# A little progress and a headliner bow question



## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

The headliner bows on my 66 were taken out at some point and mixed up, I put them back in today in the following front to back order. The two shortest ones in #1 and #2 position, longest one in #3 position and 2nd longest in last. Also, the inner structure has 3 holes for each bow end, I put them all in the bottom hole. Is this correct? I just got the area behind the dash all painted up and the new firewall pad installed, heater box got new seals, core & painted, VERY time consuming stuff!


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Sorry to say, no one knows. That's the reason that there are 3 holes on each side and why it's important to keep the bows in the same order and use the same holes they came out of. They had to "mess with it" at the factory to get everything to fit right. I assume that was because very small variances in how the body shell was built and welded together can make a difference in how the headliner fits, even between two cars that were in sequence coming down the assembly line. 

I myself would sure like to know how they figured out how to fit them and which holes to use as the cars were coming down the line because surely, they had to get that done quickly.

Lucky for me, when I took my car apart to restore it I'd heard already that it mattered to keep them in order and to record which holes they came out of on both sides, so I did.

Take this with a grain of salt because I personally really do not know the "right" way to figure it out, but perhaps an approach might be to measure the distance from each bow to the roof sheet metal at both ends, near the drip rails, and also at several points between the ends and the middle of each bow and adjust until you get that distance at the corresponding points the same, front to back?

Bear


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## O52 (Jan 27, 2019)

The rods were originally bare steel and color coded at the tips. These are mine after I repainted them. After 50 years the paint was very faint. Pick a hole depending on how tight you want the headliner. Most I've seen were in the middle.


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

Yes, I had a yellow and a blue, which were the shortest of the 4, I put them in first, I'll try the middle hole. Thanks!


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## Sick467 (Oct 29, 2019)

Here's the photos of my 67. I'm sure that they varied, but this will give you a place to start. The first photo shows all the rods in order from right to left corresponding to front to back...











Front #1 and #2, seemed to be identical, the 3rd was just a paper coated rod, #4 was the longest, and #5 (the rearmost one) was just a bit shorter than #4. Here's the photos of their hole locations...


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## Sick467 (Oct 29, 2019)

Continued...



















My hole locations may not mean much to your build, but I would get the rods installed all by themselves before the headliner is even taken out of the box and shoot for a snug fit at the center cross brace and a nice even gap between the rods and roof all the way across. That's where I'd start, then make notes, remove the rods, apply to headliner, and reinstall. The next photo shows the original rod configuration since the mice got to my headliner and I just cut it out leaving the rods as was done in the factory.


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

Very nice, thanks for posting! According to your photos, my rods are in the correct order by length, luckily # 3 paper coated was never removed. I'm going to install my own headliner, so I'll follow your recommendations. Thanks!


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## Olds455 (Mar 31, 2014)

This thread made me get mine out of storage. My dad took this car apart 30 years ago. Luckily he labeled the bows. All but the center have some light blue paint on one end. The others have what appears to be red, white, or yellow. It’s so faded that it’s hard to tell the difference between the yellow and white. Could be that the yellow used to be white. I lab them anew, as the 30 year old tape was very brittle. Not sure if this helps, but here are some pics.


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## Olds455 (Mar 31, 2014)

Did you or do you plan to rewrap the center in paper?

BTW, my pics are of my 65.


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## Colorado67GTO (Sep 11, 2014)

When I did mine, I put all the rods back where they were originally, but once I was doing final fit, the back didn’t fit like I wanted it to, so I experimented with different holes to get the best dry fit. 

There are are going to be small variations in the fit of the headliner and based on how far back you cut the rod pockets. 

Go go slow and cut small.


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## Sick467 (Oct 29, 2019)

Olds455 said:


> Did you or do you plan to rewrap the center in paper?...


The paper wrapped middle one touches all the way across the roof brace. I suspect the paper wrap is to reduce the likelihood that it would rub through the headliner cloth, eventually.

I'd give it a layer of electrical tape or masking tape just to be particular.


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

I thought for sure I'd be the only one with this headliner problem and the thread would receive little to no replies, but looks like it's a thing most restorers deal with. I had the shop that put the new AMD roof skin on, go ahead and paint it up during the install, I just finished painting behind the dash and am doing the floors next. My rods are the same shape as all the ones in the photos, looks to me that #1 & #2 are the only ones that are the same, #3 is a wire, #4 and #5 have slightly different bends and length. I think I'll start off with the rods in the middle holes, rewrap #3 and see what I end up with. I certainly appreciate all the help, and I'll post some more progress photos when I get a little further along. I was wanting to start a build thread, but I'm not too computer savvy and only have a flip phone available to me during weekdays, which is the only time I work on the GTO. Thanks everyone, for all the help, I'm slowly putting this basket case back together.


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

A little more about that roof skin. It was ordered thru Keystone, came in an AMD box marked 66-67 Chevelle, my body man couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't fit a Pontiac, but he took measurements from a 67 chevelle he had in the shop, they were the same. I was worried that the new skin may be like an oil can in strength, but it installed without problems and feels as strong, maybe stronger than an original one. AMD sells good stuff.


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## GtoFM (Mar 23, 2018)

FWIW my ‘64 bows front to rear:
Left - yel, blu, bare, blu, wht, all lower holes
Right - blu, yel, bare, red, blu, all middle holes
I was able to save the original headliner (Ahhh that smell!) to compare size and, as Colorado suggested, the cut back of the rod pockets.


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## Duff (Jan 12, 2020)

Thanks for the info, much appreciated!


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