Airtex headliner

[Nefj40]

Anyone have troubles installing one? I don't mean "pain in the butt" troubles, but a real problem? My rear seam is two and a half inches forward of the upper door corner.

I pulled a ratty airtex out and reused my old rear bow.

I made new front bows out of stainless tig rod.

I used the old holes on the door frame for the bows.

I spent six hours massaging it today, and I came to the conclusion that it's possible to make the seam meet the corner if I do one of two things.

One, I can tilt my rear bow back to the point my T zipper is half buried behind the baggage support board. At the same time I'd have to redrill my door frame for the front two bows, placing the front one smack-dab in the middle of the wing tank bung.

Orrrrrrrr, I can remove my front two bows and glue the headliner directly to the top of the instrument panel and learn to fly whilst laying down and using a periscope.

Am I being to anal to expect the seam to meet the corner of the door?

[Guest]

Re: Airtex headliner

Hi Dave,

Does your new airtex that you got match the pattern of your old ratty airtex that you pulled out?

Seems like that will be a good comparison to make.

Dave

[Nefj40]

Re: Airtex headliner

I knew that would be asked. See here's the thing, I threw it out already.


Originally I hadn't planned on putting a headliner back in.

[Bravo 6]

Re: Airtex headliner

Dave,

I will apologize right up front, I can offer zero assistance with your issue. To the contrary, I am contemplating installing a headliner in my '46 which has not had one for the entire time I have any knowledge of this airplane. Any pictures or suggestions you could send my way would be greatly appreciated. I purchased a new airtex headliner with the bows but have no idea how or where the bows engage. There are no holes/mounting hardware in the airframe.

Hope you get your issues solved without too much headache?!

[Pearson]

Re: Airtex headliner

Dave,

Put the headliner in starting with the seam you are referring to at the top corner of the door where you want it. Then work your way forward, installing the bows. You should end up at the front crosstube with about 6-8 inches of material left over to glue to the front side of the front tube. It might be a good idea to measure the distance between the sleeves in the headliner where the bows go through, and the holes where the bows go into. If the holes where the bows go and the sleeves in the headliner are not the same distance apart, you are going to have to either get Airtex to send you another headliner or drill new holes.

[Nefj40]

Re: Airtex headliner

Sorry about not updating this. We where in the middle of a rain delay with harvest when I started this thread. Things dried out enough to get back in the fields so I was tied up with that for the last week and a half.

I got my headliner installed. The rear seam don't meet the rear corner of the door, and to be honest, it looks fine as it is. I'm not knocking Airtex, but if you are replacing a old headliner, then send it in for them to copy. I think the pattern they are using is a little off. I ended up only cutting 1 1/2 inches off the front and have a easy foot left over hanging down behind my rear baggage support.

Like I said before, I wasn't planning on putting a headliner back in. When I took the old one out, two-yes two layers of Owens-Corning pink fiberglass insulation came down. Who ever put that stuff up there held it in place by smearing glue all over. I cleaned everything up as good as I could, but a sand blast, paint and recover is the only way to make it look presentable again. What kind of person thinks it's a good idea to have that crap jammed in and around all your control cables?

Greg, I had a known starting point so it was easier for me. My airplane has a narrow slot between the square fuselage tubing and the door frame. If yours is the same you should be able to put you bows in the headliner and loosely install the bows in that slot. From that point the headliner will support itself and you can move it around and adjust it as needed. The rear loop that the bow goes in is way longer than the bow so it will need to be cut back a little. Take your doors off, it's much easier to work on it that way, and be careful because those bows are capable of punching a hole in your fabric. Eventually you'll need to mark the bow location on the square fuse. tube and drill a hole on top for the bow to slip into. I'm going to run into town later and I'll take some pics of the trim if somebody can teach me how to post them from a smart phone.

[Bravo 6]

Re: Airtex headliner

Thanks Dave,

That gives me a good place to start. Pictures would be great if you could do that? It would be nice to have them on the string but short of that, you could send them direct from a smart phone to mine or an email address. email: [email protected] phone # 832-278-3069

Thanks again, glad to hear you got back to harvest and your headliner installed!

[Nefj40]

Re: Airtex headliner

Greg, I sent three pics. I hope they show enough.