Volvo 740 roof carpet

[Tomca_]

Hello Everybody,

I have a Volvo 740GL from 1990. Unfortunately the roof carpet in the cabin started to pull down. The carpet consists of a light gray canvas and a thin brownish sponge layer between the canvas and the metal roof. The sponge is still on the metal, but the canvas detached from the sponge. Only one plastic thing holds it. The middle of the canvas hanging down, looks like a sail on a boat, in horizontal direction.

I would like to "glue" back somehow the canvas, but I am afraid, if I try to glue it back to the sponge, than the sponge will become to dust and the canvas will pull down again.

Did anybody experience same problem? Is there any way to fix it? I would like to keep my car in veteran-car quality, so this really annoys me.

Thank you any answer in advance.

Tamas

[billofdurham]

This isn't a job I have tackled myself but there are two write-ups here:
http://www.swedishbricks.net/700900FAQ/ ... ner_Repair

The first advises leaving the job to a shop but the second covers the repair quite well.

Bill.

[DeRail]

IPD also sells a ready-made kit for headliner repair: http://ipdusa.com/version.asp?strPageHi ... 0&V_ID=746 they also have kindly documented the process

I wonder if this is a problem with age, as my '88 is beginning to sag, or if it's the makeup of the adhesive used in the 700's series headliners? I dont recall seeing any 850's with this affliction.

Darrell

[billofdurham]

This is a common problem on all 700 series and usually starts to show after 10+ years. The problem seems to lie in the foam that is between the cloth and the board that makes up the backing. The foam breaks down and allows the cloth to sag. It is impossible to re-glue the material as the foam will continue to break down and the whole process of sagging starts again. The only remedy is to replace everything.

As a point of interest the early Range Rovers had a similar problem and I had a headlining fall over my head at 90mph - the car was doing that, not the headlining .

Bill.

[Tomca_]

Hello Everybody again,

thank you for the tricks and tips. The pdf manual on the ipdusa.com website is really useful.

As I can see, later, the complete change of the roof upholstery is unavoidable, but I could find a cheap (about 5 dollar) temporary solution: I bought toluene based wall-paper glue and glued back the canvas to the foam. This is a special glue that will remain flexible even after it dried out. Later the foam and glue can be detached from the plastic holder by a putty knife.

Tricks: Cover the seats and the floor with some plastic foil to avoid glue drops there. If you use too small amount of glue on the foam, it will only dissolve the upper layer of the foam that will detach from the other part of the foam and helps nothing. Do not glue the canvas, because it will soak through and will look disgusting (I know this, because I made some experiments with a piece of plastic foam and a piece of old clothes). Glue the foam almost everywhere, wait to dry a bit and gently press back the canvas. The glue had a terrible smell during work but it vanished in half day.

Now the car looks pretty good.

Tamas

[billofdurham]

Thank you for the update. It is less expensive way to do it and, like most improvisations, will probably last a long time.

Bill.