Interior Trim ?'s - Get Rid of These Pieces or Not

[Steve Mikkelson]

Looking for opinions, ideas and any  knowledge on the interior trim for the three following considerations:

1.  Should I keep/replace the headliner or toss it?  Does it provide much sound dampening?  Does the headliner have any other purpose than sound dampening?   I know there will be mounting holes to deal with if I don't keep the trim around the headliner.  I could have the mounting rectangles and holes welded in and painted though.

2.  The rear cab trim from the floor up over the shoulder seatbelt.  I think some call this the "B Pillar."  Every truck I have looked at has severely compromised paint and the material is degrading. Options to replace, refinish or simply ad the small seat belt covers that I have noticed on other models.

3.  Carpet behind the seat, does it provide much sound dampening? There can't be any other reason for it is there?

[PetesPonies]

Your thoughts are correct . .do not need any of them. But the non headliner trucks had small covers over the upper seat belt anchors. if you go without  headline, find some of those.

[Ford F834]

Welcome to the forum! You can convert to non-headliner as mentioned, at least on regular cab trucks. But if your cardboard is okay you can recover it with new headliner cloth and plastics can be painted with vinyl paint if they are still structurally solid enough. The headliner and carpet wall may offer a bit of sound deadening and insulating factor but I wouldn’t say it is drastically different. I am in the process of ~adding the headliner trim to mine and it’s mostly about the cosmetics. A headliner *can, however, allow you to put something like dyno mat sound deadening material on the roof and rear wall and cover it up. That probably would make a difference if you used something like that. You are correct that replacements for the B pillars are not available and good used ones are getting harder to find. If yours are not salvageable then going to a non-headliner trim may be an option. Remember though that the A pillar pieces are also different (for the non-headliner models) and replicas are not available. It is hard to find used non- headliner A pillar covers that are not cracked at the screw hole.

[1986F150Six]

PetesPonies wrote

Your thoughts are correct . .do not need any of them. But the non headliner trucks had small covers over the upper seat belt anchors. if you go without  headline, find some of those.

I have two.

[Steve83]

Steve Mikkelson wrote

Does it provide much sound dampening?

I think so - it certainly did in my Bronco.

Steve Mikkelson wrote

Does the headliner have any other purpose than sound dampening?

Thermal insulation & cosmetic.  This shows the brand of material I found locally, and the rest of the album shows how I wrapped some GM visors.

Steve Mikkelson wrote

I know there will be mounting holes to deal with if I don't keep the trim around the headliner.

So whether you keep the headliner or not, keep the trim.  This & the NEXT few show the various trim configurations:

Steve Mikkelson wrote

...the "B Pillar."  ... Options to replace, refinish or simply ad the small seat belt covers that I have noticed on other models.

Get trim from a newer truck.

Steve Mikkelson wrote

Carpet behind the seat, does it provide much sound dampening?

Pull it (only) & find out.