Headliner Removal

[Tim]

How does one get the headliner off a Festiva and reinstall it?

I read somewhere about twisting some rods or something, but it was rather vague.

Regards,

Tim

[mattswabb]

What year? Can't anyone read the rules I assume your talking about one of your cars with the manual seat belts.

It's quite a pain. The auto belt ones are easier.

Remove the rubber trim that covers the pinch molding around the doors. Remove the front window pillar trim plastic. This just pulls off, it is held on by clips. Remove the upper seat belt mounts. Remove the side windows and hatch lift strut. Remove the rubber seal around the side window openings. Remove the rear hatch rubber seal on the pinch weld where it goes across the headliner. Remove the trim on the side and rear window pillars, you may also need to remove the side lower panels to get these out. These are taped on from the back, be real careful and just work them off. Remove the sun visors and dome light. Now your down to just the headliner. There is a long clip on the front and I think in the rear, just unclip it in the front and rear. It is glued down in many places. Carefully peel it away. Try not to tear it. The center is held in by tension rods. Just look at them and you'll be able to figure this out.

When you go and install it use double sided tape at all the places it was glued. Buy some good quality tape. This is easier than gluing it back on.

It took my less than an hour to remove from the donor car and a few hours to install

[Tim]

Thanks Matt!

Sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth, so I'll try steam cleaning my headliner or something (it's FILTHY) rather than trying to swap it out.


Regards,

Tim

[89fester]

My PO left the windows open often. My headliner is covered with mold. If I let some Greased Lightning soak on it, I still have to scrub it to get it clean. I already have the interior gutted, so I am going to step up to some bathroom mold and mildew cleaner. And as a last resort to not removing the headliner, I may mask off the interior and just prime and paint it with some vinyl spray bombs.

89 L

[Bizarre]

I think I'll try and have a custom headliner made for my 1989 Festiva L :twisted: cause I don't like the crappy factory headliner :violent2:.
-Bizarre-