Right so anyway when I first got my XJ I could not drive it because half the ceiling was covering my face and the rest was covering windows and basically the ceiling was shot. So being the ever aggressive man beast I am, I drank some beer and pulled out my favorite Milwaukee flip-open razor blade and cut out the entire crappy fabric hanging everywhere. Nasty stuff. What is left behind is also nasty. God forbid you touch that asbestos like crap it will rain death dust everywhere. So i know you guys have been through this but I would love a cheap sensible replacement. An insulating material I can easily cut and glue or just stick on///Right now it is just creepy dust and metal. This is one of the things I would love to take care of on my long list of to-dos. brakes and possibly fog lights tomorrow if I can move all day. But I need something for the ceiling. So lemme know what you all have done or recommend! Every idea or comment is always appreciated. Thanks Again!

 

Thinking you would be better off removing the headliner and putting it aside. Assuming it is in decent enough shape to recover. You could go for some crappy quick fix now but it might come back and bite you in the *** when it comes time to do it right.

 

Pardon my ignorance but I am not sure what you mean by headliner? Isn't that what I already removed? Ok I could google it but honestly not sure what you mean by the headliner at this point in my operation....

 

Okay yeah I googled it and that is what I removed,,,,the entire headliner. It was shot to hell there were no recovery options. I threw all that crap out it was a waste of space. I prefer to do something new and maybe better insulating.

 

I did the headliner with one of the available kits. Takes a while but not a big deal. You have to pull out the fiberglass shell. And no, it's not asbestos. That's the old glue, all of which needs to be scraped off before regluing anything.

 

Sorry I probably should have read your post better. I thought you just ripped the fabric off the board and the deteriorated foam under the fabric was causing you all this grief.

 

I found one in the jy that looked new for $30.

 

Probably a lot of that too.

 

I think you are saying you ripped out the fabric AND the underlying foam board, due to its deteriorated state, leaving a bare metal ceiling

In this case, what I did is go to a wrecker, and pull the best one you can find, not much fun admittedly, but cheap & effective

One must take some time & care during removal...an assistant to re-install in your truck will be a big help

if u want to go the whole hog, pull a good one, strip the fabric, repair any damage to the headline biscuit, line with new fabric

Other than that, either you, or a pro upholsterer, can use foams and fabric to custom line

or drive around with just metal..

 

I think you guys are on the right track but I am looking for something quick and insulating. I do not care to duplicate the previous fabric in any way. I almost want stick-on insulation to keep it simple and remove a little road noise. Anyone here do anything unique in their rides? Thanks again for all the responses!

Also whatever was considered a foam board fell to pieces when I pulled the fabric...so yeh there is no foam board....

 

I'd probably get some foam core board and cut it to fit the ceiling at this point.

https://www.officedepot.com/a/produc...dy-Board-Foam/

Measure the width of the ceiling and then cut the board with a razor knife about 3/4" wider. Then, carefully place it where you want it and gently push upward. It will bend to conform to the roof curvature and lodge above the trim moldings on either side if the cut width is just right. It takes a bit of fiddling but that's what I used in the ceiling of an old Chevy van I insulated.

My headliner in my 96 drooped so I got some wood screen molding, cut lengths just a bit wider than the roof moldings and pressed them upward. They clicked into place above the moldings. I call them rafters. Now my headliner is secured by 5 of these rafters and I don't even think of it anymore.