how to remove headliner?

[dlb]

has anyone done this? i see ron b. did it when he restored his terc but can't find it in the FSM or using the search here on the forum. the new terc stinks like death, cigarettes, and sweat so i plan on removing the seats, carpets, door panels, and headliner so i can thoroughly clean them.

[Tercel__jon]

After you get all the trim off and everything un done, I THINK it should fall right down. Might have to give it a tug but Im not sure. Ill definitely be watching this.

[So_Powerful]

Unscrew the lights and trim screws at the hatch. Also screws in molding above rear windows. Other trim just slides off. My 85 smelled really bad too. I found out after I bought it mice had taken up living in the vents and between the headliner and roof. When I pulled the headliner down a shower of mouse terds followed. Had to scrub that thing with bleach and other things to get the smell out of it.

[SynthDesign]

So yeah, pull all the bits, oh shit handles a-pillar, b pillar and c pillar trim and the light brackets, the plastic plugs that hold it up in back..

There's also 3 clips on each side along the sides. They pop out. I destroyed every one extracting my head liner.

Toyota replacement clip part # 63395-12020

[dlb]

thanks guys, particularly for the clip part #. i def foresee a bunch of broken clips in my near future.

[Petros]

These clips can be reused if you manage to get them out without breaking them. the same is true with plugs out in the middle, use two putty knifes behind them, one on each side, and carefully pull/work them straight down. They are easy to break off, but with careful tugging, wiggling and working them down you can recover them so they are reusable.

[deejay1272]

Good luck getting the smell of death out of the new terc, DLB. I need to do this someday too. The PO of the Terjunken was a smoker so there is a yellow-ish haze on everything!

I'm planning on using a bleach solution (maybe a ratio of ~2:10?). Let us know what you end up going with...

[Petros]

There are upholstery cleaners specially made to remove smoke oders, I would try that before I tried bleach. Soak it in soapy water, rub with soft brush or sponge, and vacuum out with a wet/dry shop vac. Repeat several times should clean it up. Ron B. actually removed his head liner to clean, but I do not think that is necessary. He had to buy a lot of the clips from Toyota to get it back in. You can not get it into a washing machine so I see no reason to remove it, clean it in place.

[dlb]

i haven't gotten to this yet but i suppose i could find some sort of spray n' vacuum cleaner and clean the headliner in place. when i get to it i will decide but right now i've got my hands full with the VW and ron (the tercel, not the board member).

and FYI, so far--no plastic clips or plugs have been broken in this project! i'm a little pleased with myself about that.

[deejay1272]

Hey DLB - any progress on the head liner yet? I was tentatively planning to remove mine tonight until I re-read Petros' post about cleaning it in place. Any wisdom to share on this?

[dlb]

yeah, i wound up mixing carpet cleaner with water in a spray bottle and using that to soak the headliner in place. then i used a small carpet cleaner (this one, specifically: http://www.bissell.com/little-green-deep-cleaner/) to suck all the crap up. i'm sure it would have been more thorough to remove it but i didn't want to bother with snapping all the clips and whatnot, and this worked pretty well!

[deejay1272]

I wound up using a mixture of Oxiclean and water, sprayed it on thick like, waited a bit, then rubbed dry with a towel (did this all in place as you did). Got lots of nasty dirt off of the headliner, but it still has general haze of muck to it. I'll take another look in a day or so when it dries out and the darker damp"color" fades out to reveal the true color of the finished product. I'll probably need to repeat this multiple times unless I can get my hands on a wet-vac like that Bissell that you used (unlikely).

Also, I sprayed Fabreze all over the interior about 2 days ago. Opened the car doors for the first time since and I was happy to notice that the years of dust, dirt, death and dog smells have mostly vanished. Now I can only describe the smell of the interior as "car." I'm happy with that.

[Petros]

IT helps a lot of if you remove the front and back seats (only takes a few min, 4-14mm bolts each up front and two clips on the rear seat), and clean the whole carpet and under the rear seat area. Also helps to put the seats out in direct sunlight (sunlight kills bacteria). You can use any wet and dry shop vac to suck the water out of the fabric headliner. After your Oxiclean treatment, soak it with water and vacuum it out, repeat, to get the soap residue out.

[North of 64]

Hey All, It has been many months. I'm really happy but not surprised to find the info i need to remove the entire headliner, trim, visor, seat belt and uprights from my parts car. It's a very mild day here at -4C, the perfect temp to trudge through the snow to do this removal. Thanks again for the help! Still have the 3 Tercels, just have to repair the damage a sled dog did to the interior of my original 87.
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[ARCHINSTL]

Well - I daresay not many of us can claim damage by a sled dog...
Tom M.