Anyone done a custom wool headliner? (1 Viewer)

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If this question is too generic for the 40-series tech section, please let me know which forum to post under.

Hey all, I got a new fiberglass top for my FJ40. I have to do the headliner but I've never really worked on headliners before. I'm really interested in installing a custom pattern headliner. I'm native to the Pacific Northwest, so I was eyeballing Pendleton Woolen Mills for fabric... Has anyone done a custom headliner? I'm just looking for tips. If I do a wool fabric, should I put anything behind it for noise or insulation? Also, tips on gluing other materials in?

Thanks! All help is appreciated.
 
I did Pendleton wool seats and love the hell out of them.....cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We bought 2 blankets it took an entire blanket to do all of the seats (front and back). My head liner is the original and I thought about a replacement.....but never considered another Pendleton.

They ( the blankets) are expensive but make the interiors warm and comfortable.

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I did Pendleton wool seats and love the hell out of them.....cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We bought 2 blankets it took an entire blanket to do all of the seats (front and back). My head liner is the original and I thought about a replacement.....but never considered another Pendleton.

They ( the blankets) are expensive but make the interiors warm and comfortable.

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Looks pretty cool.
 
I got tired of having my stock headliner keep coming unglued and sagging, so I finally just had a local upholstery shop glue some marine carpet in, and I've been happy with that - but your idea is almost making me wish I had had them make a headliner using my mother's family Scots tartan in wool cloth.
 
I did Pendleton wool seats and love the hell out of them.....cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We bought 2 blankets it took an entire blanket to do all of the seats (front and back). My head liner is the original and I thought about a replacement.....but never considered another Pendleton.

They ( the blankets) are expensive but make the interiors warm and comfortable.

View attachment 2548798

View attachment 2548799

View attachment 2548801
Wow, I’m not kidding, that is about the best custom mod I have ever seen. My great great uncle had the first general store in the Walla Walla settlement when the territory was still owned by the British, and my dad farmed outside Umitilla in the 30s and 40s. Pendleton blankets have been a part of our lives forever. Well done.
 
I did Pendleton wool seats and love the hell out of them.....cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We bought 2 blankets it took an entire blanket to do all of the seats (front and back). My head liner is the original and I thought about a replacement.....but never considered another Pendleton.

They ( the blankets) are expensive but make the interiors warm and comfortable.

View attachment 2548798

View attachment 2548799

View attachment 2548801
Damn, I really admire what you did there. And I love the red seatbelts and gas tank to match! Nice rig, man.
 
I did Pendleton wool seats and love the hell out of them.....cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We bought 2 blankets it took an entire blanket to do all of the seats (front and back). My head liner is the original and I thought about a replacement.....but never considered another Pendleton.

They ( the blankets) are expensive but make the interiors warm and comfortable.

View attachment 2548798

View attachment 2548799

View attachment 2548801


Like the seat covers. Would look very nice in the Southwest. Looks period correct for the age of the cruiser. I ran saddleman seat covers back in the eighties.

I’ve debated doing a plaid headliner on my ‘77 for a while.

I say go for it.


I bought a 77 hard top back in the nineties. Headliner was replaced with foam material that has a tie dye pattern on it. Sadly the foam is breaking down.
 
If you do a Pendleton headliner....don’t forget to have the upholstery shop sew in the original tags....add to the class.

And the other cool thing, Pendleton doesn’t make the same patterns year after year....and they sell fast....so make sure you order enough of what you want because chance are you won’t be able to go back for more. And you can be assured...no one else will have the same pattern.

In the post above....the tank was the original 68 that I powder coated red, the red seat belts are from ‘Seat Belt Planet’

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I think fj40 interior should be only vinyl, leather, or fake leather. Just going down a dirt road my interior get pretty dirty. If I hit a mud puddle and I have the windows down I get mud inside. With leather I just wipe it clean. With cloth you'll have a brown stain. It's even worse if its swamp like mud. It's much worse now for me that I have big tires. But I can still wipe it clean with a damp rag.
 
I think fj40 interior should be only vinyl, leather, or fake leather. Just going down a dirt road my interior get pretty dirty. If I hit a mud puddle and I have the windows down I get mud inside. With leather I just wipe it clean. With cloth you'll have a brown stain. It's even worse if its swamp like mud. It's much worse now for me that I have big tires. But I can still wipe it clean with a damp rag.

I believe the amount of FJ series used for off-roading is certainly not what the numbers used to be.. they are now classics and users now make them more queens than users. . When you restore/semi restore, it becomes to costly to mess everything up.
 
I think fj40 interior should be only vinyl, leather, or fake leather. Just going down a dirt road my interior get pretty dirty. If I hit a mud puddle and I have the windows down I get mud inside. With leather I just wipe it clean. With cloth you'll have a brown stain. It's even worse if its swamp like mud. It's much worse now for me that I have big tires. But I can still wipe it clean with a damp rag.

Wool is pretty dirt, water and stain resistant....in fact about the only things I have seen stain wool are blood and wine. And since we don’t drink and drive....and I don’t plan using it in a Tarantino movie....I think it’s fine.

In fact this is the 2nd wool interior for this rig...the first one in 93 because the New Mexico desert sun had turned the original grey vinyl to dust...I found a home upholstery shop in Hobbs NM where the guy had left over material from a living room couch...it was wool and it survived miraculously the 7 years we used the rig as a second car...NM and Eastern Washington desert environments.

Even sitting next to the house from 2000 to 2016, the wool held up...and actually cleaned up pretty presentable. But like most things I do....or overdo....the restoration of this rig got a bit out of hand....and we decided on a southwest interior to go with the history of this FJ40...the original owner was a Lea County New Mexico Sherif, bought it new in Santa Fe (we think).

