as apposed to acetone. Just give the alcohol more time to dry if your environment is on the cool damp side.
A hair dryer is very useful here.


Other sprays like 3M Supper 77 work OK at first, but they eventually "creep" and let go.
At any rate it's a good idea to go into a fabric shop and get yourself some woven felt (English Broad Cloth) or something that resembles your headliner to practice on, or at least until you get used to the pressure in the can.
When I did my Bentley, I put a thin lite coat on to seal the cloth, but so much it made the fabric feel like there was too much starch on it.


Let this first application total dry (over night) the second application will be the one that sticks it to the car.


You can do it all in one go, but it takes a bit more practice to do that. If you put too much on, it takes a while for the carrier to dry and if you wait too long the contact cement won't stick to itself.


I got to the point where my job was tacky enough to stick so I could remove it to reposition things if I had to. Once I got it right I used the hair dryer to finish drying things while using my hand to pad it in place. I stiff sponge would also work here as well.


If the new headliner has a foam backing, then extra care must be used as most contact cement carriers will dissolve the foam if too much is applied _ test on a piece of scrap first.


There is another product I use at work I use to glue foam together which would also work, it's more user friendly, but I'll have to wait until Tuesday to see who the manufacturer is _ I'll take a picture of it.

From David and Patricia's site I've gleaned that the fiberglass pans began in December of 1966 whist my car was built in February of 66. 350 LHD's too early.:icon_frown:
Oh well, if it was easy anybody could do it, right?

OK Guys, opinions please.....

I'm very close to doing a hard brush job on the existing headliner and then assault it with a new coating of the broadcloth. I don't have the biscuit insert in my 66 and any work I do is by myself and defying gravity.

I'm thinking to mark the axis with ckalk and then slowly spread some kind of magical adhesive, yet to be determined, outwards until it's all hung.


I have the new foam backer material which would be a dress rehearsal for the broadcloth but I really loathe the scraping mess of getting clear of the original stuff,

Opinions and guidance Please?

BTW, taking it to the pros is not an option.......

OK, following on from the previous post...

I intended to glue the new headliner over the old hard dry foam in the roof. A minor error makes that impossible now so I've stripped out the original foam. Not as bad as I expected. Turns out the foam was layed in in transverse strips about ten inches wide. I have photographed it.

I was going to attempt gluing in the new foam in one great piece and was dithering on whether to put the broadcloth on the foam first.

I think I just answered my own question, put the foam back in with strips as original. Getting the seams to blend will be the issue.....

I know how to do a XJ-6 headliner, but I have no clue where to begin doing a S type or MK-2 or 420 or 340 headliner.

in the XJ-6 you start out with a reasonably flat fiberglass pad, you glue the fabric to the pad, and when you push the pad towards the convexed roof, the pad becomes slightly concave, so the pressure keeps it in place, no glue.

I have recieved a DAP Weldwood Hi-Temp spray adhesive that is widely regarded as THE cement for headliners. At least on the Internet.

Now I'm a bit stuck. The foam backer is to be hung first presumably and then the broadcloth hung over that. The supplied foam has a cloth bonded to one side that is [I]almost[I] identical to the broadcloth. It is a bit lighter grey and a courser texture so I've elected not to use it alone for the headliner. Too bad as it would be SO much easier.

So, has anyone done this or have any opinions regarding which side goes to the roof sheetmetal? Bare foam or cloth?

The original was bonded to a plastic/vinyl that had gone rock hard over the years.

This would be so much easier with the fiberglass pan....:icon_bricks:

personally I do not like the thought of gluing anything directly to the metal roof, period.

I would glue the headliner fabric centered and squared to the foam pad first, leaving a lot of excess fabric overhanging on all sides which can be trimmed later. Better too much than too little.

THEN, as a friend suggested he was going to do in his S type, make 3 flat and concave wood "ribs" matching the interior wood, and which anchor on both sides evenly spaced front to back. When you bend them into a convex shape, they push UP and hold the entire headliner in place. AND it becomes a removable headliner.

