Taking down the headliner

[michiganwhitetail]

Any tips on how to take down the headliner or whether there is another post with good instructions, etc. would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[VibeForWinter]

I just did this on Saturday. It is actually not difficult. A pillar trim must come off, it just pops off. The Upper center pillar trim must come off. Remove the front and rear door sills, and then the lower trim (these pieces all just pull off). Pop the cover off the upper seat belt anchor, and remove the bolt holding the seat belt on, then you can pull the upper center trim panel.Once the upper center panel trim is off, pull the front and rear door opening weatherstrips down away from the headliner.The trim around the rear quarter windows must be removed. Again, pop the trim cap off the rear seat belt upper mounts, and remove the seat belts. Remove the tie downs in the lower trim. The shop manual says the lower trim must be removed, but if you pop the top of the lower trim loose, you can gain enough room to pop the upper trim and unhook it from the lower.If you have a moonroof, unscrew the one exposed screw from the switch plate and remove the cover. There will be another screw, take that out, pull the switch assy. and remove the connector. Also, remove the trim piece around the opening of the moon roof.Then remove the dome lights, pop the lens with a small screwdriver, and there are two metal tabs that have to be released, then you can pull the dome lights out and disconnect the connectors.Remove the sunvisors.At this point the only thing holding the headliner up is the sunvisor clips (the little doo-dads that the inside part of the sunviser clips into, and two "christmas tree" pins at the rear. So, before going any further, it is helpful to have an extra pair of hands to hold the headliner up. Pull the rear pins (a small flat blade screwdriver will work)Twist the sunvisor clips 90 degrees.The headliner should now drop down, and you can pull it right out the hatch.I think that is all the steps. Its really not a bad job, all the trim pieces came off pretty easy, everything went back together easy, and there were no rattles when I was finished.***OOPS*** Forgot to mention that the assist handles have to be removed as well...Good Luck

[ragingfish]

Those few things hold it up?Is it a stiff board-like thing, or is it just floppy cloth?

[VibeForWinter]

It's a molded fiberboard. It is pretty stiff, but if you don't get everything out of the way and you start torquing on it, you can buckle it pretty easy.

[ragingfish]

Right, of course...I was just trying to figure out how those few things could hold up the entire headliner...Always thought it was just stretched fabric held up by clips or something or other...That's good to know in case I ever need to get up there...Do the seatbelts need to be retightened to a certain torque, or just until you can't tighten anymore?When you bring that liner down, is all the wiring and stuff then visible, or are there other things that need to be removed as well before you can get to things...Basically, I'm planning on getting XM at some point, so I'll need to run the antenna wire, preferably through the roof...That being said, does anyone know if the A pillars are snap-in too?

[VibeForWinter]

The seat belts do have a torque spec in the manual. I think it was around 40 ft-lbs, if you need to know exactly, I can look it up for you.Once the liner is out, everything is accessible. Installing my XM antenna is exactly why I had the headliner out. I mounted the antenna at the trailing edge of the roof, and ran the wire down through the factory antenna mounting hole. It required putting a small groove in the base of the factory antenna, and then I sealed everything up with black RTV. I zip-tied the XM cable to the factory antenna cable up to the base of the A pillar, and with the glove box out, was able to drop the XM antenna vack behind the dash, and pull it into position.And yes, the A pillar mouldings just snap off. I will have them off again tomorrow to run the power for my radar detector, and my new auto-dimming compass mirror.The only tools you need to pull the headliner are a small flat bladed screwdriver, a phillips screwdriver, a 14mm socket (seat belt bolts) and a 10mm socket (assist handle bolts, and rear tie down bracket bolts)The resulting antenna install looks really clean, I'll try a post some pics in the next couple of days.

[ragingfish]

quote:The seat belts do have a torque spec in the manual. I think it was around 40 ft-lbs, if you need to know exactly, I can look it up for you.Nah, don't need specific info. Just trying to figure out whether something is an easy install with tools around the house, or something I need to track down specialty tools for (in this case, torque wrench).quote:Once the liner is out, everything is accessible. Installing my XM antenna is exactly why I had the headliner out. I mounted the antenna at the trailing edge of the roof, and ran the wire down through the factory antenna mounting hole. It required putting a small groove in the base of the factory antenna, and then I sealed everything up with black RTV.RTV?quote:I zip-tied the XM cable to the factory antenna cable up to the base of the A pillar, and with the glove box out, was able to drop the XM antenna vack behind the dash, and pull it into position.And yes, the A pillar mouldings just snap off. I will have them off again tomorrow to run the power for my radar detector, and my new auto-dimming compass mirror.Curious to see the mirror and radar installs, pics when you can?quote:The only tools you need to pull the headliner are a small flat bladed screwdriver, a phillips screwdriver, a 14mm socket (seat belt bolts) and a 10mm socket (assist handle bolts, and rear tie down bracket bolts)The resulting antenna install looks really clean, I'll try a post some pics in the next couple of days. Definitely, curious to see how it all looks!

[VibeForWinter]

RTV = Room Temperature Vulcanizing (Silicone sealer)I should be able to get some pics up tomorrow after I get the mirror installed

[geezer]

So to run power for a radar detector up to near the mirror do you need to pull the whole headliner or just the A-pillar trim? I really need to get rid of that coiled cord hanging down from the detector.

