Thread: flamed headliner

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hello all,
yup newbie here, I was wondering if anyone has come across info on how to build a custom flamed headliner. I saw a show about it, might have been hot rod tv. I want to do my headliner and door panels. From what I can remember you get high density foam and cut your design in, then glue it to the headliner and cover with fabric. can anyone elabotate?
thanks a bunch.

Thats the show I saw also, oh and welcome to the site! Goes on just the way you explained, you may have to build the foam up a little depending how radical the curve of your top is. There was a 47' chev aero-sedan I saw at a show last summer that had a giant Bowtie on the ceiling, very cool!

hey man thanks for the quick reply, I'm not crazy. do you recall the foam did it appear soft or firm? I'm cutting out my foam with a electric turkey cutter as recomnended and am having a hard time making it look good, i dunno maybe when I cover it with the fabric it will look better.

The foam was very dense, an cut fairly easily with an electric knife sort of thing and held it's shape very well. I also saw it on a episode of "American HotRod" and they did ribs in the door panel that way, very cool.

yeah man i have to be using the wrong foam beause it cuts like crap and looks bad, I'm sure it i covered it it would look even worse. thanks again back to the fabric shop

we have a member here that may be able to get you pointed in the right direction.
He's been doing this stuff a day or 2

here is his site >> http://www.interiorsbyshannon.com/

" and just to add " I've seen some people use a knife that looks like a "cheese slicer" but, the wire (blade ) gets hot enough to cut & get your details .....
I'd ask "Hot Rod Up" a few questions .... maybe he has time , to save you some.
just send him a PM or E-mail .... " it's worth a shot "

for the raised areas in the headliner use 1/4 in padding from a padded top ,you can get it at any interrior shop . it is a semi hard type of foam . cut your design out of it and glue it to your headliner board , then cover the headliner complete over it . its not that hard to do . make sure you get good glue not that crap at a parts store . buy it from the interrior shop you are buying the material from , and spray it thru a old spray gun ( not dads new hvlp sata) . and spray glue on the headliner ,and the material and let it set till tacky then put it toegether , don do it all at once ,fold the material in half and do it half at a time .
hope that helps
kenny

Shannon does some excellent work i was on the wesbsite crusing his/her work. I noticed a 57 chevy he/she did on e-bay. Top notch stuff. By the way, may be a stupid question but is Shannon a guy or a girl, hey it could be either way?

http://www.clubhotrod.com/t3065-15-4.html

"he's a dude "

When doing stiff panels like door panels you might want to use 1/8th inch plywood to cut your designs out of... It will not compress like foam does... Here is a photo of the interior I designed for my roadster, I used a jig saw to cut out the design and then glued the designs to the solid panels...

Dave Brisco

Very well done Dangeroustoy , I love those flames!

So if I understand you correctly, you cut the foam out in the shape of the design you wanted and glued that to the plywood and then covered both with the cloth? That would make it easy to mount to the door and it would also be solid enough to put armrest/door pulls on it huh?

On the door panels, I used wood to make the design out of... 1/8th inch birch... By using wood instead of foam you don't have to worry about the tension of the fabric and compressing the foam if the fabric it too tight... In some cases you have no choice but to use the foam, but given the option I choose to make the entire design from wood...

Dave Brisco

That sounds like a great plan Dangeroustoy, I can cut designs out of wood, I have a electric scroll saw. As for a head liner I'm afraid it will take some figuring to mount to it. I guess you can just take off the ribs and glue foam to the roof and then glue the cloth over that huh? Would sure be great if that would work, that would save me $200.00 that I could put into something else.