I started with a swiss army knife, since it has nylon handles, and won't scratch. I did this, after seeing that the interior frame of the top does not need to be broken down. It appears that the fabric does not go under that frame; rather it goes over the edge of the 'foam' [fiberglass] pad, back towards the center of the top.

I used the big screwdriver tool of the knife. Work it to the roof panel, and SLOWLY pry, to see how much room you have to work it. You'd like to get your fingers under the edge, but you do not want to break up the edges of the padding/fiberglass backing, if possible.

Make sure the glue doesn't go all the way to the frame, so you can get under the edge. On mine, there was almost no glue along the entire back edge - the straight part - of the top, so you mightwant to start here. This allowed me to lift it up enough to get both hands well underneath - carefully - do not break up backing. Also you'll probably need one hand to work from the outside, working your fingers around the edge to lift up the fabric that is glued to the roof panel.

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Once you get to the corner from the straight edge, you're gonna' run into glue. Be careful here, to not break up the padding. I used a teflon spatula on a few spots (shhh, I'll clean it).

When you get to the front corners, you're gonna' hit a lot more glue - at least, I did. The tough part is not maneuverin' yer' digits under the pad, but gettin' the fabric unglued from outside, atthe edge.

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HALFWAY there ???

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Input here now, folks... We got an opportunity.

The fabric is now clean and hand-laundered (mighty sweet smellin')! The backing survived the pull. It will need to be sprayed with clear spray paint, to stop dust/breakup when re-installed.

I'm the last to do aesthetic mod stuff. But to put plain black fabric back up??? There must be some custom applications, instead of just black fabric. Where is black86 when ya need him??? He'll probably come back with a list of links that'll crash the CF server. But bring it dude, if you've seen it...

Any other suggestions???

Just read another in another forum. Seems some guy just left outhis headliner, and painted the hard surface. It does look like a finished surface. What would you do?

 

I have never seen any other fabric but black. You might could get some custom emroidery work done.

 

I ripped off the headliner and the foam. I now have 2 extra inches of headspace. Plus the underneath is black.I spray painted the interior part gloss black so its shiny and pretty now.

 

You mean no links for headliner mods? Not even neon? Now that I think of it, I think I have seen interior neon.

You ain't holdin' out on me here, are ya' there 86?

I thinkhe's holdin' out on the links there!

And I ain't yellin' at 'im there, SDZ[sm=grinangel.gif][sm=grinangel.gif][sm=devilangel.gif]

 

WHEW!!! $300 for a new headliner!!!

That's what I just saw in the bathroom readin' material (Corvette America catalogue), for a replacement headliner. Eck, MAMotorworks are probably in the ballpark...

This really makes important your ability to get the backing off of the top intact. There was a little breaking up around the edges of the pad upon removal, but the black felt thatI bought was thick enough fabric to compensate for the loss.

https://www.corvetteforums.com/m_38731/tm.htm

Total cost was under $40. The felt was $5, of that $40. Let's see, how does that compare to $300...[8D]

 

I removed the headliner and found it to look great!!! so with 35min worth of masking firing up the ol' compresser and air gun with a little primer andflatblack it looks fantastic!!!

 

I thought about doin' the flat black thing too there, '84. It's hard to mess up with flat black - PERIOD. If the backin' pad had broken up upon removal, I probably would have grabbed a can or two.Butfor the 4 or 5 days that I had the top in and nothing under it, I could tell the interior was hotter. VERY, VERY, much hotter.