Template for filler piece at rear of cab headliner

If you’ve removed the van headliner, you’ll be left with a gap where the cab area headliner stops.

We filled this gap with a fabric-covered piece of plywood. Several people asked us for a template for this piece, so here it is.

Here’s the gap we’re talking about. It’s a weird shape.

Cab headliner hole cover

Here’s the template for the space behind the cab area headliner you need to recreate that shape.

We decided you were more likely to have access to U.S. Letter sized paper than Tabloid, so once you print out the template, you’ll need to cut out the two pieces and tape them together.  After doing this, check that the template is the right shape before you commit it to plywood. You might need to trim it slightly.

Luckily, covering it in foam and fabric covers any minor imperfections. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to put spacers behind it where necessary, then stick it in place. We used VHB tape. Magnets or velcro would probably work well too.

We hope this saves you a couple of minutes of cursing with cardboard cutouts!

13 Replies to “Template for filler piece at rear of cab headliner”

  1. Thanks for taking time to post this. Definitely saved some cursing for me. I have the cutout but am here scratching my head how to use vhb tape to stick it to the van? Please shed some light.

    1. Pujan – at the top, the template touches up against the metal of the van. At the bottom, you need a spacer (~1-1/4″ deep if I remember) made of hard foam, wood, or similar, to get the template piece at the right distance away from the metal bracket near the top of the plastic b-pillar cover. I’ll see if I have a photo somewhere that describes what I mean.

  2. Hey guys – thank you for putting this out there! Have you thought about building a headliner shelf? We’ve tried to solve the affordabillity/aesthetics issue by putting out a DIY kit. Check it out at Vancillary.com and let me know if you are interested!

    1. Sean, that’s a pretty brazen product plug. I like what you’ve done with the shelf bracket kit, but $110 for four brackets and a template is a lot of money. Definitely cheaper than RB Components’ shelf at $420, but not what I would call DIY-level affordable. Although I appreciate that it’s a different scale of operation, our philosophy was to put the template we made out there for free for the rest of the DIY community.

      1. Certainly. Apologies for the outward facing nature of the post – no direct contact information is available on your site. Appreciate your content nonetheless.

        1. Hi, we ended up buying the RB Components shelf. We bought it from Amazon because (crazily) it ended up cheaper that way.

          We added up the costs to us in terms of time and hassle of templating, cutting, bending, and installing our own shelf and decided to pay their price instead. There are cheaper versions out there – for about $100 less you can get an unpainted aluminum one that would look good if you covered it in Interweave fabric to match your van interior.

          We will do a write-up about the easy install of the RB Components shelf some time soon.

          1. Ah. I ended up begin Vancillary’s Kit. It was actually REALLY easy and well worth the $120. Arrived in 2 business days and took 3-4 hours to put together (I didn’t end up gluing, so I saved that time). I would highly recommend it – $420 vs $120 and a little elbow grease well worth the spend. I think everyone does their van differently and has different priorities but as long as you enjoy the process and love the outcome, that is all that matters!!

  3. Same here with the template from Vancillary saved time but I replaced it with Barrel Nuts ,instead of the supplied cheap bolts and nuts. Barrel Nuts makes it nice flush. No sharp edges allowed in a Van!

  4. If people are looking at shelves I got the whitetop van shelf for ~$200. At the price and quality its well worth it over doing DIY

  5. Great site with helpful write ups. Just wanted to make sure people are aware the foam blocks in the front cab are intentional and designed to prevent head injury in a crash. Removing them negates this safety design.

Leave a Reply