I want to switch from a cardboard to a bow-style headliner

Question:

I have grown to love your publication over the years, understanding more as I get further into the hobby.

Now I want to ask you some advice about my headliner.

I have a 1983 VW GTI that I have completely disassembled on a homemade rotisserie made from two engine stands from Advance Auto. I am changing up my headliner from the cardboard one to the older style the Rabbits used to have that use bows.

The problem lies in how I am going to attach it at the windshield. I want to use a glue-in windshield, and the cars that came with the bow-style headliner had a mechanical windshield gasket.

I was told that I would not be able to wrap the material over the lip into the windshield area.

Is there a way to get around this? Or can the headliner and the windshield be glued into the channel?

I hope I have explained what I am trying to do here. Thanks for any help!

Answer:

I think that you can simply glue the headliner material to the windshield channel before the windshield is installed. You’ll obviously need to remove the windshield if you have to change the headliner in the future but if you do a good job with the headliner it should be many, many years before it needs to be replaced.

Make sure that the surface of the steel channel where you will glue the headliner material is roughed up with coarse grit sandpaper to help promote adhesion of the glue.

At the same time, however, it’s important to coat the sanded steel with high quality rust-preventing primer and paint.

Make sure that the adhesive that you use to glue the headliner to the windshield channel is waterproof. 3M makes a number of excellent waterproof glues that will do the job.

When you glue the material down, use enough adhesive to completely saturate the material along the entire edge that is in the windshield channel to help prevent water from creeping in and getting into the material.