[Rick1803]

1. What material is the headliner backing board made of?
2. How thick is the backing board?
3. Is there enough room behind the backing board if I were to put screws in/through the board?

Thanks, Rick

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Cardboard material about 0.250"

Screws in through the board to do what?

 

[RexCars]

As long as you don't mind them coming through the roof of the car, no problem!

 

[Rick1803]

To answer Steve's question:

The headliner is sagging on my brother's 1993 164L. Removing the interior roof panel and fitting it with new fabric looks like a big job. Another thread mentioned a piece(s) of moulding screwed to the ceiling, I like that idea.

Would the moulding in the attached Ebay listing using short screws work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370554337222?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[IRONBLOCK]

Screws in through the board to do what?

The headliner is probably sagging, just like the one in my car. I have thought about using strong magnets to hold the original fabric up. If you do a Google search of this forum, like below, you should find it:
"Headliner replacement site http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/164-168-1991-1995/]164 & 168 (1991-1995) - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums"

Here is a link:
http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/164-168-1991-1995/330362-removing-headliner.html

Mark

 

[kcabpilot]

Sorry but I have to say that some of these ideas are both half baked and possibly nearly as much or more work than the proper fix. Like I said I did both of my cars and the biggest hassle was fighting the crowd of hobby moms and going through the line at the fabric store. I'll admit to being a complete idiot in that regard and ending up with six YARDS of material rather than six feet but live and learn. In fact, after doing two cars I still have enough material left to do a third.

Honestly, pulling the whole liner out recovering it isn't nearly as tough as you might think.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Temp fix that worked for me if car is sunroof model is to use straight pins out of your wife's or mom's pin cushion found in her swing basket.

Just smooth out headliner and stretch it tight into leading edge of rear passenger head indentation in headliner backing board and push those flat headed straight pins through fabric into cardboard backing board at an angle. You can then finish with more pins in that indented area to hold liner in place in indentation area and at edges.

You really can't see the pins once they are pushed flush into fabric.

 

[donliznev]

I love the pins idea Steve.....I have some bubbles forming and I might do that for a while.
This is a headliner I redid a few years ago and is starting to sag again......

I agree with most of the comments above.....don't do a half baked job and it is not as hard as it seems.
Set aside a few hours, or do it in stages.
Read the many posts on this subject.

I actually purchased a car with bits of nicely polished Oak strip screwed into the liner backing to hold up the sagging cloth.
The strip was in the recessed section at the back.
The cloth was neatly gathered under the strips to pull it tight...clever but was not really nice to look at.

You could always remove the cloth and spray paint the backing......or spackle it with a popcorn texture.....

 

[Spitfire]

Popcorn...oh man. Not worse than shag I guess.

In ricks defense, working conditions stink right now. If it's a must do job, a person could be SOL without a heated shop.

In the end, I would gather the strength and just tackle it right. The PO did a nice neat job on mine and he said it wasn't too bad.

 

[VeeSix]

A sagging headliner redone properly looks fantastic but it is a pain in the butt job and without experience your first attempt may not even be successful, if you are after a quick fix pins in certain locations work well, if the actual backing board is sagging a bit there may be a few locations a screw can go to help but risky if you get the wrong spot straight thru the roof.....

 

[SpiralArchitect]

A user of MBworld relined his W210 in alcantara and did a pretty nice job of it.
Signal to Noise:Alcantara - Marcus Fitzhugh

The first time I took out a door card in the 164 I was baffled. Mercedes uses a cheap fiber that doesn't last as long as the cardboard Alfa used. At 15 years, the headlining on our W210 is sagging. Talk about the Portuguese saying "get the fame, lie in bed".