I don't know if I have "convex" and "concave" reversed, but you get the idea.

and to answer your question, place the grey fabric towards the roof, more insulation, more better.

As part of the prep for the headliner I decided I better route the fiber optic cables from the taillights to the interior and decide where they'll finally reside. I've got enough that it reaches to the sun visor mounts so now I'm pondering some kind of jewel to terminate them upfront. I had initially pictured them in the rear center interior light as the Cadillacs did.

That couldn't have been easier, so with that done I started reassembling the boot area.

All the AC drip pan and such is back in and now I'm working on the boot seal. As anyone could predict, I had about half of it on when I decided it had to be upside down.:icon_rolleyes: Now reversed it's looking much better.

It's so satisfying to be moving forward again...

Progress! Got the headlining in this morning, relatively easily as my friend had some experience. I almost ruined it all when a sharp knife cut wide but it will be OK. Just good Luck!

I've been working on the trim rails around the headliner with mixed success. I did the front rail with the same Contact Cement as the headliner and it was just too wet and soaked thru the broadcloth. The sides are working better with Scotch 77.

I'm sore in every muscle at the moment. It started yesterday fitting all the new stuff to the boot and was amplified today. At the moment we are fitting welting around the door openings so as to secure the roof trims above the doors.

Can't wait until I'm fitting wood again....;-))

To make any more progress on the headliner I must glue the welting around the door frames. I've been using 3M weatherstrip adhesive. It's working but it's messy and time consuming as I do about six inches at a time and then let it dry.

A few minutes ago I thought of trying a hot melt glue gun. Anyone ever use those things or have an opinion on this application? Does the glue last?

This pic shows the one side trim pieces in place, the wood will pull the bottom piece tight when we get to that stage...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...f537d5f771.jpg

looks good, forget hot glue, it does not stick. Use contact cement, the brush-on kind used for horse saddles and shoes. Use a respirator, the stuff is toxic.

Jose, you are so right. This afternoon I managed to talk to an expert and he too suggested it was not the correct application. The hot melt doesn't adhere well to metal and would soften in the desert heat. I'll continue with the 3M weatherstrip adhesive a I have lots of that....

Dang I'm getting tired of welting! I bought tacks and a lot more clamps yesterday so that phase will soon be behind. I ripped out the first piece I did because it was wavy, practice is improving the product. The front cross piece for the headlining is giving me trouble. AGAIN, the adhesive soaked thru the broadcloth. I'm leaving it sit for the moment.

Use spray contact cement to prevent bleed through.
If you are using it inside the car, mask the area off.
I found it the best way to prevent bleed through when working with broad cloth _ or anything where bleed through is a problem.

I switched to the Scotch 77 after the DAP Weldwood was so wet. I just need some more pracytice and patience I'll wager...;-00

Can anyone describe how the trim piece below the rear window on the 3.8S is secured? The parts manual identifies the piece on plate 81 as part number 16.

It seems there were some kind of attachments to the rear deck covering but mine was discarded when they converted to the Kool-Aire AC.

I'm thinking I could bend up some steel tabs and use the door card clips before putting in the rear AC vents.

Hi, have a look at this thread as it might help S-Type Rear Seat Belts

Oh Yes, that is a very nice pic of it thru the rear window. I've gotten some pics and details that explain the union cloth covered trim piece was simply pinched to the rear of the parcel shelt with press on U clips.

When my parcel shelf was scrapped for the AC vent installs that piece seems to be simply left adrift. I will fabricate some bent tabs and attach them before recovering. Then when attached to the rear deck area the AC stuff will cover them. Or at least that's the current plan, some modification may be required:icon_bricks:

Hydraulic hose fittings
 

Hi Steve,
Haven't seen you here in a while so I don't know if you are watching the Forum or not. I am close to being ready to plumb the M&C Wilkinson steering rack. I have all of the fittings for the upper end. Just need the two ninety degree -6 fittings for the hose mountings to the rack. You could save me a little time researching if you recall the part numbers for these two fittings. Do you happen to know? One is a longer reach to go around the other.

Thanks so much!

Lin