Head(liner) of the class(iest type)

One of the reasons for stripping the entire interior out of the Impala was the headliner.  Not only can headliners hold smells, this one was also stained and was about to start sagging.  To get the headliner out, you need to take off all the plastic trim panels.  It will actually come out of the car with the seats in if you don't want to strip the whole car down.  The trick is to put the passenger seat all the way back and all the way reclined, then the drivers front corner of the headliner goes out the lower front corner of the passenger door.  It's like those bar puzzles with the two nails.  It seems impossible, but once you get it just right it slides right out.

Washing the headliner to eliminate any odors is the next trick.  I lay it on the driveway cloth side up, hose it down, and scrub it, rinse, and repeat.  The tricky part is drying it.  The main headliner is pressed fiberglass.  It's not very strong, and when water logged is VERY heavy.  The fastest way to get it dry is to stand it on end and let the water drain.  It will hold it's shape if you're, but it must be balanced just right otherwise it will fold and crease.  It will also want to fold crease as you lift it.  A creased headliner isn't the end of the world, but can look bad.  It's really a two person job to get it standing upright.

Originally, I had just intended to wash my headliner, but the stains didn't come all the way out, and the material was very worn over the driver's door.  I also tore the backing while trying to lift it while it was wet.  So, I decided a full recover was in order.  First things first, I had to fix the backing.  You can see here the piece I accidentally tore out, a section over one of the rear doors.  You'll notice that I'm wearing gloves too. I HIGHLY recommend it because the fiberglass will get very itchy on your bare hands.

Since these things are pressed fiberglass, fixing them is really easy.  Just mix up some fiberglass resin, and soak it in.  Since the broken edges are fuzzy and it's just a headliner, no additional reinforcement is necessary.

While I was at it, I soaked resin into all the other creases and tears in the fiberglass.  Here are all the spots I ended up fixing.  Note that I did this before removing the original cloth.  In some places, the cloth was all that was holding the fiberglass in place.

Once that set, it was time to take the original cloth off.  You've got to be careful with it, the fiberglass is pressed in layers and the layers can start to peel off with the cloth.  Any of the original foam backing that was left got attacked with a wire brush.  Here it is all stripped and prepped.

To add some classiness, I decided to go with a suede material.  It doesn't hurt that the material is only $15/yd either.  You need two yards to cover a B-body headliner.  I got mine from http://www.yourautotrim.com/suhefba.html Their foam backed Grey is a very close match to the stock Impala color, and it was right around $50 shipped for the material.  Gluing the material down is the most critical part.  If you don't do it right, it will quickly start to sag.  if you have access to professional grade contact cement and a spray gun, so much the better.  I don't anymore, so the next best thing is 3M's Hi-Strength 90.  I used about 2 cans of it.  It's very important to follow the direction on the can to the letter.  Instead of doing it all in one shot, I glued the material down in halves, first the back half, then the front.  You want to avoid stretching the material if you can.  If there's tension on it, it is more likely to pull away from the backing.  Since it's a contact adhesive, you can't peel it up and reposition it, you only get one shot.  Here's the back half waiting for the glue to tack up:

With the face glued, I let it sit a few days to get good and cured.  Then it was onto the back.  The material gets wrapped around a section at a time.  You'll need to cut slits in it where it wants to stretch, just make sure they don't get cut so far that you can see them from the outside when it's installed.

Here it is, all covered up.  I got some wrinkles in the front corners, but nothing I can't live with.  If I had been a bit more careful, they wouldn't have been there.  The holes for the dome light, coat hooks, etc will be cut out as it's being installed, just to make sure everything is in just the right place.