First Project - Headliner

well, i've been lurking around here for a couple weeks and have been reading up on fiberglassing for about a month, hung out with a guy a couple of times who has been fiberglassing for about 38 years and bought the glassmans dvd set.. whew... So here's my situation: I need to build a headliner in my 67 Nova, since there is no headliner currently, I have shaped one in the car out of cardboard and poster board and covered it all in duct tape and brown shiny packing tape. The problem will be of course that I am going to have to do the layup in the car (upside down no less) aargh ! Here is my plan: wax the tape with TR mold release a few times layup with 1 oz chopped mat (probably 3 layers) Hope to hell I can get the damn thing out when I'm done (will probably remove the rear window for this) bondo,sand and then upholster in tweed any suggestions, thoughts Thanks !

Why would you fiberglass the headliner? Doing a mold with something above you is going to be really messy. I think that you should figure out another way. If you have a roof you can just use a thin layer of foam, and then cover with whatever material you want.

if I were you I'd use just a few (3 or so) layers of FG cloth instead of mat. That'll cut down on the sanding att eh ends as the cloth normally give a more finnished look then the mat (pre-sanding). You aren't realy looking for support in the head liner (unless you plan on installing sh*t in there). so the least amount of layers the better. Since you are doing this inside of your car make sure you mask everything before you start with the resin. That'll be a real pain if you get resin on your seat or any kind of matterial. Good Luck and Have Fun!!!

I've never tried this method, But I think it might work. Use 3m spray adhesive to attach the first layer of fiberglass matt/cloth to the mold you have made on the roof. Then apply the resin. when the resin cures, pull it out and add a couple more layers. Then sand it an dcover it. In theory it should work...I guess.

pulling it out would be the hard part. If the FG is not flexible before or after removing it, shances are you would have to remove the windsheild or rear window to fit it in. A friend from highschool had a 60 or 70s nova and if i remember corectly you won't be able to pull the headliner out of the car if it is solid.

you could use that powder stuf that allows you to skip the matt entirely, plus it gets super viscous (sp?) and you can basically spackle it onto the roof, my recommendation if you ar egoing to do this, it is no problem to use against gravity.

Carbonb wrote: Why would you fiberglass the headliner? Doing a mold with something above you is going to be really messy. I think that you should figure out another way. If you have a roof you can just use a thin layer of foam, and then cover with whatever material you want.

I agree, you should use a sheet of 1/8 inch foam. Put some clips in it then wrap it in whatever you want. It would be much simpler. If you have never worked with fiberglass before, then this is NOT a good first project.Certified Security Specialist

Always check info with a digital multimeter.

I promise to be good.

Tell Darwin I sent you.

I've been sick lately, sorry I won't be on much.

daverulz wrote: I've never tried this method, But I think it might work. Use 3m spray adhesive to attach the first layer of fiberglass matt/cloth to the mold you have made on the roof. Then apply the resin. when the resin cures, pull it out and add a couple more layers. Then sand it an dcover it. In theory it should work...I guess.

Actually that would work, Ive heard of it before, although it was contact cement that was used, any adhesive that will cause the fiberglass to stick should work.

here are some pics (so far) of how the headliner is coming. did it just as i planned and found out that 3 layers of 1oz mat are extremely thin - they were needed to at least get the shape of the thing without falling on my head as me and my daughter layed it up-side down. Once it cured to a reasonable level, I pulled it out and layed it on the floor. From there I picked up another gallon of resin and some 3 oz mat (huge difference thickness wise) and layed it up tonight (actually just got in from trimming the edges with a razor blade) funny the thicker stuff cures way faster than the thin stuff - or i just put a ton more resin   in the fabric since I was now on top of the thing. I was gonna post some pics but the site is telling me that the pics need to be 30kb or smaller (mine are too big) I'll try to find a place to post the pics and follow up in my next posting, next will be bondo/sanding...