There are many threads here that discuss how to refurbish an old headliner board and the merits of refurbishing an old board vs going with an ABS board, this thread aims to bridge what looks to be a lack of information about ABS headboards. This reflects my own experience, yours may be different ... no pictures as I didn't think something like this would come-up
I ordered a headboard + visors so the color-shade of all three pieces (headboard + 2 visors) would match, as opposed to new headliner fabric + faded visors; installation was Summer 2022.
The ABS board itself was molded with a roughly rectangular hole for the interior light and had holes in the front corners for the sunvisor brackets & holes on the sides for the clothes hooks, the headliner fabric was installed/glued to the board with no holes in the fabric (ie, I had to cut the fabric myself). I have a map light, a previous project determined I could use nylon spacers and sheet metal screws to attach the light to the bracket.
NEGATIVES
POSITIVES
I ordered a headboard + visors so the color-shade of all three pieces (headboard + 2 visors) would match, as opposed to new headliner fabric + faded visors; installation was Summer 2022.
The ABS board itself was molded with a roughly rectangular hole for the interior light and had holes in the front corners for the sunvisor brackets & holes on the sides for the clothes hooks, the headliner fabric was installed/glued to the board with no holes in the fabric (ie, I had to cut the fabric myself). I have a map light, a previous project determined I could use nylon spacers and sheet metal screws to attach the light to the bracket.
NEGATIVES
- Although the ordering instructions assured me the hole for the map light would be accurate, measurements found that claim to be iffy at best. To find the correct spot to make a hole in the fabric:
- With headliner out of the car, I jury rigged a plumb bob so I could use tape on the transmission tunnel to mark the center of the mounting spot. I then made two 1/4-inch balsa sheets match the arrangement of the mounting holes and made some guide holes so the two would mate, attached one to the car
- Did a test fit of the headliner, including screwing-in the clothes hooks so the headliner was correctly aligned front/back ... idea was that "straight-up" from the plumb bob mark was where I could cut the fabric to expose the mounted balsa sheet, mate the two balsa sheets and the second sheet tells me where to cut fabric / drill holes. Mark the spots, then remove everything from car to drill the holes
... this kinda worked, light is held in by only one screw because (I think) the bend in the board was slightly different upon reinstallation, enough of a difference that other screw holes didn't line-up. I tightened the screw enough the base plate doesn't move
- The holes for the sunvisor brackets were not in the correct orientation -- if you envision lining-up a bracket so the screws go through the pre-drilled holes in the ABS board, you'd have to twist the bracket maybe 45-degrees so the screws would line-up with the mounting holes in the car frame. Correct locations identified by using transfer screws.
POSITIVES
- Once I was done with all the test fittings, the ABS board makes a great foundation for affixing additional sound insulation
- One-man job due to the flexibility of the board; car was parked in center of a 2-car garage, both doors open, seatbelts pulled to full extension & tucked into respective side of rear seat, work table was next to the right rear of the car. Whenever I was moving the headliner into the car I would fold it in half front/back and hang it over the front seats, then climb in and get to work / occasionally swear. I would try to first get one side "over" the rear interior piece and go from there.
