Technical Headliner build ‘54 dodge truck ‘how not to’

Howdy Hamb

I have been searching and asking a lot of questions here lately about interior fabrication. I found a lot of stuff but not exactly what I was looking for. Somebody asked me to make a thread on how I do my headliner so I’m stepping up.

This is not the right way, or the best way or even a professional way to do this. I have some skills but mostly I’m driven by wanting to do everything myself and have it come out good enough to be proud of. I’m not afraid to spend money on good materials but I’m a cheapskate for labor and I’d always rather make something than buy it if I can.

Getcher popcorn, check back for updates, and wish me luck because I’m making this up as I go along

So far I’m almost done collecting stuff I will need. I have a gallon of DAP weldwood landau contact cement with a cheap siphon gun to spray it
I have a couple yards of diamond stitched black marine vinyl with 3/8” foam backing. I have a little walking foot sewing machine but this stuff is really nice and close to the same price as buying the raw materials to make it. I have it laid out to let the shipping wrinkles relax out of it.
Last but not least- a bunch of big sheets of cardboard happily provided by the plastic warehouse where I bought two sheets of 4’x8’x1/8” ABS plastic sheet- smooth one side textured the other.

 

Following....I did my own in my F-1 PU a few years ago. Key is to use a really lightweight material for the overhead part. Gravity etc........A HD headliner glue is a must also.
I used masonite for the flat panels and thin aluminum for the curves.
Good luck and have fun!

 

So that was a brief intro and the materials I’ve collected so far. On to ‘the plan’!

I really like skipstitch’s tech write-up on how he does a fancy headliner. To simplify- install a wooden skeleton over the doors with side to side rafters. Make a flat panel as big as possible, attach it to the rafters, attach your foam/vinyl/leather then pull the edges down to the bottom of your wood and tuck them up between windlace and metal toothed grab strips for a permanant install with no visible seams. I have a custom upholstery book that describes a similar process and it looks amazing but it’s not really servicable if you want to do more body work later. Plus it looks a little fancy for a working pickup truck or homebrewed hotrod.

The stock headliner and rear surround on a 54 dodge was all leather texture vinyl wrapped cardboard. Honestly the way the stock panels all work is a little too patchy for my taste. Plus the stock look for the truck has the panels held in by screws and round head push clips- so I’m comfortable doing stainless screws with cupped finish washers. I want the rest of what I make to match these door panels I made.

After considering a middle road idea where I do listing wire around the perimeter screwed down at intervals instead of tucking a permanant install I decided to do a stockish pop-in headliner. The truck roof has a nice interior lip all the way around the sides and back and if I can incorporate the A-pillar covers into the headliner I think that will give a finished look.
No matter how I do it I have to address the surface rust on the inside and figure out how I’m going to seal and insulate the headliner.

I have some lizardskin sound deadening and ceramic heat insulating spray I am procrastinating on installing on my firewall so that’s probably the best answer, maybe some of that foil backed bubble wrap for good measure.

I’m looking forward to working with the thermoplastic. First thing is making all the cardboard patterns. Probably early next week- it is apparently monsoon season here in PA

 

I am all ears and eyes.

 

Looking forward to this, I have a 39 Dodge truck that needs a headliner. I have used lots of ABS for interior panels, including a headliner in a 40 ford truck, and one in a 52 Jag.

 

Theres a U tube video of a guy installing a complete interior in a pilot housw truck. Hethe entire kit available all it takes is a screwdriver to install.

 

And about $500 of your hard earned money, by the time you get the interior kit to your door. There is also an interior kit for the 39-47 Dodge trucks, it will also cost you about $500 by the time it gets to your door.
I'll be watching to see how this works out. Gene

 

Today I wirebrushed all the loose surface rust off the inner roof skin and hit it with rust converter primer. The can says 24hr cure time but in the blazing sun I’m sure I am good to start disassembling and taping off the interior for spray insulation tomorrow morning. The lizardskin is a two day job- sound deadening first, then ceramic heat insulation the next day.

 

following

 

Like usual when making patterns for complicated shapes I started with smaller pieces of cardboard trimmed to fit their edges, then all taped together. Now I have the interior shape of the roof figured out and I know I can get away with not having much concave shape to it- I’m 6’3” and still have a couple inches before my hair touches.

The stock dome light was installed in a folded box welded to the roof skin so I think I will be able to use those flanges as an attchment point. Thinking I’ll rivet a plate across it so I can screw right up into the center- maybe weld a nut in the plate for a #12 machine screw so it’ll be stronger than a tapered screw and can get a drop of blue loctite.

