66 Headliner - Say it isn't so

I was surprised to find how inexpensive a new headliner was for my 66 Coupe - then another surprise. According to an older post on this forum the front and rear glass has to be removed to install it, is this right? That seems insane, I've never seen a car that you had to remove the windows just to put in a headliner!  

could it be that the front and back of the head liner is TUCKED into or under the rubber gasket that holds the windshield and rear glass..


i would imagine that it would only go part way under the inside side of the seal.. and not all the way to the end of the sheet metal.. as it might cause a leak..

new rubber windshield and rear glass seals are easily available..  

a HUGE hint..   if you are going to remove the glass...  plan ahead.. order new rubber up front..

SLICE the rubber around the inside with a sharp LONG THIN KNIFE that has most of the blade taped up.. think bread knife..    the end sharpened to a razor edge..  so its flexible to bend slightly to lay flat against the glass..

this will allow you to cut the rubber all the way around to free the glass..  without the chance of breaking it...

please.. you will also NOT want to use SPRAY can glass cleaner on the safety glass while its out..

if you get the spray can foaming cleaner on the edges of the glass. it may separate in that area.. i have had that issue with other cars safety glass.  

Guess what I'm gona do?

Think Abbey Road...circa 1968.,.

Lennon wanted one of the white coat techs to rewire and overdrive a preamp so he could get an extreme smooth saturation for his guitar on "Revolution."

I have to do stuff like that all the time in the studio, so I bet'cha I can get a dang headliner in nicely without taking out the windshields... .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYVo8Q2JBiQ&feature=related  

Technically, that is how it was done on the assembly line. The ends of the headliner were glued and wrapped around the pinch weld of the window openings and then trimmed of excess material. Then the front and rear glass was installed and the pinch-on windlass was placed in the door openings for the sides of the headliner.

Several people have "cheated' and just tucked the headliner in. Depending upon how you glue it and if you drive with the windows down a lot, depends upon if the ends pull out and start flapping in the breeze. If your window gaskets are more than ten years old I'd suggest pulling the front and rear glass (cutting the old gasket as Wayne states) and putting the headliner in correctly and with new gaskets and sealer.

It only adds a couple of hours to the project, just be careful and work slowly on removing the window moldings and use the right type of sealer (non-hardening bedding compound) to seal the gasket to the glass and body.

HTH...
Mark  
Mark Houlahan
Technical Editor for:
-Modified Mustangs & Fords Magazine
-Mustang Monthly Magazine

1965 FFR Roadster 427W/TKO-600 5-speed
1966 Mustang 289-4V/C4 Auto
1968 Mustang 4.6L Three-Valve/5R55S Auto
1990 Mustang 306/AOD
2001 Ranger SuperCab 4x4 3.0L V-6/5R44E Auto
2002 Explorer Sport Trac 4.0L V-6/5R55 Auto

Considering that my windshield and the cracked rubber seems to be the original from '66.... (IE: - can barely see through it), think I'll opt for new glass and do it right!  Thought I was getting off easy when I found the headliner was only 30 bucks.  

i was at a friends one day.. when his new windshield arrived via UPS... it was not crated.. it was NOT boxed..   it edges were wrapped in bubble pack.. and thats IT..  and it arrived in one piece..

purchased online someplace at a great price as i recall..    will yours get Tossed over your fence?  

Possibly, I don't care for the neighbors at all.  

I think Wayne was referring to the Fed Ex video online of the driver tossing the NEW monitor over the guy's fence being caught on a security camera. Now if you want to chuck your OLD windshield over the fence into your neighbor's yard, hey, more power to you! LOL

Mark
.  
Mark Houlahan
Technical Editor for:
-Modified Mustangs & Fords Magazine
-Mustang Monthly Magazine

1965 FFR Roadster 427W/TKO-600 5-speed
1966 Mustang 289-4V/C4 Auto
1968 Mustang 4.6L Three-Valve/5R55S Auto
1990 Mustang 306/AOD
2001 Ranger SuperCab 4x4 3.0L V-6/5R44E Auto
2002 Explorer Sport Trac 4.0L V-6/5R55 Auto

Ohhhh yeah, I saw Waynecyclopedia's  vid about the bad Fed Ex'ers. I was amazed at the one where the dude is throwing all those packages from the truck on to the concrete floor in that warehouse with nobody saying a thing, like "what the!?!"

My neighbors have a problem with me because I jumped over their fence and flipped their main circuit breaker off during Hurricane Ike. A tree had crashed down on the power lines to their house and it was causing a short in the whole electrical grid.

Mr. Neighbor was irate that I didn't ask permission before keeping his house from burning down and getting the neighborhoods lights back on while the rest of the area was without power for three weeks... Everybody likes me but him, so I've become his Dennis the Menace - bother him at every opportunity. My cats understand that his yard is their restroom.

Now, back to Mustangs.
 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are correct, the windows have to come out.  The good news is that it's not that difficult.  Get some window suction cups, the big ones, that you can lift out the glass with.

These windshields use a gasket, not urethane, so they lift out pretty easy.

The biting edge for properly stretching the headliner is in the same channel as the window.  If you need some pictures, let me know, I have one coupe with the windows out right now, and another roofline with no windows in my garage.  

Good article in the April 2012 issue of MM on how to do the glass replacement.  
As far as your neighbor is concerned it would have served him right to have his house burn down, but if you have any kind of luck (personally all I seem to have is bad) you prevented your place from going up too. screw him - cats have at it!  

Ha! Thanks guy's.

There's a Mustang speciality place here in Houston - that's all they do. Since it needs new front and back glass too, I'll probably just opt to pay a little extra and have'em do it. I'm kinda more an engine dude.

Y'all have a great week!