Headliner installation

S

Swede

New member
The old headliner on my 7ECA had pretty much rotted away by the time I got my hands on it, and yesterday I finished the job by carefully removing the remnants. What an unbelievable mess. The fabric was so rotted, it fell apart just at the slightest touch. Yet it was installed with loops of dacron, glued and stapled to the frame and wood formers in the cabin. Those were all in perfect shape and did not want to come out.

I have a grey wool headliner inbound from Aircraft Spruce. Any hints on installation? Any tips and tricks to help would be HUGELY appreciated. Before it goes in, I am going to add a GPS antenna ground plane/base by using 4 adell clamps and a piece of sheet aluminum. The antenna will be below the fabric.

Thank you!
 
I let my wife do the headliner installation. It took her several sessions. I remember it as being pretty fussy, since one side is going to be in plain view, and the other side is where you need to attach it. It's a bit of a puzzle. But you knew that.

Start at the rear of the cabin. There will be some large flaps that get glued to the structure back there. Get that done and slowly work your way forward. The headliner will be hanging in your lap as you reach over it to put glue on the next part. Take your time, and quit for the day if you feel like you're getting frustrated or sloppy. Or high.

I'm pretty sure the glue we used is 3M 1300L. It's a yellowish contact cement like glue. We got it from Chief Aircraft. I wouldn't be surprised if your headliner was made by Airtex, and they'd probably be happy to give you more advice.

The nice thing about a wool headliner is that it will shrink to fit when you're done. You spray it with a little water, then dry it with a hair dryer. The little bags and wrinkles come right out. Because of this, you don't have to get it super tight during the gluing process.

I hope this helps!
 
Alex, it does help, a LOT, thank you! I thought for a while that I'd live without a headliner, but the interior simply looks too raw without it.

I have some of that cement coming, and I am simply going to proceed slowly. I'll snap a few pics as I go. While I'm at it, I am going to install an aluminum plate ground plane for a GPS antenna, which will position the antenna below the fuselage covering... so the antenna will reside in that space between the outer fuselage covering, and the headliner. Also, the speaker was in TERRIBLE shape, heavy, rusted, and full of mud dauber nests, si it will also be replaced with a smaller, lighter unit.
 
Oh yeah, the speaker... Mine was in wretched shape as well. It was not worthy of the new interior :p It seemed a little optimistic to think I could actually hear the radio on a speaker behind my head in this little plane!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top