Installation of a new Headliner in a First Generation Monte Carlo

By D. Day

Let me tell you, it doesn't look 100% professional, but it
ain't half bad for a first timer. First, I stripped all the old 
headliner out. I took off all the trim pieces. TIP!!!! (Leave the screws 
from your pieces that are mounted in the roof in the holes where they mount. 
When you put your headliner in and glue down the edges, just take an exacto 
knife and make a small cut where the head of the screw is and push the 
headliner down over it. This way your not wondering and searching to find where 
your screws go after the headliner has been installed.) Then I took the new 
headliner and placed it in the sun for a few minutes so it would be 
stretchable. Then I took the bows out one at a time from rear to front. As I took 
one out, I immediately slid it in to the headliner material. I've heard if 
you get the bows out of sequence, you'll never get it back right. After I had 
all the bows inserted into the material, I placed the bows back in to the 
roof one at a time working from rear to front. When you get to the middle 
bow that snaps into the clips, you need to measure and make an incision for 
your dome light to slide through. Make sure you get a good measurement where 
it mounts up to before you start cutting. You want the cut to be in the 
center of where your lamp will mount up. Next slide your lamp base through 
the incision in the material and then finish putting in the bows. That 
was the easy part. Next, I started in the rear stretching the material and 
getting the wrinkles out. I glued down the material towards the rear 
window. I only had to hold in place a few seconds and then it held itself. Next, 
I moved to the front and did the same procedure. Next, I did both sides and 
then put the new sail panels in. The last step is to trim any excess that 
won't fold back up under the roof panel where the trip pieces go. Be careful 
not to trim too much off. You can never go back once you have done this. 
After you've trimmed and tucked the excess material, all you have left 
to do is install the trim around the windows. Hope this helps all the 1st 
generation owners who had inquired about installing a headliner.