LMC Headliner question

[midwest]

Hello, I am a newbie here and have a question I haven't been able to find the answer too. I bought a headliner kit from LMC (ABS plastic with fabric). I was going to install it today and I cut out out the fabric on the pre cut triangles for the visors. I think the pre cut triangles in the headliner they sent me are the wrong size. I have been trying to talk to the people at customer service and they can't picture what I am trying to say so I had to email them pictures and am now awaiting for a response. Easy way to explain it, the triangle that was pre cut in my headliner is 1 3/4" on each side, from corner to corner. The screw holes in my sun visor bracket are 2 inches from hole to hole. I assume the triangle cut out should be just large enough (just over 2 inches on each side) so the screws from my visor are inside of the hole/triangle? The way it is right now I would either have to cut out the triangle larger or drill holes and shoot screws through the fabric which I don't want to do. When I look at the plastic backer I can see a line that looks like it is supposed to be the true size of the cut out. Ill see if I can attach the photos I sent them. The arrows in the first pic are where I think it should have been cut out from the factory.....

 

[Raider L]

@midwest,

Yeah, I see what you are indicating. It does look like they didn't cut it out enough. What is the actual size of the triangle of your visor? Place the 1" on centerline of the screw hole. It looks like you are a little off on your measurement, but none the less the LMC part is wrong. And it's supposed to be for your truck? Did other year truck visor mounts come smaller? Somebody like @shiftpro, @Bextreme, or @Keith Seymore and others would be able to answer those questions better than me. I'd say cut the hole to fit. You know as well as I do that a lot of these after market parts may need adjusting from time to time. They're made for the "universal" fit. And that means you have to do whatever you need to do to get it to fit.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum from Louisiana!

 

[Raider L]

@midwest,

And place the headliner so that it's where it fits up on those visor holes, but in position where everything else is lined up. That way you'll see how much and where you need to open up those holes. Otherwise if you just open the hole up and then put it up there, then you see where it's supposed to be so every place else is lined up, the hole now is off and the hole is to big somewhere or whatever. You know? So, just put the liner up there and don't pay any attention where the visor hole is so long as everything else is where it's supposed to be. Then look at the visor holes and then you'll see where it needs to be cut.

 

[FireTruck1984]

Yes, you’ll have to cut away some of the abs plastic. like a lot of aftermarket interior pieces, you will need to custom fit to your vehicle.
There is always going to be some variation in fit. When I did one recently, I cut away a little plastic where needed but left the fabric alone. (being Careful to not cut away too much). I drilled first, then cut the holes into small slots.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[midwest]

@midwest,

Yeah, I see what you are indicating. It does look like they didn't cut it out enough. What is the actual size of the triangle of your visor? Place the 1" on centerline of the screw hole. It looks like you are a little off on your measurement, but none the less the LMC part is wrong. And it's supposed to be for your truck? Did other year truck visor mounts come smaller? Somebody like @shiftpro, @Bextreme, or @Keith Seymore and others would be able to answer those questions better than me. I'd say cut the hole to fit. You know as well as I do that a lot of these after market parts may need adjusting from time to time. They're made for the "universal" fit. And that means you have to do whatever you need to do to get it to fit.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum from Louisiana!

Thanks for the input. As for the measurement, I was measuring from outside of the hole to outside of the hole as this is what I assumed would be the minimum size the triangle opening should be. I assume the outer edge of the bracket, outside of the holes is what actually holds it in place. I'm curious if LMC just tells me to cut it out myself or what they say. When I talked to them on the phone they "searched" their system for similar issues and said they have never had a call about these holes being to small.

If the solution they offer me is to cut it myself what is the best way to do that? I Dremel or something similar?

 

[midwest]

Also, by way of introduction......I bought my truck almost 16 years ago. I originally paid 500.00 for it. It ran a drove but the body was falling off. I drug it home and a friend and I pulled the body off. The truck was a 77 3/4 ton 4 WD. I ended up finding a good cab off an 86 so I put that on. Before we put the cab on we coated the frame with POR 15 and all new brakes, springs, shocks, brake lines etc. Also had the motor rebuilt and balanced. We painted it in his driveway with a $15.00 gallon of flat black tractor paint. It really looked good for about 5 years, then it started to fade, rust, and you know the rest. I recently put on some stock doors I bought and had new cab corner and rocker panels put on and a new paint job. This time I went with a satin black. A little glossier than the flat black I had but it is an actual automotive paint and not a tractor paint. A local vocational school did the paint and body work as a project. The picture below in the snow was the original paint job and the other picture is the recent rebirth.... I have the headliner and all trim from LMC, the only thing else needed inside is the dash. The current tires are probably temporary. It had a taller wider tire on it and when I went to get them replaced last year they wouldn't put the same size back on it, they claimed they were too large for the wheels. I was kind of stuck so I bought this set (the cheapest set they had) to get me home.

