Headlining and sunroof

Headlining and sunroof is done !

This headlining business is something that has been whirling around in my head for years, ever since I picked up the samba... its a big job that needs to be done right....

Here in Sweden the options to get a professional to install a headlining correctly are low, The VW seen here is mainly diy types which is great, but also means that companies are not specializing or have much experience when it comes to the dreaeded 23 window headliner fitting !
 well compared to the UK that is, which is of course what I compare everything with. In the UK you have the best in the business and many companies to choose from who all have installed many headliners and sunroofs on window buses...

So for the last few years I have been checking headlining out on buses in Scandinavia, met owners who have done it them selves and looked at the details and if it worked. Problem is you can always see that it is a diy job... I contemplated doing it myself many times too, read all there was on the net about it but in the end I bit the bullet and decided that it was worth getting a pro job... but at what cost ?
I had thought about asking a talented trimmer to come to the garage to install, maybe from the UK but it does take a lot of time and normally they want to do it at their pace and in their own work shop with their tools, which I can totally understand.

Late in 2016 I started asking around and narrowed it down to 2 places in the Stockholm area who seemed good enough to do the Job, in the end I went for a guy who I knew 1st hand of his work, it was a guy called Pedro who runs an interior business for boats and cars downtown Stockholm. I also knew that he had done a pretty tidy Job on lelles sunroof, so I made contact, sent many pictures and began preparing all the parts. Soon he said he had a window of time and that I could bring the bus over one sunday - so we did that.

dropping off

Lewis helping and Travis snapping

The Sunroof I had been picking apart and had already purchased most of the sunroof parts needed:

New front header bow - vw sunroofs
Outer stay-fast cloth sunroof
new slides and fasteners
I had also sanded and painted the steel bows and polished up the aluminum bows.
Id had the golde sunroof handle re chromes in the UK THANKS to Baz.
and I had purchased a whole new headlining in the correct cream/ beige material.


So at the end of March this year it was time to bundle the lot together and trailer the bus to Stockholm.
Just before I checked all the parts using the vw sunroof website and realized I was missing a few things, so I searched around and found the parts and quickly arranged fast shipping as I didnt want to delay Pedro in his work, they came 10 days later due to it being Easter ! Doh !

Niklas giving me a hand collecting and wrapping

Initially Pedro quoted about 10-15000 SEK....
In the end the bill just for labour was over double that and he calculated that he had spent 60 hours on the whole job. But its done and im happy, next put the thing back togther starting with 23 windows to install ; )