[ragingfish]

quote:RTV = Room Temperature Vulcanizing (Silicone sealer)I should be able to get some pics up tomorrow after I get the mirror installed Thanks dude...lookin forward to seein those pics...Did you create your own power cord for the radar detector?How did you tap into the power? Did you use a cigarette lighter plug, or did you tap into the power behind the dash somehow?

[VibeForWinter]

quote:So to run power for a radar detector up to near the mirror do you need to pull the whole headliner or just the A-pillar trim? I really need to get rid of that coiled cord hanging down from the detector.No need to remove the headliner. Just pop the A pillar trim. I would recommend going up the pass. side A pillar, as you can pop the glove box out, and that will give you plenty of room to work. It will be helpful if you do at least take the sunvisors off, and undo the sunvisor clips by rotating them 90 degrees, this will allow you to gently pull the front of the headliner down slightly to push the wire up behind it.

[VibeForWinter]

quote:Did you create your own power cord for the radar detector?I use a Valentine one in my Corvette, so I bought another power supply and cord from them.quote:How did you tap into the power? Did you use a cigarette lighter plug, or did you tap into the power behind the dash somehow?I tapped into the back side of the cig. lighter plug in the dash. You can pull the console trim around the shifter by pulling the fan control knob off. There is a screw behind it that you need to remove. Then you can pry up the trim from around the edge very carefully, and remove the trim plate (the procedure may be different for a manual trans...). Then you can access the cig. lighter connector plug, and tap into the power side (center terminal). This seemed to be a lot easier that going back to the fuse panel, as it is really tucked way the heck up under the dash

[ragingfish]

So you didn't physically plug into the lighter...you spliced into the lines behind the socket, right?

[VibeForWinter]

quote:So you didn't physically plug into the lighter...you spliced into the lines behind the socket, right?Exactly

[ragingfish]

Cool beans!And because of the way the outlet cuts out when the ignition is off, it must automatically turn on and off with the car? That is killer...

[michiganwhitetail]

Thanks VibeForWinter. Outstanding Post! I'm going to use your idea and put a remote GPS antenna back there for my Garmin V navigator.I have the moon roof, and tapped the power up there at the swithces for my radar detector which I have mounted above the mirror. Got rid of that tell-tale cord.I think I will try to route power to my GPS unit by going behind the A pillar cover if there's any room in there.Best Regards, Whitetail.

[drummerdude]

Is it just me, but wouldn't the black "dot matrix" in front of the rearview mirror hinder the radar's ability to detect radar/laser signals? when I had my passport 8500 installed they said that I had to mount it below the mirror because of this. My detector is hardwired behind the dash into the switched cig lighter plug. I had them run the cord down the Drivers side column and it was easy, just pop off the cover and run the wire. never had any problems except the first detector was defective, So they replaced free of charge of course. Any comments?

[ragingfish]

Highly doubting that matrix will interfere with any signals. I have both my remote starter antenna and my electronic toll tag mounted behind that matrix, with not so much as a hiccup in the range of signals, and no signal failures.My opinion: it's all kosher!

[Herb]

Just for those who might be curious on what the headliner looks like from behind...

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[ullbergm]

Quote, originally posted by Herb »Just for those who might be curious on what the headliner looks like from behind...You didnt happen to take a picture of what the moonroof assembly looks like with the headliner removed, did you?If you did i'd really apreciate if you could post it so that i can see what it looks like. (Planning on installing some antennas.. )Thanks,Magnus

[Herb]

I don't have a wide angle on the camera I used, so I took a few pictures at the time. I didn't post them since I couldn't think of a practical reason to, but now there is. There's four in total.

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[Herb]

Here's the second image

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[Herb]

And here's the third image.

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[Herb]

And here's the final image.I hope these pictures will be of some help.

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[ullbergm]

ack! I edited my post instead of posting a new one.. I think it said something like 'Thanks'.

[rwmikulas]

Any ideas/tips on installing one of these? I just got the car, and don't know much about ripping it apart - also, it seems almost impossible to get a service manual for the thing!

[ullbergm]

I have just finished removing my headliner. Any requests for pictures?http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=12907

[ullbergm]

Quote, originally posted by VibeForWinter »I just did this on Saturday. It is actually not difficult. A pillar trim must come off, it just pops off. ......Good Luck Thanks for the instructions. It was pretty easy to do by myself, it took me about an hour and a half.You have to pull pretty hard on some of the pieces. Doesnt feel quite right to pull that hard. And those two clips at the back took me *forever* to get out.I guess i shouldnt say too much about not wanting to pull hard since im drilling holes in the top of the car..

[ullbergm]

Well, the headliner is finally back up. It ended up being a lot easier to put it back up.

[robodoc]

Are those blue hoses in the pic drain tubes for the moon roof surround? I was looking at my opening trying to figure out if it was possible to leave the roof tilted in the rain and not get flooded. Anyone have any experience with open moon roof and rain??

[Johnny5]

That sounds like a lot of steps... How long does it take to get it out?Sorry for digging this one out of the grave but I was thinking about doing that XM install through the roof at the antenna.

[waveresponder]

oooohh this deserves to be in an official "how to" thread....lol