Headliner and Carpet

[ClassicCamper]

Hello I'm wondering if someone could give me some suggestions as to where I can look for a carpet set and a headliner for a 73 Type 4. I'd prefer not to make patterns if I could help it. The headliner is most important. Thanks!

[raygreenwood]

No options. No kits. Patterns and custom only.

I have a plan for a stitch free system that would look 90% of factory that I could outline. Have not gotten to it yet myself.

I have to repeat.....there are 0 chassis and interior parts kits for these cars. You have to fab everything.....but much of it is not hard or expensive. ....just tedious Ray

[ClassicCamper]

Thanks Ray, any suggestions how to go about this with a headliner? I.e. Can I start with a passenger bus one and cut it down to size??

[raygreenwood]

You cant cut pre made headliners down. They have stitching...they have spacing and they have specific widths of panel and lengths of each panel between each bow.

15 years aho I bought a type 3 squareback and fastback headliner kit. I tried every permutation to make them work.....they wont. They went in the trash.

But I learned the differences between type 3 and 4, what they require and quite a few other details. And you can buy headliner material for cheap.

Here is what I am working on:

1. The bows set the dimension, angle and shape of the headliner. They have a specific shape...each....and spacing. When you are working on a headliner. ....measure the exact distance between each side mounting point for each bow. Then measure their fore and aft spacing from each other and from the front and rear,window openings. Then measure the dome height between each now end where it mounts on the ledges in the car.

2. With a decently large workspace......clamp down a pair of 2"x4" boards spaced far,enough apart to mimik the mounting ledges of the headliner and mark the end point of each bow on the boards. Drill holes or mount screws to hold down the bows. Adjust the height of the end mountings to duplicate the position of the bows in the car ....see where I am going?

To me....the tough part is getting,sewing done...and then....because the sewing now exists and makes the headliner have permanent lines and dimensions.....it forces installation to be exacting and tedious to make it fit.

3. So....understanding that with a stock headliner what you see from inside the car is the sewn seam running along each bow. Under than seam is sewn in underlay that slips onto the wire bows along with a few pieces or clips that form the liner around the corner angles. So its not the shape of the wire bow you see from the inside. That means that the actual edge shape of the wire bow is not that important to keep stock.

What I am proposing to do.....is to make two new pieces of wire for each stock bow. Carefully bend them to shape to match the stock bows. They will start with wire roughly,1/3 larger in diameter than the stock bows. I plan to clamp these together to make each pair of diplicate bows....a single unit.
Then....with an oscillating sander, files, tools, time etc.....sand the face of each wire in each pair......into a half round or "D" shape along its length. So....the flat side of the "D" shape of each wire goes against each other.

Then....you will acquire from a plastic supply 1/8" plastic rod in coils. It needs to be full width of the bows.

What you will do.....is to space your new bow pairs out on the 2"x4" assembly rack justclike they will be in the car. Buy your headliner material yardage. You start to apply it to the bows....on the center bow. Pull the headliner material upward ....between each pair of bows...from the cabin side. Then slip the plastic rod through the loop of material that will be hidden from view above the cabin.......so it wedges on the top side and does not allow the headliner to pull back down between the pair of wire bows....like a keystone.

Once you have adjusted the headliner fit betwen these bows to be smooth, have the holes aligned and have no wrinkles......you will clamp the two wire bows together with hog ring clips..probably have to make something but it wont be hard.

What you will see from below....is a fine tight seam where originally there was stitching.

Move on to repeat this on the next bow forward and then alternately the next bow aft.....alternately working the tension on each bow to make sure the center bow is not pulled out of alignment vertically. Once you have it right....then install the clamping clips for each bow pair and then move onto the next fore and aft bow and repeat. Be sure you leave plenty of excess material in the front rear and sides.

When you are done....remove the whole headliner as an assmebly to install in the car. Place the wire bows in the exact position the originals were in the car. Apply you goe and work the headliner into place. This will be easiest with all glass out.....but q normal headliner tuck tool should work fine.

Once its installed. ....practice heatong and shrinking excess headliner material with scraps to get the hang of it with a heat gun.....then heat the headliner startkngcjn the centercand working fore and aft ro lightly shrink the liner to add a little tension to it.

This is what I will be doing. Ray

[ClassicCamper]

Thanks Ray, now I just need to find that material. I like the look of the VW headline with the 'pinholes' in it.

[Pelle]

Headliner: http://www.acmeautoheadlining.com/19vo4113dowa.html

[raygreenwood]

[Pelle]

[raygreenwood]

Fantastic! Can you show some pictures please? Some installation details would be nice as well. Thank you!
Ray

[Pelle]

Found a picture, the actual installation was made by a good friend and neighbor that happens to be knowledgeable in the upholstery department .

He also made some new carpets and managed to reuse the original blue grommets.

The owner of the car might have some more pictures.

[raygreenwood]

That headliner looks nice enough that I would say the kit is pretty good! Thank you!

I reuse the grommets and rubber pads on carpet the same way. Ray

[ClassicCamper]

Pelle, Which vendor did you get the headliner from? I noticed Acme only sells wholesale and none of their distributors list it.

***Update: ordered it from Rock***

[ClassicCamper]

Ordered headliner from Rock Auto. Wish me luck. Thanks for the tip, Pelle. Ill keep you posted.

[Kharon8]

Hello Pelle!

Where did you find original(?) carpet material? (At lest it looks very original to me.)

I'd need bamboo but even black would be better than nothing, which is the situation now.

I'd buy that by the yard if I just knew where: I've some of the original plastic pieces left, only the carpet is so destroyed it can't be used as a template anymore.

But that's a secondary problem, first problem is the material itself.
_________________
Kharon -- '62 typ1, '63 typ14, '61 typ21, '65 typ34, '74 412, '75 typ26
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