Headliner Removal

Today I did the job I have been putting off since I started this resto-mod/rat rod because it is a horrible disgusting crappy job and the mice have left me gifts. Today I removed the Headliner and the rear window decking.

The decking was no big deal to remove as it was so rotted from mice urine and water damage it fell apart as I removed it, but the headliner, well, that's a whole other level of disgusting.

The mice had made a home(s) in the headliner when the previous owner had it stored in a field behind one of his barns for many years. The mice had nesting, soy beans, corn, mouse poo and of course mouse urine which by the way leaves a lovely smell throughout the whole vehicle. bleh! Note to all you who store your vehicles in fields behind barns, for cripes sakes put moth balls or some kind of mouse deterrent in your vehicles so the mice don't take up residence and piss and crap and store food in your stored vehicle. It's putrid, disgusting, gross, and just plain nasty to have mouse droppings or their nests falling on you while you take things apart. Gives me the shivers just thinking about what I just did. I basically destroyed the old headliner while removing it from the vehicle.

My buddy Dick from South Dakota told me that I needed to color code the bows or keep them in order while I disassembled the head liner or when it came time to re-assemble them in the new headliner I would be in trouble.

Each bow only fits where it's supposed to and no where else. Some of them are too similar in length and you could confuse them with each other and then when it comes to reassembly it will be wrong and very noticeable, not to mention a pain in the ass to take it all apart and reassemble it again. As of right now the bows are still in the old headliner laying on my garage floor, it was so nasty and the smell was so horrible I took it out of the car and just threw it on the floor.

The next time I work on the car I will properly remove and mark each and every bow from the old headliner to make sure that it goes back in the new headliner in its proper place.

I fell very icky, dirty, nasty, smelly and any other adjectives you can come up with for disgusting smelly mouse piss and poop oder. Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. Gross!

Ok, enough whining, here are some pictures.

Below is the headliner after removal of course.

It smells horrible!

Rear decking is moldy and water/mouse piss damaged.

(Below) Rear decking removed. Headliner also removed

Yes, the white stuff on the roof (below) is from a mouse home. I vacuumed the whole roof area and removed all that crap. Icky.

The next thing I plan to do to the car is to power wash it and wet sandblast the floor of the trunk and interior to determine how much of the flooring needs to be replaced.

I'm not sure how I will get the car out of my garage because it's on jack stands and all the wheels and bearings have been thrown out, but I'll figure it out.

Until next time. Keep your wheels on the ground.