Headliner question.

[91_festy_Gl]

Hey fellas I was wonder a couple things. I have to replace the headliner in my 89 and it has the old ribbed style headliner. Could I swap in the newer style head liner that has the rivits? Has anyone ever done this before? I would like to put the old style back in but both my parts cars have the rivited style.

[25Horseplay]

The newer style won't fit right, it will be different for the auto seat belts and won't cover the sides all the way.

[Safety Guy]

I know that Matt Swab put the old style ribbed into his later model which had the solid liner, but I'm not aware of anyone putting the newer style into an older car. I think it would work, but I haven't done it.

Karl

[91_festy_Gl]

Hmmmm, I was kinda afraid of that. I can clean and reinstall the old head liner but it sags and has a rip.

EDIT- after doing some reading from what I understand the 90+ festivas in canada had the new style with manual seat belts? I think im reading that correctly.

[Gomez]

I've done it. Most people didn't look up when the got into my silver car. It can and does look way better than what the factory did for any Festiva. It was one of my proudest parts of the entire build and I plan on doing it in my current build too. My only regret was 'no pics'.

It does require you to recover the 90's and up style liner and you must use the pillar covers that came on the '88 and '89 cars. You must also mod the liner before you cover it. All-in-all it is a very easy process, just takes time. I will be sure to post pics if no one does it before me.

[91_festy_Gl]

I've done it. Most people didn't look up when the got into my silver car. It can and does look way better than what the factory did for any Festiva. It was one of my proudest parts of the entire build and I plan on doing it in my current build too. My only regret was 'no pics'.

It does require you to recover the 90's and up style liner and you must use the pillar covers that came on the '88 and '89 cars. You must also mod the liner before you cover it. All-in-all it is a very easy process, just takes time. I will be sure to post pics if no one does it before me.

Cool thanks. My only problem is not having the pillar interior for this car so I can't really picture what I need to do. Something else im going to have to buy I guess.

[Safety Guy]

Look for '88 and '89 LX interiors to pick from. They had thin plastic trim covering the A, B and C pillars. If you are also going to go to manual belts, get all the old belt related stuff as well for a nice install.

I'd get the old belts redone with new webbing for safety. They are going on 22 years old now, and seatbelts should probably be replaced every 10 or 12 years, IMO.

Karl

[91_festy_Gl]

Look for '88 and '89 LX interiors to pick from. They had thin plastic trim covering the A, B and C pillars. If you are also going to go to manual belts, get all the old belt related stuff as well for a nice install.

I'd get the old belts redone with new webbing for safety. They are going on 22 years old now, and seatbelts should probably be replaced every 10 or 12 years, IMO.

Karl

I have a 88lx that has everything I need but its in to good of shape to strip plus my brother is selling it. My 89 came factory with manual seat belts, I just need to find the pillar covers I guess. Im going to scope out the LX and see exactly what I need.

[lanemeyer14]

I've got a couple 88-89 pillar pieces....I think they are for the B pillar. It's just the very thin plastic pieces

[Gomez]

With the new headliner mounted in the car you need to cut the areas where the auto seatbelt tracks were. follow the natural curve of the headliner and cut the part that is in the way of you reaching the top edge of the door opening. If you do it right you won't see the spot where the headliner turns into the hangover material. I can't remember if you have to do it at the B-pillar. When you recover the headliner make sure you leave plenty of material left over on the sides and rear. You should be getting an idea of where this is going. You will ultimately be wrapping it around the door molding just like the 88-89's. It really is easy and really does look much better that either type originally installed in a Festiva. Even on the front, you roll it onto the back of the headliner and you should be able to leave that black rubber thing off. Back just gets rolled to IIRC.

This is all off of memory. I did it once on my silver car about 3 years ago and will be doing it again in the near future.

[91_festy_Gl]

Thanks for the info. I have just desided to swap everything over to later seat belt style. My 89 will have 91 interior now. Seatbelts and everything. This will also allow me to swap head liners and pillar trim piece without a problem. its kinda of a pain but I need to get this thing together quick.