I thought about this last night and it may be possible to impregnate the foam with thinned out polyurethane to make it solid like a tub after it hardens.

 

Wouldn't work around here. Too many flies.

 

The width between the roof edges on the XJ is, like, 46" or so. The standard 48" width of the slats or panels seems perfect to arch up and wedge between those roof edges, holding that arched shape. This seems to work well with one 6" wide vinyl flooring slat anyway. But if this didn't work out, then I'm not against holding the headliner in place with strips at each roof frame.

Again, it's like 1/4" foam backed fabric. The foam is molded in shape, and just stiff enough to hold that shape when installed. When removed, it can just sort of be rolled or folded up.

 

Got to have that arch for sure. Even as short as I am.

 

Been too long since I removed mine. I remember it was only the fabric sagging and no pieces of foam. The foam wasn't hard at all. Wouldn't hold tacks I tried to use. Ended up bowing lattice staves to hold it. I don't remember how it was fastened up. Almost sure it was formed and held by the plastic trim. There was definitely no way to reuse it though.

 

We used to install paneling into vans back in the day. But they only needed to be arched from side to side and had a flat plane from the front to the rear. From what I am looking at in my Jeep there is arching on two planes. Both side to side and some arching front to rear. So I'm not sure wood paneling will be forgiving enough to make both these bends?

 

That's what it looks like, it just hangs there with the trim holding it up. As for impregnating stuff, I have seen some incredible things done with this. lol

Light weight Kayaks and Canoes made with impregnated fabric. Early aircraft, even structures. Had a friend who set up a two room canvas cabin tent and then started painting it once a week with layers of latex paint. After about six coats it stood by it's self without poles and was definitely water proof. lol

 

In my case I wasn't thinking of use wood paneling. There are other types of 4x8 sheets of wall covering made of different material. Wonder if any is thin enough or pliable enough to work?

 

After removing it I don't believe it would hold it's form so you could treat it. Maybe if it was still installed?

 

Yep, that's what I was thinking... Soak a layer or two into it before taking it down to stabilize it first. Then add some more to the back side after it's out.

 

Might interest wristwister but mines loooong gone. Actually I don't mind not having a liner at all but if there was an alternative I might mess with it.

 

Actually, not having a headliner would not bother me much either. But... here in the desert the summer heat from the roof radiates like a wood stove on your head without some sort of insulation. lol

 

I'm not saying it isn't initially hot or cold. In the summer once moving even w/o the a/c on the roof cools off quick. In the winter at first I had a condensation issue under some conditions but I found that running the defroster on max heat took care of it. 99.5% of the time it's a none issue year around.

 

My 85 has nothing for the headliner, the previous owner removed all of it when the fabric began to sag. I am planning to use a 4x8 sheet of blue styrofoam board and short sheet metal screws to hold it up, then use a fabric glued to that. Should help keep it warm in the winter and cooler in the summer.

 

I’ve thought 1/4” thick luan or something similar could work nicely as a headliner panel. I recently recovered my ‘96 headliner using Super 77 and some foam backed fabric from Joanne’s... It started seperating soon after. Not sure if it’s something I did wrong or what..?