Re: [AMC-List] Headliners/vinyl

["John Elle" <johnelle@xxxxxxxxx>]

As long as head liners have been brought up, I do not know how many
varieties there are in material, but one of them for 1970 was vinyl
material, also attached to the molded head liner with a foam
intermediate layer. The foam deteriorates and the head liner comes down.

This can be re-attached in the following manner. 
By removing all of the molding around the tops of the windows the molded
headliner can be removed out through the side windows of the car, this
is a  1970 Javelin now, I do not know if an AMX has a vinyl head liner
option. 
It does help in removing the headliner to first open all of the windows
and I used a wide putty knife to help delaminate any glue that still
retained the head liner to the roof of the car. 
The foam is not cleaned up from head liner or the vinyl. It is the foam
that gives the texture to the vinyl. The head liner is then laid up side
down on a flat surface, such as a drive way, in the sun. This might be
over done in a southwestern state or an area such as Phoenix but in San
Jose California I used my drive way on a sunny fall day. 
The vinyl material is carefully removed completely from the molded
shell. 
Then a generic Spray Bottle is used mixing up a 50% solution of Elmer's
Glue or equivalent wood working glue and water. It is now time to
re-attach everything. By spraying liberally the molded shell and the
back surface of the vinyl material the material is then worked back onto
the shell. The heat from the sun will help keep the material flexible
and the 50% mixture of Elmer's Glue and water will dry rather quickly
holding everything together. Once everything had dried you can
re-install the shell back into the car, by re-installing the window
molding etc, the shell will be held in place. 
You do NOT want to use a 3M spray glue material for this project as it
will dissolve the vinyl leaving an effect that is less than
satisfactory. 
For those of you who are saying "Oh Yeah (Wink Wink) this will never
work!!!!" That is the same reaction I had until 4 more guys said "yup,
and it works fine too!"
So I tried it almost 15 years ago. Works fine, lasts long time. If you
just want to put up a small section peel back the vinyl or use a syringe
to inject the 50% mixture of Elmer's glue into the bubble formed as
things are coming apart and used a rolled up piece of cardboard wedged
into the interior somewhere holding a pillow against the part of the
head liner under repair. 
I do not think this would be a viable solution for a cloth head liner,
but it will work well with vinyl.
John
 
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