Spitfire Today's Task - Spitfire Hardtop Headliner

[dklawson]

I have to tell someone and I think this is the only group of people I know who would care.

I spent this afternoon stitching up a headliner for the Spitfire hardtop I'm reconditioning. With the cost of all the other bits required, I figured I could save some money here. My fingers hurt, but looking at the headliner spread out on the table... it was worth it. Now I need some warm dry weather to install it.

I'm sure it's not perfect, but I think in the end I will be more than satisfied with the results. It's nice at the end of the day to be able to stand back and look at what you've accomplished.

 

[71MKIV]

And write up how you did it, so others who need to do the same thing can learn how, like me.

well done

 

[3798j]

I'm sure it's not perfect, but I think in the end I will be more than satisfied with the results. It's nice at the end of the day to be able to stand back and look at what you've accomplished.

Those restoration projects (the difficult ones your not sure of the outcome) are among the most satisfying.

 

[dklawson]

Steve, do I remember correctly that you were working on a hardtop also? I can't remember if it was you I exchanged information with or not.

What I did was to carefully remove what was left of the brittle old headliner from the top I'm restoring. I took notes and pictures of how the top was installed and how it was stitched together. I removed the bows and marked them for position. Then I cut the stitches (one at a time) until the entire top was apart in pieces. There are 4 horizontal panels across the top, 3 tubes for bows, two vertical extensions for the rear pillars, and two separate pieces for what will be the "B" post/column covers.

I spread the old panels out one at a time and traced them using pencil on the back side of my new vinyl . Where the panels need to be glued to the hardtop openings/flanges I marked a cut line 1-1/2" further out. (From past car headliner installs I found it was good to have excess material at openings as this can always be trimmed away). I cut the new vinyl pieces out then folded them in half to make sure they were symmetrical about the centerline, trimming as necessary until they were symmetrical. I also marked where the centerline was so I could orient the panels (relative to each other) when they were stitched together. All marking was done on the back side of the vinyl and only using pencil so it wouldn't bleed through.

After that it was simply a matter of pinning or clipping the panels together in the correct order and stitching them one at a time. Once they were together I made the tubes for the bows and stitched them onto the seams for the ceiling panels. All the seams were stitched the same distance from the cut edge of the vinyl as the original headliner pieces. The vinyl will stretch a tiny bit so if anything you want the panels just a bit smaller than the ones you remove and copy.

I used a heavy 100% polyester thread. The vinyl was from an eBay vendor selling "false punched" marine vinyl. The false punch gives the impression of the vinyl having a regular series of holes when in fact all that's there are dimples. It will look good for the headliner but it will not be good for surfaces like the horizontal trim panel below the rear glass. My total expenditure in materials was perhaps $27 and I spent at least 8 hours dissecting the old headliner and sewing the new one. When you decide to do this you have to weigh the value of your time as a new purchased headliner is currently around $140.

I painted the top last weekend. When I'm finished addressing minor issues with the paint I'll fit the headliner and then I guess I have to bite the bullet and order a bunch of seals from Nigel.

 

[kodanja]

When I brought my headliner to be installed, the guy said he could make me one fo 200$ and install it for an additional 100$

I had him install the one I got from TRF,
after the installation he realized the TRF one was just as good as one he could create from scratch...

Im just looking forward to weather that I dont need the top on!

 

[dklawson]

I will need to make a hanger/storage device like yours for fair weather. How did you lift your hardtop up to the supports shown in your pictures?

Steve, I think I remember now, wasn't it you I asked about paints from TCP Global? I used a satin black from them for the hardtop. The paint went on great... however, as I mentioned in another thread, the wind did not cooperate with me. Even though I put plastic sheeting up, the wind blew debris into the paint and I've got some "repair" work to do. Wish me luck.