Headliner on '87 Carrera

[elpello]

I have an '87 Carrera and I would like to replace the headliner. The one that's in there now is black. Is this the right color for this year & model?

Thxs

[Bill in OKC]

I have an '84 with a black headliner. I have the original window sticker and the black headliner was an option. Your '87 might have had the same option. I want to replace my headliner too, but I'm leary of removing my windows and finding a place I trust in OkC to do this for me is difficult.

[SoCal70RSR]

It should be the right color, you could check around the door rubber seal to see if you see any remnants from a previous install.

In case you didn't know, headliner installation is considered by many as one of the toughest jobs on a 911. I attempted the install myself last weekend and gave up, hired a professional to do it and still took half a day, but he definetely did a much better job than I could've ever done.

Good luck.

[RoninLB]

I did mine. I needed a front shield so it was one of those while you're in there things.

my personal attitude is that it was uncomplicated but tedious for the first time doing it. Much research and notes along with the time allocated to drag the liner install over a few days as it was do a liner section and wait 24 hrs for it to set up. Repeat about 5x, etc.

the fr & r glass install was also a bit tedious but accomplished in a few hrs. Great info in the archives.

my glass is centered in the frame and my liner is tight enough to send a bass wave if you ping it with a finger nail.

[Gearbox]

Installing a headliner is pretty straight forward, but you have to have patience and a lot of 1/4" clips. Just installed mine in a few hours today, and most of the time was waiting for the glue to dry. Hang the headliner on the rods and clip the edges using the 1/4" clips, 3-4 on each opening. Don't cut anything yet. Go around again, this time pulling tighter and adding more clips. Don't worry about all the wrinkles just yet. Just make sure it's hanging straight. Now start from the middle of the front winsheild and pull really tight and clip. Move over a few inches and do the same. work your way to both corners at the same time alternating sides. Look for slack and wrinkles and adjust. Then do the rear the same way, then the sides. Now you will see wrinkles, especially where it was folded when pack, but no worries. Check the lines, check the starigtness, and look for diagonal wrinkles, and adjust accordingly. Once happy, I usually get a hair drier and warm up the headliner, especially where it's still wrinkled. Don't try to melt the wrinkle out, that's not a good thing. Once warm, tighten the edges again. By this time it should be pretty straight, any wrinkles should only be "memory" wrinkles when it was packed. Now mark the edges with a pencil. Now make your cuts in the headliner around the pillars, around the curves in the glass, and the excess material leaving about 2" around the edges. Take the clips off the front and spray the 3M adhesive on the body and the headliner at and about 1 inch torwards the car from the crease, let dry for about 5-10 minutes, and then really stretch the material and clip. You'll see that the pencil line is now above the new line, which is ok, it just stretched more Check your work, and if happy, move on to the rear, then sides. Wait till it sets up and then remove the clips and use a razor to trim the remaining excess material. Figure 6 hours if it's your first time. Just go slow, you'll be surprised on how well it'll come out. Remaining wrinkles can be steamed out with one of those traveling steam pressers, just don't use an iron.





This is when I unclipped the rear before I sprayed the glue. The blue tape was to make sure I didn't get any over spray on the new paint.


Went crazy on the clips after it was glued, but wanted a strong bond to make sure it didn't form any wrinkles when it was drying up.

[Goth]

Gearbox: Thanks for the great post/pics!

I will need to do this someday...