[CrashTestDummy]

We're updating some bits in our 92 B4C 1LE Camaro RS ex-Tx DPS car, like headliner and carpet, to start. Both have enjoyed decades of police use and life as a race car. The headliner fell years ago, but since I wasn't DDing it anymore, I didn't worry much, but quietly gathered parts while I was working and tucked them away in our shop. We are finally mostly-done with the restomod of the SVO, so I figured that it was a good time to start on the Camaro. I'm STILL gathering parts, as things have broken and been discovered missing while disassembly progressed.

Since I'm waiting on parts, I figured I'd get the headliner down and unpacked so I can figure out what I need to do for the install. It's one of those ABS things that everyone complains about. When I was buying, the reviews seemed to be all 1's or 5's, and not having much choice, bought one. I think I got it from Hawks, but am unsure. I know they just resell one of the couple that are on the market, so kwality issues really aren't on them.

When I pulled the thing from the bag, I discovered that parts of the material are ALREADY sagging, and it seems the foam between the backing board and material has deteriorated. When you touch the material, it leaves an indentation in the fabric. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif) I'm kind of pi$$ed at this, but also kind of relieved we didn't install this thing only to have it fall while in the car in little time.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. The old headliner board is broken in several places, in spite of trying to go easy with the removal. It was a cheap POS, too, so I'm not sure it can be reused. I'm half-tempted to pull the material off the 'new' ABS board, cleaning it, and then getting and installing some new material, but my last experience with that job years ago was a total failure (headliner on a '83 Impala).

Does anyone know of a good manufacturer to order from? This crap sux!!

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2ZKPNT8xJDYiP.jpg)
Entire new headliner after pulling out of the packaging.

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2ZKPrUrxJDYiP.jpg)
Edge by B-pillar showing sagging material.

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2ZKPrt8xJDYiP.jpg)
Edge of headliner showing depression where it was handled.... a couple of years ago!

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: Apr 15 2025, 09:09 PM

[CrashTestDummy]

Things are slowly coming together on the Camaro. We discovered that the driver's seat base had all the support wires rusted/broken, so we had to take the other seat the car came with originally apart and rob the base from it. I got new foam for that seat, since the old stuff was pretty worn. It seems I found the last set of foam cushions available. Got them from Jeg's. Hopefully the manufacturer is tooling up. for another run of the foam, as there are others out there redoing their seats as they restore they're old Camaros.

The fabric is NLA. It appears that GM had a special pattern made, and it was exclusive to GM. When they went to the 4th Gen body style, they used different patterns, so what was left at GM was sold off, and may no longer be available.

I found a guy who had the proper gray pattern take-offs, so I bought them from him. Sadly, all he had was the. passenger side, so all the holes for the seat adjusters and shoulder belt hook are on the wrong side of the seat. I grabbed some plastic push pins, painted the caps gray and will be inserting those into place when we finally get the seat landed in the car.

After pulling and pushing and hog-ringing the covers into place, the seat really doesn't look that bad. I located some take-off seat rack mount covers (our car was missing much of them), and those will look nice when all is said and done.

I installed the driver's seat the other day. It fought me every inch of the way, but I finally wrestled it into place. After that, I went to attach the above-mentioned mount covers and discovered they won't work on the racks we have for the driver's seat. It appears that rack may be a 4th Gen set. It kind of all made sense as to why the seat wasn't fitting. The 4th Gen racks move the seat about 3/4" inboard, which pinches the seat belt against the console. I also had to loosen the console so it would slide to the right enough to get the driver's seat installed.

I've located a replacement set of seat racks for the driver's side, and they are enroute as I type. Hopefully _that_ finishes the project. The seat fabric is still a little dingy, even after 2 passes at cleaning, but it doesn't look that bad in the car. We'll roll the car out into the sunlight to see how it looks when we finish (and. I can sit in the seat to drive it), but we might be good for cleaning.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the new-old upholstery before the seat went into the car. Next picts will hopefully be the finished interior.


(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2ZwNVGGxJDYiP.jpg)

(IMG:https://media.fotki.com/2v2ZwNVMqxJDYiP.jpg)