GMusually

Hi, I'm not sure how common this is, but my headliner was sagging because the metal and plastic clips that hold the woodboard/foam/fabric deal to the ABS subliner (or whatever) came unglued. Thus, in this case (unlike most American cars) the fabric -and foam- was still intact... Great!

Supplies:

pop rivets- 3/16 or 1/4 dia. and various lengths
fender washers- same inside dia. as the rivet dia.
spray paint to match the color of your interior (you'll be surprised at how close Krylon and Rustoleum can get)
pop riveter (duh, right?)
drill and bit- same size as the rivet dia. again
tape measure and delible marking utensil
x-acto knife
qt-size storage (or Ziploc) bags
assistant helpful but not necessary*
*unless ridiculously attractive

Ok, you probably already know what I'm gonna do, but here goes..

Before you start, paint all your rivets and fender washers with the interior matching paint..

Now first find the crosswise center of your headliner and mark it at 2-3 different points depending on how much your headliner sags- one about 6 in. from the sunroof opening, one 6-10 in. from the back glass, and one in between if needed. Then do the same thing outboard of each side of the center line, but closer to the outboard side..

**make sure any holes that are slid over by the sunroof cover are located on one of the recessed lands so they won't interfere with the sunroof cover**

And just remember- use style to help guide you on placement and number of marks. I went for an elegant/sleek look and I always get compliments on how it looks

So now you've marked all the holes, you have to cut a hole the size of the rivet into the headliner fabric and foam with the x-acto knife, then drill through the woodboard layer and the ABS layer.

**be careful not to drill through the sunroof cover or the roof AND be careful not to get any foam or fabric caught in the drill bit while drilling**

Once you've drilled all the holes, check which length rivets should be used in each hole to hold the headliner correctly and not interfere with anything (wires, sunroof cover, etc).

**make sure you slide the suroof cover back and forward over the rivet while the rivet is fully pushed into the hole** that warning sounds pretty dirty lol

Now, going one at a time: recheck length of rivet, slip washer over rivet, put rivet into storage baggie, poke the business end of the rivet through the bag and stick the rivet stem into the riveter. Now stick the rivet into the headliner and ABS subliner and go to town on it, but not to hard or it'll have that buttoned couch look.

**be careful and go easy by the back window because its easy to crunch the headliner too close up against the roof**

After all the rivets are in place, you can get you spray paint and stick the nozzle in the bag to touchup any marks from the riveter head and tie off the bags. After that's dry, pull away all the baggies from under the washers (this is why I used the storage bags- they're much easier to remove)

And there you go... It's been a year since I've done this so I don't have any pictures of me doing the mod, but I'll take pix of the finished product asap. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Disclaimer: this is not supposed to equal a new headliner so don't trash talk me, ok? When done right, it should look like a factory installed "maybe-not-the-greatest-design-idea-depending-on-personal-taste" Also, I have left a plethora of warnings throughout this write-up; that doesn't mean that its alright to ****** at me if you screw up on something I didn't mention- like letting paint drip out of the little bags onto your unprotected upholstery- ok? Thanks
-Sam

GMusually

haha, it caught my female dog even though I used 'b!t' instead of 'bit'