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You will encounter three components that are important to installation and removal of the headliner:
--plastic trim on the headliner
--ribs running across the headliner
--toothed brackets bolted to the car
To remove do the following:
Remove the metal brackets framing the windshield. Also remove any hardware bolted through the headliner--grab handles, interior light, etc.
Starting at the front or the back, pinch a bit of the headliner and pull away from the center of the car. This is where the plastic trim comes into play. The front and back of the headliner have a hard plastic piece about 1/8 wide attached all the way across. On the car in the front and back are small slits into which these plastic pieces fit. These slits face away from the center of the car and are almost parallel to the roof line. Essentially the headliner covers the slit, then the plastic piece is doubled back against the headliner and allowed to slide back toward the center of the car and into place. (This is a lot harder to explain that it is to see. Just go to the front of the headliner, pull it toward the nose of the car and you will see what I mean.)
After the plast trim is free in the front and back you have to free the sides. This is where the toothed bit comes into play. Along the sides of the car is a metal bar with sharp teeth pointing up. The headliner is slid up between the body and this bar, and the teeth grab the headliner, holding it in place. You have to find a way to life the headliner off the teeth and release it so it can slide back down. I have found it easier to slide a wide, thin piece of wood into that gap and pry the toothed bar away from the body slightly, opening up the space. Once you get this process started it goes pretty smoothly.
To keep the headline from sagging, the car has long, flexible metal bars running across the width of the car. These are slid into pockets of the headliner. One reason these headliners start sagging is that the cloth, muslin pockets can deteriorate. After all the toothed bits are released the headliner will still be in place, but with material hanging down all the way around. Simply start at the front push one end of the bar back, angling it so it is released from the ridgelines of the roof. The only thing holding it in place is spring tension.
Installation is reverse. Just be sure to space the braces properly. Shove the new or repaired headliner up into the toothed areas. I do this with the gap still pried open a bit, then come back with a rubber mallet and tap it into place.
Good luck!
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Tim--'72 ES, '90 240
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