Headliner install questions

I will do a tech writeup with plenty of pics when I finish.

Did you let the glue set up a bit before you put the parts together? I let mine set up about 5-10 min before I ever tried to stick it. I painted with the glass in, so only factory paint on my pinch welds. I did clean them real good with paint thinner before I started gluing. I'm using vice grips in the middle and on the ends, clothes pins in between. So far, it has stuck real good. Will take all them off in the morning if I have time before I leave.

Oh, I'm a sucker for punishment [read that: I'm a cheap, penny pinching mizer that will do almost anything to keep from paying somebody else to do it]. I'm even thinking about installing a new convertible top on Deb's Mustang after I paint it! Oh yeah, I can be crazy!

 

Maybe that's the secret. No, I didn't let it sit that long. I plan to use the same glue when I put the carpet in. I'll try letting it set up longer.

 

In the article in post #4, they don't mention removing the windshield or the back glass. They just say, to remove the mouldings. Would the instructions be the same for a 1973?

 

Well, it is finished. Like JsArnorld, I think it will be my LAST Maverick headliner. It was a job, but went OK. Still have a few small wrinkles, hope when it sits in the sun a while that they smooth out. Back glass install was easy. Never seen one that only went around the pinch weld on three sides like that before. The windsheild however, was a major PITA. It took 4 tries and a helper to get the darn thing to seat without rolling the gasket. and that extra lip that goes on the dash, what a stupid design. Made it totally impossible to see if the gasket was pulling over the pinchweld or twisting off. NOT exactly one of Ford's better ideas. And I got that damm sticky butyl rubber sealant all over the inside and outside of my car. Thought I had all that junk off, but what I missed got on me and everything else. And that crap won't hardly wash off your hands. It comes off the paint with laquer thinner, but it takes two or three tries. But I have a new headliner and a better windsheild and gaskets now, so tomorrow is clean up day.
Would I do it myself again? I don't know. I saved some bucks by doing it all myself, but not so sure it was really worth it. I probably would have been better off to trailer the car with glasses out to a installer, and then to a glass installer. But with money tight right now, I did what I needed to do so I will live with the results. I'm my own worse critic, so it probably looks better to anyone that looks at it than it does to me.

 

Yep, the glass has gotta come out to do the job right. The headliner has to fold over the pinchwelds to secure it. Then the gasket goes over the top of that, locking it in place....

 

Sorry I just got back on the site or I would have helped ya out a little but I see you managed to get it done. Every trim shop has their own little secrets on how to do something but most of them won't tell you anything but back in 73 when I opened my shop I was a green horn and had to teach myself and had a ball doing that. Now I like to see others do their own thing and if they need a little help, I help them.

 

PS I forgot to tell ya, when you get ready to do that Mustang top, contact me if you want and we can discuss the procedure before you jump into it. You might want to reconcider it or maybe not. Feel free to contact me.