Stock Headliner?

[mfemenel]

Now that I have most of my mechanicals figured out, I'm turning my attention to the interior. One thing that has always bothered me is the headliner. Whenever I look at sites like Bus Depot etc, they offer vinyl or perforated vinyl for either a tin top or sun roof. I have a 79 Westy, but I'm not sure what the right "stock" headliner is for that. My current headliner is just plain white. What is stock for a 79 Westy and how does one order a headliner? Should i just order one for a tin top and cut out around the bed opening? That seems like a waste to order big and cut it down.

Anyway, below are a few shots of what I currently have. Perhaps previous owner updated it. I'm not a fan of doing things that aren't stock so I'd like to get it back to "original". Thanks!

[/img]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

in my opinion, it's just a contact paper over the wood. I have not seen it reproduced (but then, I have never looked)

I am sure someone with a late bus will chime in
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[mfemenel]

yeah, I agree, I don't think mine is quite right. I'd like to get back to what it "should" look like.

Edit: A quick google search shows me some other busses with the same material. Maybe that is right. I'm just not sure what it is or where to get it.

[VDubTech]

What you have is completely stock. The sun and heat cause it to shrink and curl up like that. I've never seen it reproduced but honestly I've never looked all that hard. I usually peel that white crap off and recover the panels with fabric.
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First Trip in the RustyBus:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279077&highlight=

[jtauxe]

I have the same issue with my '72 Sportsmobile. They used a lot of white adhesive vinyl on the interior, but it has all come off (adhesive let go) and shrunken and become brittle with time. It all needs to be replaced.

I was thinking of just buying several rolls of white shelf paper, but I'd really like something much wider, so that I could do the big panels with just one sheet. 4 ft wide would be nice.
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John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[busdaddy]

I got some vinyl wallpaper at a commercial paint store that was a really good match for texture and color, fairly wide too as I recall.

Now you'll all be noticing the walls in office buildings
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[BayCreamPuff]

This is on my list too. This may help for inspiration: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=541788&start=40

The PO redid my cab headliner in white velour which looks really nice.

I'm thinking of replacing the long panels along the top with semi transparent sign plastic with LEDs behind it.

The thicker vinyl piece that runs the width of the bus under the bed can be easily straightened out with a blowdryer, 2x4s and clamps. It's a pain in the ass to remove though.
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Cream Puff
'79 CA Stock FI Deluxe Campmobile

Earl Grey
'87 GoWesty 2.2 Westfalia

Marsha Mellow
'00 Eurovan VR6 Full Camper

[mfemenel]

The folks at gowesty sent me this link... I'm not sure that's right though, my headliner does not have any pattern in it:
http://www.gowesty.com/product-details.php?v=&id=2322

[busdaddy]

[mfemenel]

aww crap.

well interesting, I went back out there before it got dark. Forward of where you pointed that out, no texture, from that point back, texture. I'm guessing at some point forward from there maybe was replaced. Maybe that gowesty stuff is the right stuff, although I'm a little put off by the description of "beige"

update: emailed GoWesty for a sample. We'll see how it looks.

This might be a closer match, off white sounds closer than beige:
http://www.gowesty.com/product-details.php?v=&id=24053

[busdaddy]

It's not uncommon for PO's to peel it off and paint the plywood white when it starts to peel. The OG headliner vinyl isn't really white, off white or beige is a better description of the color, peek under that screw for a look at an unfaded area.
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[Sage79]

If the wood is in good shape, use a heat gun to help peel off the vinyl and then paint. I used the same Interlux off-white boat paint on the head liner as I used on the Westy top. If the wood is shot (my cab headliner was saturated with mouse pee), use it as a template for a new hardboard or plywood one.
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Dirk
'79 Westy 2.0FI
'73 Sportsmobile 1.7dual Solex 003Auto - now my daughter's
'77 delux 2.0FI 090Auto - now my son's

[mfemenel]

I don't really want to paint , I would rather go with a headliner. Personal preference. If I start pulling the wood down though , may as well add some insulation/ sound proofing while I'm in there. Fortunately the wood is in good shape except for where a buddy of mine broke a piece when we were messing with the pop top bolts. That should just be remade instead of glued. Maybe I'll kick this down to a winter project as summer in NC is not the time to be put in the driveway working on the bus.

Got an email from GoWesty that both samples, beige and off white are on their way. I'll pop that screw out and get a few shots to post here for comparison.

[Sage79]

Keep in mind the Westfalias had wood headliners covered with a thin vinyl contact sheet, not the nice heavy vinyl true suspended headliners that the station wagons (delux) or even the kombi cabs had (like a Sportsmobile).
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Dirk
'79 Westy 2.0FI
'73 Sportsmobile 1.7dual Solex 003Auto - now my daughter's
'77 delux 2.0FI 090Auto - now my son's

[notchboy]

The wood is the headliner. I would think Westfalia covered it in plastic to aid in cleaning ease. White to reflect light. After all these are campers, meant to be cooked in or next to a bonfire. Living inside of.

If you want to be able to tell people you have a correct restoration then go for it and find that plastic cover you will need to glue on to replicate the og stuff. Best bets are like busdaddy suggested - wallpaper. You will still need to pull it all out, peel off the old, get the glue off, sand prep to clue the new stuff on. trim it up and put it back in.

When I was in your position with my 77 I had a mixture of stock peeling plastic and painted. I pulled it all out and stripped it, put it back in. I had it all matural looking for a bit. Then my greasy head started to make a spot above me I wasn't fond of the clash in wood colors either. So I pulled it out again and painted it all latex white.

Wow that made it look so much better. It was easy and cleans like a greasy, spaghetti hand commercial from Glidden.(like its intended) Looks stock now too.

I do want to pull the sides back out and drill small holes and run LED's as previously suggested - thats a nice tough to light up the inside.

Anyway. Just my take on it. Painting is easy, cheap with huge bennies

First go around after pulling it out removing the PO crap.

Ok this piece was stained by Westfalia for some reason. I left it this color with out painting as it was so nice.

Then I pulled it all and painted it.

Link




On a slight side note - this below is a 74 full hard top westfalia headliner. They were pained then. I repainted it and it looks the part as well. Ready to go camping.

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[mfemenel]

Nice job, that looks great!

[Hoody]

The stuff GoWesty sells is as close to original as you can get. It is cloth backed so it won't shrink like the original and it looks great once installed. I am not sure how much trouble you want to go to but I did not want to bother with recovering my 38 year old wavy warped headliner so I made a new one out of 1/8 inch Baltic birch. I reused all of the other pieces in the Westy. Xylene brushed on removes the old glue quickly. And yes use a respirator. You want the the light beige basket weave material if your going for a stock look. It's a lot of work but the end result is well worth the effort IMO. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Andy70Bus]

Hi folks,

Since this discussion was already here, I decided to add to it rather than start a separate thread.

Speaking of headliners, I have a 1970 Westy. I believe that the original headliners in 1970 were the Baltic Birch plywood, and they were wood-grain finish to semi-match the rest of the wood interior.

Mine is currently plywood that was at some point painted white by a PO. I have new Baltic Birch plywood to make replacements, but I don't know what stain to use.

Does anyone know what stain color was originally used on the 1970 Westies, or if the wood was just varnished without a stain to darken it?

If not, I'm going to try going with something close to the other woodwork but just a shade lighter to make sure the interior doesn't wind up too dark.

Thanks,
Andy

[busdaddy]

Westfalia put some of that white there, originally it had a woodgrain pattern printed on it, it wasn't stained.
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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

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[notchboy]