Here’s a pic of the perimeter all figured out in cardboard. The final ABS panel might start out a little long front to back so I can get a little bow in it. The sides don’t need to do more than securely snap in above the flange so they can be narrower than the cardboard. Plus I need to account for the vinyl and foam wrapped around the edges. Before I pull the perimeter pattern out I’ll trace the flange on it and trim the sides some.

 

And here’s a pattern of the footprint of the roof flange. The sides are trimmed to have enough wiggle room to pop up easily but the front to back is a snug fit after popping up over the flange.

I’m going to take a slab of ABS and slump it some with a torch over the roof so it gets a nice curve from front to back, then trim the front to fit this footprint.

 

I’ve been procrastinating for months on installing this lizardskin spray insulation I bought. Today was the day. I stripped the cab, masked everything, and laid down two thick coats of their sound deadener. Gotta wait 24 hrs and put two coats of their ceramic heat insulation, then it’ll be all set to take the headliner install.

I’m not sure if I’m doing the foil faced bubble wrap as well? It’s cheap and it can’t hurt.

 

The cab is all un-masked and reassembled. I started making the ABS board for the headliner. I cut out a generous slab bigger than my footprint pattern, put it on the roof square-ish, weighed it down with lead bars, and put some curve in it with a heat gun using the roof as a buck. Hopefully that will maximize headroom and encourage the concave front to back rainbow shape I want- no oilcanning!

Then I cut the curved piece leaving a couple inches to trim off the back. The cab tapers toward the front so it’s been a gradual process rolling it up and in as far as it can go pushing from back to front, marking it and trimming it. Starting out too big is just right.

 

Good idea for the 'buck'. Looks like you're forming it so the smooth side will be exposed?

 

I'm using the steel formed 'hoops' out of my '54 Ford fordor parts car in my '55 F100, wife will sew a naugahyde headliner at her Mom's house. It'll install like a car type 'liner, anchor to the 'lip' over the doors and fold under new rubber at windshield and backlight.
That's the plan, anyway... Just don't trust glue holding the headliner up.
Chicken Little was right.

 

I spent a few hours today making the abs smaller and smaller until I could punch it up into place above the flanges. I am working it shiny side down. The plan is to rough it with some 150 grit paper and glue the diamond pleated vinyl to it with DAP weldwood contact cement but first it has to fit perfect and have all holes and mounts installed for the dome light etc.

The curve worked well- maybe too well. It wants to curve back down in front of the curved part. I will definitely need to make side panels whose top edges will hold the line I want for the sides of the ABS slab. No problem- that was the plan anyway. I’m thinking luon plywood for a little more stiffness than the ABS. It doesn’t get water up there so it should be a lasting solution especially if I seal up the wood with a lick of paint before wrapping it in the diamond pleat.

I need to figure out how much distance there is going to be between the old dome light box and the new headliner. If I push it all the way up flush it does bad things to the clean front edge but a little support is necessary to keep it in place with no oilcanning.

My plan is to attach a bracket to that (probably riveted) then come up through the headliner with machine screws and finish washers like the door panels. Ditto on the side pieces into the upper door flanges- screws and finish washers.

I have some wood and cardboard wedged in above the door flanges and it is looking great except for one gentle wrinkle along the back edge which I hope will be hidden by the thickness of the vinyl/foam wrap.

Thanks for the responses- this is my first headliner and not only is it a different job for different vehicles but the second try at anything always comes out better than the first attempt so I’m taking my time to get it right. The nice thing is it’s just a fun hotrod not a show car or customer car so half the enjoyment is making stuff. Plus it was such a ratty old farm truck that it wasn’t a good restoration candidate so anything I do is an improvement!

Side panels, dome light, and top center bracket are next.

It’s hard to get a good picture- the shiny side is like a mirror and you can’t really step back to see much but here it is.

 

A little more progress today- I made luon panels to fill the gap above the door lip and tame the curve of the ABS.

I also cut and melted in the hole for the dome light which will help a little with access to set up the central bracket.

The first pic is before I shaved the top luon edge to match the ABS. Getting closer to glue and wrap time! Gonna go to lowes and get some butcher paper for glue overspray and some foil faced bubblewrap insulation to add to the top of the ABS.

The lizardskin made a dramatic difference in the ride quality and the engine sound is much more bassy and thumping with no buzzes or rattles but I still had to add a panel of dynamat on the roof to get it as dead as I wanted.

 

Yep Its $500. And at one time $500 was a lot of money. Heck I see women spend more than $500 at walmart and it all fit in one cart! If you got more time than money build your own. Im tight but I think $500 is very reasonable and you can install it in one day.

 

$500 aint bad but 54 is a one year only truck. First year of one piece curved windshield but not as wraparound as the 55. Plus I want that diamond stitch not just textured ABS or unpadded vinyl wrapped cardboard. Not a stock resto. And I’m going overboard with insulation.

