Heading In The Right Direction

With everything in place and nice and tight, the rear portion of the coupe is just about ready for upholstery.

The last panel to make is the header panel over the windshield. This is done in the exact same way as the previous two panels, with the exception of being glued to the wooden blocks instead of screwed or stapled. This is because of the proximity between the panel and the roof.

Now that the headliner has attachment points at the front, rear, and sides, it's time to work on the bows. These prevent the headliner from sagging in the middle and keep everything nice and tight.

The location of the two rear bows are dictated by the rear roofline. A keen eye can determine where to locate these two. In our case, the bottom corner of the headliner provided the starting point, with the bow curving right over the rear window.

The next two bows were marked out in similar fashion, using a simple flexible ruler and a piece of chalk.

The three front bows require a little more forethought to keep them fairly even in width. Here, Lance measures the distance from the header panel to the fourth bow and determines the layout of the remaining three.

Once each bow is plotted out and marked on the roof, this is what we're left with. Notice how they all look relative in size and shape. This is the time to decide if things look right or not.

The actual bows will be made out of 1/2-inch Baltic Birch, but will need to be cut from a template first...

...Lance starts by cutting 1-inch-wide strips of cardboard and applies glue to one side.

He then cuts the long strips into many short strips.

Starting from the center of the rear bow, Lance works his way outward, gluing each piece to the last. This allows him to follow the curvature of the roof as close as needed without bending anything and keeping the template true to form.

When he gets to a tight curve, he simply cuts a piece of cardboard to fit and traces from one side to the other.

Here's how the first half of the rear pattern looks in place.

The rest of the bows receive the same treatment, going from the center out, until they all run the width of the roof.

Once all the patterns are carefully removed from the body...

...they are placed on a piece of 1/2-inch Baltic Birch, traced, and cut out on the band saw.

These are the bows once they're cut, trimmed to fit, and sanded smooth. Any nick or gouge in any of the wood found in the car can easily tear the delicate headliner material, so care must go into deburring all wood pieces.

Since gluing the bows or attaching them to preglued wooden blocks could warp the roof, Lance used RTV Silicone to attach the bows to the roof. The foam blocks keep the bows from collapsing, since the silicone has a rather lengthy setup time.

A healthy amount of silicone and about 24 hours later, and our bows are nice and dry. With everything in place and securely fastened, it's time to get stitchin'. Follow along next time when we cut the material and start sewing up our headliner.