I really want to change the headliner design of the 60 series... (1 Viewer)

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Houston, the lower bowel of TX
I’m just musing here.....I’ve long yearned to change up the headliner design of a 60 series. I really dislike the way the headliner is permanently held in place by the windshield and rear cargo window gaskets. It makes accessing the inner roof surface a major task and limits the ability to use the sheet metal edges and roof ribs to hang accessories, etc. It is prone to rip damage and discoloring with dirt, and just too damn soft looking.

I was just looking through the photo gallery on the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum site and saw these 70/75 series photos and got me thinking again on the subject. Couple examples below...check the edges, the head liner is completely independent of anything else. This would make roof maintenance and sound deadening a lot easier and open up the ability to play around with different fabric designs, etc. These are more utilitarian looking but still clean and classy. I’ve got some ideas, but the 60 roof edges present some challenges.

Has anyone seen this successfully done on a 60 and still look clean and classy?...I’m not talking about bed liner type jobs here.

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The dropped fabric roof of the factory 60 series acts like an attic of sorts. There's a fairly large dead air space between it and the frying pan metal roof that acts like an insulator just like an attic in a house. Without it, the inside of the cruiser would get unbearably hot in the summer and it's unlikely that any of the close fitting fabric/insulators on the 70 series insulate as well.
The underside of the 60 roof without the headliner is hideous to look at. Truly ugliness defined.
 
I've seen headliners where people have used a thick sound/insulation adhesive material to fill the spaces between the reinforcement ribs and then glued a fleece like material over the whole thing and it looked nice.
 
Headliner can be changed to whatever material you want, 60/62s are rather advantageous to upgrade since it is soft fabric pulled tight with rods and wrapped around the window openings. Suede/alcanatara is a nice look, however you just need to stitch in the rod pockets.

If you can get the stock headliner down or a spare, you can get the template and cut out your material. Remove the existing headliner and pad, then replace with sound deadener and lay on a heavier material similar to the red troopy you posted or use a headliner material (usually is foam backed) and spray it in place. I'm not partial to glued down headliners to the roof, for maintenance/servicing, but its your truck!
 
That's how Defender headliners are. Super easy to remove and install.
 
That's how Defender headliners are. Super easy to remove and install.

I took the headliner out of a series III land rover that had been sitting for a while...it dropped down easily enough but the ancient mouse infested horse hair they used as insulation back then was rather grotesque. I assume designs improved for the defender.
 
The dropped fabric roof of the factory 60 series acts like an attic of sorts. There's a fairly large dead air space between it and the frying pan metal roof that acts like an insulator just like an attic in a house. Without it, the inside of the cruiser would get unbearably hot in the summer and it's unlikely that any of the close fitting fabric/insulators on the 70 series insulate as well.
The underside of the 60 roof without the headliner is hideous to look at. Truly ugliness defined.

Headliner can be changed to whatever material you want, 60/62s are rather advantageous to upgrade since it is soft fabric pulled tight with rods and wrapped around the window openings. Suede/alcanatara is a nice look, however you just need to stitch in the rod pockets.

If you can get the stock headliner down or a spare, you can get the template and cut out your material. Remove the existing headliner and pad, then replace with sound deadener and lay on a heavier material similar to the red troopy you posted or use a headliner material (usually is foam backed) and spray it in place. I'm not partial to glued down headliners to the roof, for maintenance/servicing, but its your truck!

All good points, gentlemen...have considered that and more. I’m not a big fan of just gluing crap to sheet metal either.
The goal is to get away from just copying the existing pattern/design and not rely on permanent fixation points like the fixed window gaskets.
It is true, the bare metal roofline of the 60 ain’t pretty, especially around the edges, which makes blending the overhead panels to the edges a challenge. Couple pics I lifted off mud....

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All good points, gentlemen...have considered that and more. I’m not a big fan of just gluing crap to sheet metal either.
The goal is to get away from just copying the existing pattern/design and not rely on permanent fixation points like the fixed window gaskets.
It is true, the bare metal roofline of the 60 ain’t pretty, especially around the edges, which makes blending the overhead panels to the edges a challenge. Couple pics I lifted off mud....

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The dynamat truck could look good with stiffer board/material and use clips in the open holes along the cross beams. Unsightly area would be the perimeter between the doors/windows and roof skin/dynamat area. If you find a material thats thick enough to hold its shape along the roof with the clips I mentioned, but thin enough to be manipulated around the window/perimeter seals and that could work without glue.
 
Found an interesting headliner option in this thread by @goldchaser on his hj61 hi-roof build. Not sure he frequents mud anymore.


He covered the roof panels with what appears to be deadener and glued on covering, not a fan of glue on. Then wrapped the perimeter edge in vinyl using pinch molding. Not sure whats going on with his extra sheet metal chunks though. I like this approach, but instead using removable roof panels that could be covered in whatever material you can imagine would be pretty slick. The roof ribs could support the panels, and probably need to be covered for aesthetics.

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The dynamat truck could look good with stiffer board/material and use clips in the open holes along the cross beams. Unsightly area would be the perimeter between the doors/windows and roof skin/dynamat area. If you find a material thats thick enough to hold its shape along the roof with the clips I mentioned, but thin enough to be manipulated around the window/perimeter seals and that could work without glue.
Yep, panels too could give a little of that attic dead air space @OSS pointed out.
 
My headliner redo consisted of dynamite material, the OEM insulation pads and the SOR vinyl headliner replacement. Tunred out very functional because it is much easier to clean than the OEM fabric material. Something to consider if you exhaust modification options.
 
Well, having started this fantasy thread, I have stared at many many many photos on Mud and at my own truck.

Conclusion, there is not a clean way to delete the factory headliner without fabbing some perimeter trim panels that are beyond my abilities or willingness to pay a lot $$ to have them done. My goal is for this to be a very finished looking end result, not a garage ghetto fab job.

If I had more of a trail type rig I would do something similar to the Aussie rig I posted in post #11 (which is a high roof). The 60 series has some extra challenges around the roof ribs to make it a clean conversion.

Oh well, it was fun to think about the possibility. Still hate the headliner being locked into the fixed windows. 💩
 

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