Very weird headliner indeed, not sure how i like it. Why don't we have a picture of this hardtop on your car yet? :P

 

My parents probably have always thought I have had it, but mostly since I have the energy of an 8 year old and a metabolism to match as well. God help me when it starts slowing down, I already have a 32" waist so I won't be able to fit in these seats if I gain weight.

Meh it is a headliner, how often does one look at their roof? I've got so many mountain bike tread marks and chain ring outlines on my headliner and since I never look at it I always forget how dirty it is. I've tried steam cleaning them but I'm worried about softening the adhesive and having the droopy headliner look.

I'm probably going to put the hard top on before my dad heads back home this weekend. I hear it helps to have a person pushing down and forward on the hard top to get a good fit with the Rennenmetal brackets.

 

And the headliner is a problem! The 2 plastic portions are too low for clearance of the roll bar by about 1/4". I'm sure it will be perfect once I remove them and put some suede in place of it.

Sneak peak before I remove it.

 

Oh so nice...!

 

 

I see dirty fingerprints on the door and rear quarter. You're getting sloppy.

 

Looks amazing. A few things.

1) that headliner was weird anyways, i see no reason to get rid of the little available headroom there is anyways. get rid of it

2) paint the pinch welds black, they really stick out as-is. Pinch welds are not pretty, so it's best to hide them with black paint.

3) lower the front a smidgen to give it a bit of forward rake. Of course, only do this on a flat, level, area. I actually like the ride height a lot, just looks like it needs a bit of rake to me, personally

LOVE IT!

 

Wow...! That.. looks absolutely gorgeous..! I think I would probably drop it another 1/2" front and rear.. wait for the suspension to settle after a little driving though... In for driving videos..!

 

I'm late to the I've Never Seen That Headliner Party.

I've never seen that headliner either!

 

And to contribute something useful:

1 Gal. DAP Weldwood HHR Contact Cement

(no affiliation with this shop, it was just the first google result)

This is THE stuff to hold your new headliner material of choice to your HT. It is sadly only in a gallon can. I also bought a gallon when I covered my dash with leather. You'll have 9/10 left over. But you'll never have to redo the headliner.

 

Super nice Jeff. Congrats.

 

I like fireindc's suggestion but would take it a step further: what about plastidipping the area at the bottom which is supposed to be black on standard cars? You have a black front lower lip and rear lower lip. I think if you black out that area under the doors it will look much better. Plastidip will let you try it for cheap and easily remove if you don't like it.

Please don't burn me at the stake for suggesting the use of plastidip on Jeff's car... It's only temporary...

 

+1, i actually agree that this is the perfect solution IF he chooses to try the black rocker look. So far I'm digging the painted rockers, BUT if you do choose to black em out, go plasti-dip and you can go back and forth as you choose.

The black plasti dip actually has a really nice finish for things like that, i would NOT do a whole car in it personally, but just the rockers would be good, and it would protect the paint underneath.

 

I agree wholeheartedly that the black strip along the bottom vastly improves the appearance. Without it, the car takes on a rounded egg shape (especially with a hard top). The black strip hides some height of the car, elongates the shape some. Looks really good with a black lip front and back.

 

Thanks! I knew I needed a headliner strength adhesive but didn't know where to start looking. I luckily have JUST enough of the suede I used on my door panels left over to do the entire inside of the hard top.

2) that is a great idea. Wasn't sure why I was noticing them so much in my pictures and not at all in others and that would explain it!

3) agreed, but I'm going to put a few miles on it and see what the suspension settles to after a bit of driving.

If you only knew how dirty the paint really is and how much the pictures hide it...I'm excited to get the hard top on just so I can finally wash the car!

I won't burn you at the stake, plastidip is great to see how things will look temporarily, and I definitely will do it. Something about the car doesn't make me happy and the lower rocker panels may just be the flaw to an otherwise perfect car in my subconscious.

The thing about plastidip is that you need to mask the **** out of anything you don't want overspray on. Easy to remove when it is on thick enough to peel, bitch and a half if it is on too thin/overspray.

===

Currently working on pulling the old headliner off along with the velcro and adhesive that is on the roof. Then I'll see if I can buy some decent headliner glue locally at an upholstery shop and put some more suede down.

 

If you can find a way to make this look good around the edges, I bet it would make for a pretty good headliner: Leather Look Sound Barrier 050120 | Design Engineering, Inc. - Thermal Performance Products

 

I'm just going to use the suede I already have. Trying to avoid unnecessary purchases at the moment.

===

Went through two razor blades and a **** load of goo-gone to get all the old adhesive off the top. Better to use a nice clean surface than old adhesive that may or may not be very strong after 12 years. Looks scratched to hell but that is just black paint overspray that was taken off.

 

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH JEFF?!

Actually, that looks A LOT more like the hardtops I am used to seeing.

 

This is, "I got raped worse than usual by the tax man", Jeff.

 

You forgot that he's gonna spend 5 hours refurbishing it before it goes in.