New headlining was found on the bay in Stockport, well worth the journey as was still in wrapping and box
New sunroof liner courtesy of Sweep.
Only issue- its a beige lining, now its a malachite tourer so it looks coolio, but the seats and carpet are grey. Still- we forge on.
New headlining:
REMOVING YOUR OLD HEADLINING:
In a touring you dont need to remove windows, unlike when doing the saloon or coupe. Start to finish on my own this took about one hour, well planned and on a mission.
Help yourself- tip from Daimlerman: remove seat bases from rear seats, fold rear seats flat and remove front seats. Trust me, its worth it, the space and manoeuvrability is needed. Touring load cover taken off too.
View of the old and busted headlining and all that space:
Now you need to remove all stuff holding the headlining to the roof. I started at the back, removing the dog guard brackets first.
Next- disconnect all lights, 2 either side and rear one. They pop out easily but be careful not to damage clips. Keep cabling safe and dont allow them to touch each other or metal.
Then, remove the grab handles. Four screws each- pretty self explanatory.
You have already removed the front seatbelts from the seats, now undo the 17mm bolts holding them into the B and C pillars. Two front and two rears. Dont lose any washers from these for obvious reasons.
Now you can remove all trims from pillars. Again I started at the back and worked forwards:
The rears pop off- be careful with all of these as the clips break easily taking off and putting on. Best on the rears to move the rubbers that surround the gas struts out of the way.
C pillars, once you have the seatbelts out, again just pop off.
B pillars more complex, and more potential to f**k up: its best to remove the two plastic screws at the bottom, to then allow the trim to slide down- but be careful of the 'hook' as they are likely to pop off. Not the end of the world but annoying.
Finally, pull 4 door seals down from the roof but dont fully remove- just expose the lip/headlining.
At the front of the car, remove the sunvisors- 4x screws in each.
Remove check panel, flatbladed screwdriver at base. Undo loom.
Your mirror should have a rubber rectangular grommet around the stalk, free this up. I needed to pop the mirror out as I was replacing for a maplight mirror. Wiggle it from side to side and it will disengage.
Pop the sunroof switch out but dont disconnect it, you will need it operational.
The only thing holding the headlining in now is the sunroof aperture, a few clips and where the headlining is still attached to the tops of doors.
At the rear, pull the headlining down and you will see 4 clips that fasten to the roof of the car, pop these out and save them, you need to reuse them. They may stay in the roof- so pop them out with a flatblade screwdriver.
Now to the sunroof. Slide it back to 3/4 of the way. You can see 5 or 6 tabs that hold the liner into place on the sunroof itself. Gently pop them out, again flatbladed screwdriver. Slide the liner to the rear, close the sunroof and tilt it up.
You can now see the 6x hex screws holding the sunroof in place. Undo them, and remove the lid.
Standing in the sunroof aperture, like a tank commander (go on, try a pose, it feels good to say 'FORWARD'), you can see 4 edges that the headlining is folded up under. I started at the back first- undoing the screws which are very short, remove the strip and place safely with the screws.
WARNING- the metal bars and edges are VERY sharp and you run the risk of leaving blood on your old/new headlining.
I then undid the front wind deflector. Start by detaching the 2x arms, they pop out of the anchors to the rear of the car, allowing the deflector to stand vertical. Then remove the screws and take it away.
The final piece of the puzzle is to do the same on the sides- you can see 6 (ish) similar screws- remove them and be very careful as these edges are razor. Remove back as far as you can see screws. Place them in a safe place so you remember how they go back.
There are 4 screws, longer than the ones that hold the trims in place, but still recessed, remove these, 2x front and 2x back of the sunroof aperture- these screw directly into the headlining by black fixing blocks bonded to the headlining.
Your headlining can now be prized away from its place of rest for 20+ years, ensure all wires are not fouling in any way, and take it out of the back of the car.
You can now either recover it or, as I did, ceremonially bin it. However remember that you have previously stapled it, they will catch you out and scratch you!
Stand back and look at your clean (hopefully rust free) roof....
Now is a good time to check sunroof drains for blockages.
If you are replacing, like i did, the sunroof lining, this is not too complex. Pull it back to the front, pop the arms off to the rear (they will snap out of the pivot points in the runner) and replace. The refitting of this is a bit fiddly, but with faff time you will get it.
While its all exposed- get greasing, its a good time to service and oil up your sunroof mechs.
Refitting, is as Mr Haynes says, the opposite of what you have just done. That took about 2 hours to do properly, adjust the sunroof, tidy up nicely etc.
I also fitted a sports headlining which meant cutting the new headlining to fit. Fit the sports one first, then slide the new one in.
I needed to check the aerial, which meant dropping the sunroof motor down
FIT THE NEW HEADLINING FROM THE REAR- there are 2x clips about 3/4 down the car to the rear which need to engage into the holes in the roof- you will see what I mean. Do this with assistance, lying on your back pushing up and to the front.
Things to watch out for:
Keep clean hands, there is nothing worse than a big oily handprint on a virginal headlining. I reckon I got through 30 changes of vinyl gloves.
As before, the trim is brittle, dont force it
Take your time...
Ensure all washers go back into the seatbelts
Fit the seatbelt to the front chairs before bolting the chairs down
When refitting round the sunroof, pop the screws and strips back in but not tight. With help, feed the loose flaps back in and then tighten.
When refitting the sunroof, search the wiki for how to re-level and fit. Get a friend to help as this is not really a one man job.
Your finished roof should now look like this:
Then gurn happily at camera cos it was a job well done.
Feel free to PM me for more details-
Go for it chaps!
