Pictures with Headliner Dropped?

[chrisl]

I'm about to drill holes in the roof of my SE to mount some permanent Yakima towers (landing pad 7 plus control towers). I've been poking around inside the headliner with a boroscope, and while it's pretty busy in there, it looks like there's quite a bit of clearance before I run into anything.  I've got everything all measured up for where I think I want to mount things, but I figured I'd check in here first to see if someone had dropped their headliner and taken pictures, or has a repair manual or anything with some details between the liner and the roof.

 

What I've seen so far looks like all the airbags are outside the gutters, but there are some electroncis boxes (the airbag controllers?) mounted to the headliner just inside the gutters and above, or maybe just forward of, the B pillars.  It's a little tricky looking around because there's an egg-crate-ish plastic liner between the headliner and the roof above the driver and passenger seats (is this what they were installing in the recall?).  I've been running the scope through the hole for the overhead console-- it pops in and out easily and has a lot of room to work with.  I also ran it a little under the rear corners with the hatch up, but it's a tight fit and hard to feed and maneuver through there.

 

As far as where the mounts are going to go-- right now it looks like the best spot is 20" back of the edge of the windshield glass for the center of the forward mounts, with the centers of the feet 1.5" inboard of the inner edge of the gutter.  This ends up being just forward of the B pillar.  The center of the rear mount will be 33" back of that, and 1.25" inboard of the edge of the gutter (the roof seems less stiff at 1.5" in for the rear mount).  This ends up just aft of the back of the 2nd row doors.  I could move the whole thing forward somewhat to keep clear of the boxes over the B pillars, but that will start to get onto the down slope of the roof, though it might also make it so I can mount the cargo box on top and still open the hatch all the way.

[C-MaxSea]

Argh, shame on me.  I had mine down in order to replace the sunscreen, and forgot to take photos - sorry.  My apologies.  I can only attest that it takes a fair amount of time (for me being extra careful, a few hours) to dismantle the perimeter trim in order to 'hang' the liner from front to back, minimizing the work up front and working from back to front.  Good luck, and take good pictures ;).  Nick

[chrisl]

You can maybe help anyway-- I'm looking to drill about 1.5" inboard of the inside edge of the rain gutters.  The forward set of holes will be about 15"-17" back from the edge of the windshield, and the aft set of holes will be 33"-36" back of that.  Do you recall it being pretty clear in those areas?  If not, I might go ahead and pull it myself, but I'm trying to avoid it.  I can get the scope into the forward area pretty easily, but the back area is hard to reach conclusively.  Unfortunately the scope can't save pictures, or I'd post those.

 

Also, how tricky was it to pull, and is it hard to avoid breaking clips?  I looked at some notes on pulling the headliner in a Focus and it sounded like it's easy to break clips.

[rek]

I have a couple photos of the rear of the headliner pulled down in this post:

 

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/1332-adding-a-cargo-net-to-the-c-max/

 

It's probably not much help because it doesn't show anything forward of the rear foot or so, but at least it's something.

 

Two other posts to consider regarding Yakima roof racks:

 

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/309-just-bought-the-first-ford-c-max-sel-in-albuquerque-area-from-rich-ford-edgewood-nm/

 

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchResults.action?searchType=PROD&prodType=V&targetCategory=A&activeTab=1&searchCriteria.model_yr=2013&searchCriteria.make=FORD&searchCriteria.model=FOCUS&searchCriteria.prod_ids=1619812

 

Good luck!

[chrisl]

I have a couple photos of the rear of the headliner pulled down in this post:

 

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/1332-adding-a-cargo-net-to-the-c-max/

 

It's probably not much help because it doesn't show anything forward of the rear foot or so, but at least it's something.

 

Thanks! -  I had seen the post from bkawaii about using the Q-towers but was a little squeamish about using Q-clips that weren't necessarily correct for the vehicle.  The shape of the frame above the doors seems to make it easy for clips to slip.  I hadn't seen the recall notice though!  Given the recall on the 128 clips, I'm glad I didn't go that way.  Thule racks had a similar problem on the Saturn SW series-- the thule system clamped to the outside of the plastic moldings above the doors, which wasn't very secure, and I read of some flying off.  The yakima install for the saturn had you remove the molding and clamp directly to the metal lip, then put the molding back on.  It's been rock solid for me for ~13 years. 

 

Your headliner pic is useful. I was reluctant to pull too hard to look inside, and it's hard to feed the scope in from the back, but it looks like you just pried it down and propped it open with a box.  That would give me clear access to see if I'm going to hit anything for the rear mounts, and I think I can get a clear view with the scope for the front mounts if I move them forward.  Between work and holiday commitments I haven't had time to go ahead with the mount, but I the delay seems to be helping me out.

[chrisl]

I did my rack install friday and saturday, and took some pics with the headliner all the way down.  They're in my media section and in this post: http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/3406-installing-yakima-landing-pads-and-control-towers/ along with a description of the removal.

[rek]

Very ambitious project, very beautiful result! Since you had the headliner dropped, it was a good time to add the dome light to the cargo area. I am sure you will enjoy years of trouble-free service from these modifications. Thanks for the details and photos.

 

All the best, stay safe.

REK