OK I have an idea, and for now that is all it is. And will be a year or more before I will ever try.So I figure I would put it out for suggestion on how-to better my plan.
I would like to take my headliner out and colored fiberglass it and sand it smooth and then clear coat it to make it shiny. Or could paint and clear coat it once fiberglassed. This would make it more stain resistant and easy to keep clean and everything. And if it turned out I think it would look good too. My questions would be about if the glass job would stick well to the fabric? I assumed it would because it would soak in. But I assumed it is glued somehow to the foam? This causes me a new problem which I hope to avoid ,and would have to do both sides and double cost and triple time. Maybe maybe not though as it would be mounted to ceiling I guess.
If it worked it would be stiff enough to never sag as well. So what do you think good or bad idea? Probably things I could add and I am open to suggestions but would have to plan to include it when fabricating it. Like say I wanted to put more lighting in or build a small storage compartment I would need to add a frame to mount it to or anything like that.

 

i used to be a junk yard rat. i knew owners of a few and could go rip out what i wanted.

if i were you id find a yard where there is pure junk with a similar liner and rip out a chunk to play with you could try a few things and keep your rare prize intact!! you could do that,,right now.

 

That is true, I was thinking of using a second headliner when I do it anyway I guess. The time it will take in spare time I will still want the use of the car with a headliner in it. I know the fiberglass will have to be thin to be able to fit back in. I could make a mold but that would be hard too. But a custom paintjob on the ceiling would be cool I think.

 

doing it out of fiberglass seems close to impossible. The amount of filler that would be needed to make it smooth enough to look right would weigh it down too much I think. Unless you have the ability to make a mold, do a gel coat, or form plastic I have a feeling it would not be feasible in an SUV, maybe a regular cab truck but that'd be about it.

I do think it'd look cool, but I have a feeling it would weigh so much and the amount of work to get it straight would not be worth it.

 

Just plastidip it....!!

 

Hey someone who knows a little something about fiberglass...good good. I was thinking about the gel coat actually but still not an easy task. Creating the mold would be very difficult but notimpossile I guess. Know it isn't a cheap idea as fiberglass isn't cheap nor easy to work with.
But I figured it may be too heavy as well. However I would only need the job to be very thin which would hopefully help with weight.
I have worked with fiberglass quite a bit though so At least I have that. I am from a small fishing community that has big fiberglass boats. And have been to a few of the bookshops and seen a lot of different techniques. So maybe I could ask the fiberglass pros for some helpful input. Never thought of that I guess. Maybe they could make me a mold.
We did fiberglass the walls and ceiling once of a 120 foot long and 80 foot wide room once. It is used for a spray room with huge pipes on ceiling to keep totes of lobster alive. A lot of fiberglass mat and barrels of resin. Rollers overyourhead for the job...sucks.

 

in the 50's when headliners were cloth, you were not "in" unless you painted it with white latex paint.
other colors would have been better.

 

Finding a second headliner in decent shape may be the most difficult part of your project.

 

type in the words junkyard,hummer headliner, lots of stuff readilyavailable if you look.

 

I would have trouble getting one near me for sure, shipping to Atlantic Canada would be.....wow... decent shape is all that would be needed, as long as it is shaped right not swolen or mishaped. It is to be covered up, as long as not oily.
Happythree I thought of the paint and the body paint. Latex body paint sticks to fabric just like rubber coating on gloves. But my issue is you cant get the same detail as if it was painted. As I am thinking a Patten of some sort with the h3 logo in the center of headliner or on the sunroof door. If my mom didn't think she could do the detailed painting I would need to pay someone.