Now, this rig is not really your typical queen...it’s back in service as a second car....my wife drives the rig daily and it’s parked out front....won’t fit in my garage. Once in a while she....lets....me drive the rig to work....And the younger Jeep/Ford, Chevy/Ram 4x owners DROOL with envy.....
 
I believe the amount of FJ series used for off-roading is certainly not what the numbers used to be.. they are now classics and users now make them more queens than users. . When you restore/semi restore, it becomes to costly to mess everything up.
I find that unfortunate. They are definitely rugged enough to handle some dirt roads or mild offroad without really any harm. I kinda feel the point of owning one is to at least do some mild trails. I could totally understand f it was a very rare LV or a fj25. But a 40 isn't that rare. Although I would never drive a 40 in the salt though.
Wool is pretty dirt, water and stain resistant....in fact about the only things I have seen stain wool are blood and wine. And since we don’t drink and drive....and I don’t plan using it in a Tarantino movie....I think it’s fine.

In fact this is the 2nd wool interior for this rig...the first one in 93 because the New Mexico desert sun had turned the original grey vinyl to dust...I found a home upholstery shop in Hobbs NM where the guy had left over material from a living room couch...it was wool and it survived miraculously the 7 years we used the rig as a second car...NM and Eastern Washington desert environments.

Even sitting next to the house from 2000 to 2016, the wool held up...and actually cleaned up pretty presentable. But like most things I do....or overdo....the restoration of this rig got a bit out of hand....and we decided on a southwest interior to go with the history of this FJ40...the original owner was a Lea County New Mexico Sherif, bought it new in Santa Fe (we think).

Now, this rig is not really your typical queen...it’s back in service as a second car....my wife drives the rig daily and it’s parked out front....won’t fit in my garage. Once in a while she....lets....me drive the rig to work....And the younger Jeep/Ford, Chevy/Ram 4x owners DROOL with envy.....
Oh OK I didn't know wool was so stain resistant.
 
I find that unfortunate. They are definitely rugged enough to handle some dirt roads or mild offroad without really any harm. I kinda feel the point of owning one is to at least do some mild trails. I could totally understand f it was a very rare LV or a fj25. But a 40 isn't that rare. Although I would never drive a 40 in the salt though.

Oh OK I didn't know wool was so stain resistant.
Well, I can tell you in the normal days of FJ40, Dogs, mud , kids, etc.. vinyl was easily cleanable. I own many Pendleton blankets and they are very nice, and collectable. My kids would be in muck and walk all over seats , and the dog as well. So, what I am saying is that. Dust, and normal seat wear is fine but try what I just said.
 
Wool is pretty dirt, water and stain resistant....in fact about the only things I have seen stain wool are blood and wine. And since we don’t drink and drive....and I don’t plan using it in a Tarantino movie....I think it’s fine.

In fact this is the 2nd wool interior for this rig...the first one in 93 because the New Mexico desert sun had turned the original grey vinyl to dust...I found a home upholstery shop in Hobbs NM where the guy had left over material from a living room couch...it was wool and it survived miraculously the 7 years we used the rig as a second car...NM and Eastern Washington desert environments.

Even sitting next to the house from 2000 to 2016, the wool held up...and actually cleaned up pretty presentable. But like most things I do....or overdo....the restoration of this rig got a bit out of hand....and we decided on a southwest interior to go with the history of this FJ40...the original owner was a Lea County New Mexico Sherif, bought it new in Santa Fe (we think).

Now, this rig is not really your typical queen...it’s back in service as a second car....my wife drives the rig daily and it’s parked out front....won’t fit in my garage. Once in a while she....lets....me drive the rig to work....And the younger Jeep/Ford, Chevy/Ram 4x owners DROOL with envy.....
I am confused. If this is the second wool interior, you said the vinyl was turned to dust. Was the first wool somewhere in there ? I know vinyl turns, I live in Arizona. And, if your resto got out of hand, it obviously is not worked hard in the environment. And that was my point in the first place, wool is really nice if it does not get beat and abused as FJ40 was designed to provide the market. That is all.
 
I am confused. If this is the second wool interior, you said the vinyl was turned to dust. Was the first wool somewhere in there ? I know vinyl turns, I live in Arizona. And, if your resto got out of hand, it obviously is not worked hard in the environment. And that was my point in the first place, wool is really nice if it does not get beat and abused as FJ40 was designed to provide the market. That is all.

I bought the 68 in 92 and it had what was left of the original interior (I think anyway).....grey vinyl, the rear benches were recovered black vinyl. So that my wife could drive the beast, I found a local mom and pop upholstery shop in Hobbs USA NM....and I was looking for something cheap....he had remnants from a couch that he just finished....kind of a green grey striped wool....

We had 2 Newfoundland dogs, 2 boys at the time and would load her up and explore the desert in Southeast NM. The wool seats are cool to sit on in the summer and warm in the winter.....never burn your leg....and never have to to wait for the heated seats to finally...get warm.

Wen I restored the rig in 2017 and 2018, we knew we wanted wool seats again, just didn’t know exactly. My wife and 22 year old daughter picked the colors and came up with the Pendleton blanket ideal....the upholstery shop we used for the restoration, came up with sewing the Pendleton tags back in.

I live in South Central WA, 100 degree summers, fairly mild but cold winters....seats are comfortable all year.

Wool isn’t for everyone....but if you have a daily driver...and looking at easy trail drives or mall crawling....it’s not a bad option.
 

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