Clutches 1987 E-34

I have purchased new clutches from Garhaur and I have a headliner question. What is the best way to access the clutch backing plates as there are no zippers were the clutches are located. Is there a trick to un-installing the headliner. Any recomendations would be great.
Thanks

I've replaced/added clutches to my 1987 E-34 and thought there were zippers. mostly it is a question of snaking your arm and a wrench to the screws. I think I also removed the trim pieces and the staples to allow me to get to the new screw locations on the port side. Be careful when removing the staples as there is not a lot of extra material.

When you are done pull the vinyl tight and re-staple it in place.

BTW, I'll be down the in a couple of weeks and can show you how to do it before we go sailing.

When you re-staple, spend the little extra money to use Monel staples. I am still amazed that Ericson cut this corner. They did such a beautiful job contructing the rest of the boat and then only saved about $20 to use mild steel rather than Monel staples.

If you go to your HW store and ask for monel staples, they may look at you funny. Arrow does make them and usually only the better equiped HW stores carry them. Expect to pay about $20 a box.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the zippers in the headliners were optional. So some may not have them.

I've looked at the ones in my boat and some of them seem to be very stiff. I'm afraid to try to open them for fear that they will be damaged and won't close again!

Zippers

Here is a thread with a link to an article on fixing zippers:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=2556

If the link is no longer good I have a copy of the article.

Many of the zippers on my boat were stuck. So every time I went to the boat, I work them just a little bit and eventually I got them all operational except for one that I broke the tab off of. I have always thought of using a water pik to try and clean the gunk out to make them move. I can try that theory on this last one that refuses to budge.

Thanks! The link to the article was still good. Now I have another little project waiting for me...