What type of adhesive did you use on yours, StarLady? Maybe that would help derf if he's still doing this.

 

If he's stil doing his.....

Didn't realize it's been so long since I started this thread.
1st thing I did was learn the difference between glue and adhesive. With a glue, you apply it and mate the 2 surfaces and wait for it to dry, . With an adhesive, you apply it to both surfaces, wait for it to get tacky, then bring the two surfaces together. The difference is that the adhesive bonds to ITSELF and cures in addition to what you've sprayed it on. So if you try to use an adhesive like a glue, and don't let it tack up, it will never cure and will fall apart.

I used, with the advice of an online upholstery forum, DAP Weldwood Landau Top and Trim HHR Solvent Type Spray Contact Adhesive. It comes out of the can in a web pattern for more even coverage, but the spray width is way too large for what I'm doing w the door panel fabric so you need to prepare for massive overspray.
The stuff is asphyxiating and you MUST wear a ventilated mask. It's also flammable so don't do near your furnace or water heater,

I've done one side with my wife and while not perfectly aligned, it is fine for my uses (ultimate show car, because no idiot in his right mind would restore a Saturn and take it to a car show)
Driver's side gets done tonight, plus I have to find the hot gluesticks to glue the board on which the fabric is mounted to the door panel. And mend a crack.

Pictures soon.

 

Thanks for the update, derf. IF I was to do something like that, I'd definitely have to write it down. I can't imagine trying to remember the name of that stuff and walking into a store and asking for it! LOL

 

I used a 3M adhesive spray can. Don't remember exactly which one (maybe, maybe, maybe 78). It was easy to apply. Amazing how well it has held up all these years with my car sitting in the hot sun all day.

I did the headliner, visors, and sunshade. I had a detailed write up of the entire project, but had a computer hard disk failure in 2017 and it was lost. Fortunately, most of the pictures survived, so if anyone wants to see some, I could post a few here.

 

I'd like to see. I have drooping fabric from my headliner, too.

 

+1.......

 

Well, the fabric is glued to the backer board and the plastic door panels have been scraped of all old glue.

Fabric and backer board

Fabric half folded back, backer board with adhesive

Fabric folded back, adhesive applied

1st section, Waiting for adhesive to get tacky


Other half masked, fabric folded back

Waiting for adhesive to tack up

Fabric bonded to backer board, other half

Using the adhesive I mentioned above, you must really pull in on the trigger to get the web pattern of the adhesive to come out of the can that way. There is also a ton of overspray for a project of this small so be sure to cover up anything you don't want non-removable adhesive on.

Applying the fabric was done by aligning everything as best we could, then putting a weight in the middle of the piece to keep the end we were not working on from shifting position. Once the adhesive tacked up, I held the end of the piece we were working on while my wife carefully and expertly applied the fabric to the backer board, keeping everything aligned as best as possible with the edges of the backer board.
There are no straight surfaces to speak of, so this is much more difficult than it sounds. Also, I had messed with this fabric 15 years ago and I stretched it while trying to reglue it. So the fabric pieces did not fit the backer board as they should have. They were both too long. We used the end closest to the door handles as the reference attachment point and worked off of that because that's the first thing you see when you open the door.

When the second one has finished curing tomorrow night, I'll post a picture of both of the completed fabric to backer board sections.

Spent today wearing glue residue off of the inside door panels in preparation for hot gluing the reattached fabric backer panel to each door. Best tool for this is a Swiss army knife short knife that is not terribly sharp.

I will post pictures of those tomorrow as well.

I will reattach them to the doors once I find the glue sticks I bought for this project which are designed for very high temperatures.

 

I hate the thought of doing my L200 headliner. I do have a couple to practice on that match my car. One is out and the other is in a parts car, all need to be redone. All sunroof cars.

 

I like your photos, derf. Are those 2 pieces of material both from the same door? or are they for both doors? I don't exactly understand why they're folded the way they are or need to be touching eachother. Maybe seeing it all back on the door will help.

I'd like to share 2 pictures of the current state of my headliner, because I'm not sure exactly how to proceed. I was thinking of just using some spray adhesive on it without removing the headliner, but I'm also considering removing the whole thing and doing it outside of the vehicle for a more comprehensive and permanent fix. Do you have any thoughts or advice? As you can see most of the drooping is in the rear seating area, but its starting to occur in the front seating area as well:





I am thinking I'll remove the whole thing. What do you think? What would you do?
PS: Pay no attention to the tattered driver-side visor. That is just part of my theft-deterrent strategy

 

Before I forget, do not try to remove the dome light before looking up how to do it. The clips that hold it in place are part of the light holder and after so many years they will break off if you look at them funny.

I wrote up how to do it somewhere on this site. I haven't had to do it since I took my headliner down. Oh no, wait a minute. I sold my car briefly to my nephew who immediately broke it trying to take it off. Anyway when the time comes, ask me and I will get you the answer.

With that much material already detached, there is really no way getting around pulling the entire headliner panel and replacing all of the fabric.

As long as the glue from the original headliner is not petrified like mine was, you should be able to strip it off. The new fabric you put on actually has foam on the back and is specifically made for this purpose. It will tolerate small imperfections but anywhere the surface goes crazy uneven you will see through the fabric. Make sure the fabric that you cut is oversized so that it can be wrapped around the back and attached there as well.

We can discuss the rest of the process as well when the time comes. Basically you lay out the fabric, then fold it back, add adhesive to the back of the fabric and to the headliner board, let it tack up, then carefully starting from the middle mate the two together. Then do the other half