I took mine out a couple of months ago - still out!

As David says, the post trims and door rubbers are the thing. There's a good video somewhere that I watched first - on one of the other forums, but accessible to non-members. It might have been landyzone... which I joined once, but left quickly because of the high proportion of (apparently) 5 year old contributors!

Anyway, the video is pretty good, and highlights leaving the rear pillar trims and clips in until last, to give you room to work; and I think fully reclining the front seats to allow the lining to lie down on top of them.

Even when it's completely loose, it's still not the easiest thing to get out of the back of the car. You'll need a fair bit of space behind the vehicle to pull it out.

Thanks for the advice.

One thing that I have noticed - the back of the existing, original headlining is a much more woven clothe type material than the small sample pieces that I have, as supplied by Martrim.

When I got a quote from a guy here he gave me a couple of different pieces. Looking at the back of them they are a foam material, whereas the original headlining seems to be almost a plastic backed cloth. I could see the adhesive being able to absorb into the Martrim material quite quickly.

I am only going on the section of original headlining material that is stuck to the sunshade, so it is possibly different than the material that is used on the main headliner panel.

I had hoped to leave the rear door seal alone having recently fitted a new one, with a small bead of RTV sealer on the inside of the door seal before fitting.

The only thing left in the headlining at the moment is the alarm sensor, just so that I could lock the car with the fob which, of course arms the alarm. I can lock with the key though, but does that also arm the alarm system ?

Pierre3.

If you use the Martrim supplied adhesive, as I did, it comes out of the can as a sort of spider's web so it doesn't sink into the foam. Once both the foam and the board are covered and allowed to dry then you can lay the fabric on but take care to ease it into the depressions for visors etc as you go.

Others will know better about the alarm.

donmacn wrote:

I took mine out a couple of months ago - still out!

As David says, the post trims and door rubbers are the thing. There's a good video somewhere that I watched first - on one of the other forums, but accessible to non-members. It might have been landyzone... which I joined once, but left quickly because of the high proportion of (apparently) 5 year old contributors!

Anyway, the video is pretty good, and highlights leaving the rear pillar trims and clips in until last, to give you room to work; and I think fully reclining the front seats to allow the lining to lie down on top of them.

Even when it's completely loose, it's still not the easiest thing to get out of the back of the car. You'll need a fair bit of space behind the vehicle to pull it out.

Donmacn, yeah - I know exactly what you mean. I have come across it too many times on other, supposedly, adult forums that I expected to be for grown-ups !!

Pierre3.

Have you noticed if there is a difference between the original material and that supplied by Martrim ?

Pierre3.

Hi, I was thinking about taking down the roof panel today, to retrim the headlining.

I know that people have said to remove the A-pillar trim and the D-pillar trim [which I assume is the pillar beside the back doors, but do I need to remove the rear trim panels beside the upper rear glass door ?

If this is the case does that mean stripping out the boot panels that run under the rear side windows, behind the rear seats ? I have had these trim panel out before, when looking to sort out the usual rear door water leak into the spare wheel well.

It does look like there is quite a bit more disassembling than I expected.

If I am correct, having had a good look in the car I need to do the following:
[1] remove all the grab handles and surrounds [already done];
[2] remove all the reading lights [already done];
[3] remove the front courtesy light fitting [already done];
[4] remove the sunvisors [already done];
[5] remove the alarm sensor;
[6] remove the A-pillar trims;
[7] remove the D-pillar trims;
[8] remove the rear glass door side trims;
[9] drop down the front door seals;
[10 drop down the rear door seals;
[11] drop down the rear glass dor seal
[12] take out the roof panel.

I saw that it was mentioned at one point to remove 2x fir tree fasteners at the back of the roof panel but I don't have any fastenings in my headlining, unless they are under the headlining material. In which case, I don't see how I could possible put the back after the panel has been re-upholstered as any holes would be covered over.

Maybe someone could perhaps just tick off the items above to ensure that I have everything listed before I start, and before I find that there is something odd that I have missed, and will prevent me from removing the panel.

Pierre3.

I don’t remember specifically each piece I removed, but the more you get out of the way the easier it will be to get your headliner in and out without damaging it.

Pierre3 wrote:

Hi, I was thinking about taking down the roof panel today, to retrim the headlining.

I know that people have said to remove the A-pillar trim and the D-pillar trim [which I assume is the pillar beside the back doors, but do I need to remove the rear trim panels beside the upper rear glass door ?

If this is the case does that mean stripping out the boot panels that run under the rear side windows, behind the rear seats ? I have had these trim panel out before, when looking to sort out the usual rear door water leak into the spare wheel well.

It does look like there is quite a bit more disassembling than I expected.

If I am correct, having had a good look in the car I need to do the following:
[1] remove all the grab handles and surrounds [already done];
[2] remove all the reading lights [already done];
[3] remove the front courtesy light fitting [already done];
[4] remove the sunvisors [already done];
[5] remove the alarm sensor; Yes - needs done
[6] remove the A-pillar trims; Yes - needs done
[7] remove the D-pillar trims; Yes - needs done ( I think the two fir-trees you're mentioning below are there)
[8] remove the rear glass door side trims; not sure what you're describing here, but probably a 'yes'
[9] drop down the front door seals; Yes - needs done
[10 drop down the rear door seals; yes - needs done
[11] drop down the rear glass dor seal - yes, needs done

There's an extra one in here - remove the 'finishing strip' from the roof panel around the sunroof. If you leave this and the two fir trees until last, it should stay up there until the last moment when you're ready for it. Edited to say that you need to take the trim off the B and C pillars too.