 

[shiftpro]

Dremel or something similar?

Dremel al the way. Use the little sanding barrel. mAybe the little zip discs to rough it out, but they break at the slightest twist.

Even brand new parts like these (when we could get them) needed fitting. I helped with the bodywork on a square with only a few years on it, back in the 80's A truss that was standing on edge leaning against the house got knocked over and hit the truck. Connected right over the driver's door. The impact cracked the headliner base so a new from factory came and we had a big fight for sure.

 

[Scott91370]

Glad to come across this - sorry at your expense - because I just ordered one of these headliners yesterday.
Hopefully it won't be too big of a PITA, I'm so tired of restoring this truck!!

@midwest - could you take a couple of pics after you have opened up the triangles as well?

 

[midwest]

I will......I haven't done anything yet. I sent pictures to LMC and they said they were going to get back with me. If there is a chance they would send me a new one I would take it but I am guessing they will tell me sorry and I need to modify it, which I am OK with. I am just curious to see what they say the actual size of the opening should be.

 

[WP29P4A]

I want to help my son install a headliner to cover up the bare metal like you are doing and have a few questions. Is there space between the metal and the headliner you are installing? Enough to ad some thin insulation? Like Dynamat.

Instead of dealing with cutting triangles for the visor mounts, would it be possible to just make a single round hole just a bit bigger than the round spring/hinge that protrudes from the back side of the visor mount, then after installing headliner, line up each visor mount and use an all/punch to locate the mounting holes for the screws. The front side of the mount would cover the hole. Screws would go THROUGH the headliner material. Wondering if this would work but don't know how thick material is and if there is a gap between headliner and metal ceiling when installed.

The big question, did it come with any instructions? I am surprised at how many companies do not include even the most simple instructions.

 

[midwest]

I am not sure if you have seen this video or not. I did put some sound dampening material I had on hand on mine. If I understand what you are asking about the round hole (I don't think I am), the triangle cutouts are already in the headliner when you receive it. So there is not really a way to cut a round hole just bigger than the spring/hinge. My problem is the pre cut hole that came in the headliner is smaller than it should be. It was just cut wrong from the factory.

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[ozone160]

My LMC headliner was purchased and installed last summer and happens to be out right now so I snapped some pics. The factory triangle cuts were close enough for me to work with, so I was OK with it. On both visors two of the screws I just had to poke through the fabric within the cutout, so only had to drill one through the plastic. I attached the visors with the first two screws and then “guestimated” the third hole and I got pretty lucky drilling those holes, probably because the clip nuts have some play.

The sides of the triangles were not equal cuts from the tip to the opposite side distances. They are about 1 3/8, 1 ½, and 1 ¾ inches.

The backside pic you can see the curve where the spring post pushes through showing the post is almost in the middle of the cut. The front pic has the indentation of the visor trim showing plenty of overlap if you had to drill any holes.

Hope that helps your project.

 

[midwest]

Thanks. I haven’t even had time to look at it the last couple weeks. I am kinda disappointed that LMC hasn’t gotten back to me. All I asked them is to confirm the size the cutout should be. They have said they have to consult with their research and development engineers…. Next free day I have I’m just going to enlarge it and make it work.

 

[Terry Wilkerson]

I replaced headliner on my 86 gmc using the original board good shape and a piece of headliner material. Glued it together and installed back. The visor bracket sits on top of the liner material and board. Poked holes for screws thru liner. This way visor helps hold liner board up top cab roof.
This was the way factory had it installed .

 

[midwest]

I agree this would be the way to go with the factory liners as it would not be hard to poke through with an awl. The reproductions have a hard plastic backer that you can’t just poke through looking for the holes. Hopefully next week I can get out and work on mine.