 

Ok so I made the center bracket and got it all screwed in and mocked up. It’s close but not perfect. There’s a wave in the back where the abs stops 1/2” high off the flange. Also the front corners are close enough that the foam and vinyl should close the gap or at least look finished but the rear corners I’m not happy with.

I am considering re-cutting the side pieces but first Im going to try finishing the awkward spots by adding cardstock. I don’t really need more structure- just a little extra fabric in the corners to tuck in and floppier might actually be better. At least if I don’t love it I can re-make tbe side pieces without wasting too much time or materials.


I wish I understood the ABS a little better- if it was metal I could just shrink and stretch it till I was happy but the plastic is close and I don’t want to overwork it.

 

Here’s the bracket riveted to the remnants of the old dome light


I got an aluminum stiffening bar riveted in to the top side of the ABS. The central hole is where it screws up into the bracket on the roof. Here you can see the dome light hole with the light housing poking up thru. There is no provision for mounting it so I had to get creative.


Here’s the bracket for the light housing riveted in. It’s tapped for screws to come up from inside the pie tin under the glass.


And here’s how the light bucket looks attached to the raw ABS board from the bottom. It tightens up snug so it should fit great once it has foam and vinyl to squish.


I scuffed all the shiny ABS with some 80 grit so it’ll have a nice tooth to grab the dap contact adhesive. I have a brand new $25 1.8 tip siphon gun that I have to set up with a regulator and get a decent spray pattern out of. I have a big roll of butcher paper to catch overspray and a roll of reflectix foil/bubble insulation to put on top of the ABS once it’s all wrapped in vinyl.

I want to power thru and stay up late glueing but that’s usually when mistakes are made that I regret later. Plus the compressor is kinda loud for the wee hours when it kicks on. Gonna wait at least till tomorrow to get more done.

 

Following. Looking good.

 

Woo hoo! good progress today.

The dap contact adhesive sprayed out really nicely from a cheap 1.8 tip siphon gun. I marked center with a sharpie crosshair on the foam backing and ABS bottom, folded the fabric, and glued it down in halves.

One of the dome light screws stripped so now is my chance to permanently install it with some machine screws & nylocks instead of #14 screws. One of them will get a ring terminal to ground the housing and I still have to make the harness (well, only 2 wires) and glue it to the top of the board with a healthy tail coming off it.

I am still concerned about the fit & finish in the corners. I think I’m going to either add to the existing side panels with ABS to get curved ends or add to them with paper and use that as a pattern to cut new ones from luon. I figured the top slab is as big as it can be and still pop up past the lip so I went ahead and wrapped it. The extra thickness of it being wrapped will probably change things a little too.

 

Looking good!


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Ok so I got it wired up, taped some reflectix on top just to hold it in place during installation so it’ll float in there, and popped it up into place. It does have a little side to side oilcanning in the middle but not dramatically and the foam did eat up the gaps some which looks nice.

I am thinking hard about just painting the luon black to match the rest of the cab- maybe even sand some primer flat on it first to hide the woodgrain. The diamond stitch compliments the door panels nicely but maybe the cab doesn’t need to be totally swathed in it.

I haven’t figured out yet if I can fish the wires down the A-pillar but that would be nice. I have LEDs and door jam plunger switches to install along with a 3 position dash switch for off/doors/on but that’s a project for another day.

It ain’t perfect but there it is: “how not to install a custom headliner in a 1954 dodge pickup”


It looks better and can’t help but cut down on heat from the sun and maybe cut some noise too. If I paid good money for it I’d be pissed about a hack job but for around $120 and a bunch of hours spent having fun I’m happy with it.

Hopefully y’all can learn from my mistakes. If I did it again I would probably make more structure/skeleton- either run the stiffener bar all the way across, or make a wood rafter over the door jams to screw into.

 

Looks good! The next one will be easier.....
It will help with the noise and heat, plus it gives a more finished look. Thanks for posting!

 

Thank you.

It’s really done now. The dome light and courtesy light are wired up and I decided to wrap the side pieces in plain black vinyl.

 

Nice, and good decision on the side pieces.

 

Are you intending on making pieces to go down the windshield posts and above the windshield to cover with the vinyl, or are you going to paint those areas? How are you doing the pieces around the back window?
I have a 49 (48-53 are the same) that will be my next project, and it will need a headliner. Gene

 

Nice job. I just made one similar method as well using plastic sheeting I found at dumpster. Making the template is the most difficult part. Installing no picnic on the neck.
I was fortunate to have a ratty aftermarket headliner for template, that cardboard material distorts swells depending on your climate.