[12] take out the roof panel.

I saw that it was mentioned at one point to remove 2x fir tree fasteners at the back of the roof panel but I don't have any fastenings in my headlining, unless they are under the headlining material. In which case, I don't see how I could possible put the back after the panel has been re-upholstered as any holes would be covered over. (( The panel itself will have a hole in it - just put a new hole through the new lining ))

Maybe someone could perhaps just tick off the items above to ensure that I have everything listed before I start, and before I find that there is something odd that I have missed, and will prevent me from removing the panel.

Pierre3.

THis is what you want to be left with... the roof lining is down in this pic, but still in the car.

That looks good. The only additional items are the other two pillar trims. Behind the front doors and back doors. When I said A-E i really meant all the pillar trims.

The two fir trees may not be used on later cars.

Good luck. It's not as bad as it sounds.

The two fir tree fasteners can't be seen until you remove the D pillar trims, the ones at the very back. The pillars are A down the side of the windscreen, B, the ones at the rear of the front door and front of the rear door, C, behind the rear doors and D at the very back. With them out it's only the door and tailgate rubbers that are holding it up (and the sunroof surround if you have a sunroof). If you recline the front seats and remove the rear seat headrests (or drop the rear seats down, it can be tilted and pulled out the back.

Pierre3 wrote:

Have you noticed if there is a difference between the original material and that supplied by Martrim ?

Pierre3.

It's hard to say, as the original was F$$$$D but I showed mine to someone in the motor trade and he was impressed. Or he said he was - he was in the motor trade after all ;)

From my memory the pillars are numbered A,B,D and E. For some reason I don’t think they have a C pillar.

Hi, guys. Thanks a lot to everyone for getting back to me. The details are very much appreciated, so I thank all of you for replying.

I had forgotten the sunroof trim, I have that out already as I wanted to clean it. It looked like there were some grubby hand marks on it. I am pleased to say that it has come up like new.

I really appreciate the encouragement suggesting that the job is perhaps not too difficult. I have told my other half that she is to be my "willing apprentice", although I will need to be careful because I can be a bit short-tempered, and Madame is a bit of an Irish spitfire !!!!!

There is quite a possibility, in a month or so, that I will no longer be on the forum and there will be a P38 without a headlining for sale but a widow in Ireland !! Just saying ..................................

Pierre3.

I watched a video about redoing the headlining on a RR Classic [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMsp50gIq3w ] and the guy sprayed only the panel with adhesive, and then seems to have enough time to align the roll of material on the panel until it was parallel on each side. It shows him pulling and lifting the material up off the panel without the material sticking too hard.

Is this how it is done, just spraying adhesive onto the panel, and then laying the material on top of the adhesive, and smoothing it out ?

Pierre3.

No, the spray on glue dries as soon as it hits the surface so nothing will stick to it other than something else with another layer of the glue on it.

Gilbert, I have been looking at various alternatives that are available in Ireland, and I see what you mean. As it is a contact adhesive it has to be sprayed onto both sides before laying down the material.

I think that I have a couple of alternative products, but unfortunately and like most items that are not on general sale, it is very difficult to find the correct products in Ireland ! I can't buy the Woolies Alpha AF178 [which they recommend] because they won't ship overseas. This is very common with a lot of inflammable type products. I had the same issue when I wanted a headlight repair kit called SprayMax - I had to try at least half-a-dozen stockists before I found one prepared to send a kit to me in Ireland.

I am going to ring around a few places tomorrow to check if the products that I have noted will do the job.

Pierre3.

FWIW when I did my Defender roof, the fabric supplier were keen on a particular brand which I couldn't get. I went to a local industrial supplier and found something suitable there. I think, as long as it's a High Temperature spray adhesive it will be fine. I think mine was by Everbuild, or something like that.

If it helps I can take some pics and post them later. I have similar shipping issues to deal with being based in the 'Highlands' - which according to any first year Geography student is on the UK mainland; but which according to any basic courier company is 'offshore' somewhere, across a mythical and distant sea. A right PITA.

Is 3M available there? I used 3M Super Trim Adhesive. I used more than 2 cans of it. The adhesive cost was about the same as the fabric cost.

Hi, I have bought a recommended asdhesive, Tensorgrip T44 – Automotive Re-Trim Spray Adhesive. I had a long chat with the company that sells various types of adhesives, including Alpha AF 178 [the one that Woolies sell] but he has it only in 5 litre cans.

I have bought 4 cans of the spray-on Tensorgrip which the owner of the outlet says that they supply to a lot of car garages. Incidently, he actually supplies Woolies on occasions !

So, I am at the stage of have removed all the pillar trim pieces, all without incident using long metal trim tools. The only issue is that the drivers seat seatbelt adjuster cap cracked on one side, but is still in one piece.

I am going to drop the headlining tomorrow and get it cleaned up, ready for re-upholstering.

The only messy bit will be cleaning the top section of the tailgate seal. I had sqidged a bead of sealer into the seal and now I have to clean it of the seal and the body before refitting when I refit the headlining.

By the way, as mentioned earlier, there are indeed two fir tree clips holding the rear of the headlining panel and located under the rear pillar trim panels, one on each side of the headlining.

Donmac, many thanks for the offer of pics, by the way.

Pierre3.