As most (if not all) of you know, the 'unsticking' of the the headlining fabric in a 131 is a very common occurance, and is highly annoying
. Both my Abarth and Racing suffer from this and I have spent lots of money in trying to affect a suitable, permanent repair.
The problem is that most glues are able to stick the fabric, but they also have an adverse reaction with the expanded polystyrene head liner itself
The other problem is that the glue needs to be strong enough to hold the weight of the vinyl covering in place and not be affected by long periods of heat, etc.
Theo has written a very detailed piece for the replacement of the headlining, albeit for a Lancia Gamma and not the 131, however the priniciple is the same. (Perhaps you can post a link here too please Theo?
), the thing is it doesn't mention whether the original headlining in the Gamma is made of the same material (expanded polystyrene foam) as the 131.
A specialist trimmer that I use spent ages trying to find a suitable glue that was strong enough to hold the new fabric whilst not affecting (by which I mean melting
) the polystyrene liner. Between us, we found a glue that fitted the bill (it was actually a glue used for fixing polystyrene bathroom tiles and came from a DIY store
). It has held the new roof fabric in the Abarth for the last 2 and a half years, but it is now starting to 'let go'.
I have been toying with the idea of removing the fabric from the liner completely and spray painting it in white/ivory. I could totally remove the liner from the car but I tried this recently and after a 20 mile drive in the car got out with ringing in my ears - which lasted for days afterwards
So guys, what have you all used to fix your head lining problems?
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