Above all - a new roof lining
Written by am
After removing the original roof lining, we decided to not reassemble it. Instead, we designed and built our own ceiling that is tailored to our requirements.
At the time we bought our vehicle, the original, beige-colored roof lining was incomplete. The existent parts looked shabby; a cleaning attempt to get rid of the filth failed. The headliner now is grey, functional and in our opinion a feast to the eyes. We are very happy with the decision not to reintegrate the original roof lining and to design a new one instead.
Pieces of heaven
The do-it-yourself ceiling consists of three parts. The first part, into which two loudspeakers and a shelf had been incorporated, hangs above the cockpit. Since the new roof lining lays higher than the original one, we gained some headroom, which contributes a lot to making the cockpit a real comfort zone.
View into the box with the lifted slatted frame.As the creation of storage space was always an issue, this should somehow also happen when constructing the new headliner. At the same time, we had to find a solution for the two crossbars in our vehicle which would be permanently visible (and did not really look appealing) if the original roof lining would not go back in.
The hanging box
Thus, we had the idea to mount a hanging box between the two crossbars. This box runs from the driver’s and co-driver’s heads to the middle of the back doors. Since an entry into the car via the back doors was not foreseen anymore, the hanging box would not be obstructive at this spot. The box forms the middle section of our self-built ceiling and is only accessible if you lift the slatted frame.
The slatted frame "disappears"
In the rear area of the car we used the slatted frame above our heads for the third part of the headliner. A three millimeter thick plywood panel was screwed on the underside of the slatted frame. This hides away the slats and therewith creates a uniform-looking roof lining. In addition, we were able to incorporate two LED spotlights and a socket. Further, plenty of electric cable that run across the car were hidden properly behind this construction.
All three parts of our new roof lining had been clothed with carpet.
