Pro

I had a 91 z28 10 years ago and might get a 92 here soon. 10 years later, how much harder is it to find replacement parts? Dashboards, door panels, seats, fuel injectors, etc. Also is there anything from the 5th generation that may be backwards compatible with the 3rd?

jpearcy1

iTrader: (1)

Yes and No. From my experience you can still get majority of the parts needed but quality and fitment are issues (ex. door panels, head liners, & so on). Several companies have start reproducing parts but I can not speak of price, quality, fit, etc.

For the 5th gen compatible parts I know of none.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

There are virtually NO OEM any of those things left. Here and there, hit or miss; good luck. Pickings are mighty slim these days and getting slimmer by the minute.

There are virtually NO repop parts available for ANYTHING that fits these cars. Just read this forum: 99.999% of the people on here want stuff for free and even P&M about paying for shipping. No one in their right mind is going to tool up to serve such a market. I have never seen, heard of, or even heard mention of, a repop door panel or dash or ANY OTHER major interior part, most likely for that very reason.

You can have your headliner re-lined at your local upholstery shop. Nobody is EVER gonna repop those under those conditions. Somebody used to make an ABS plastic substrate to replace the weenie thing our cars came with but I haven't seen it or heard it mentioned for about 15 yrs now, probably again for the same reason... they probably got tired of people saying how they'd love to have one, but then when it was made available, all they wanted to do was bitch about that it wasn't free.

Fuel injectors are completely universal, except that to use certain of the more modern ones, you have to file or grind about 1/8" or so off of the bosses on the intake where the fuel rail sits.

I doubt that ANY 5th gen parts will fit our cars without major effort. Time will tell as folks put forth the effort; but, seems to me, there's a fairly clean break between 50s/60s designs like ours, and stuff from this century. Not a whole lot of interchange. Just having the same word on the stickers doesn't make the parts bolt up. It would be cool if ways could be found though. Maybe when enough 5th gen cars are in the junkyards that the parts are near free, enough 3rd gen owners - whoever they are THEN - will quit complaining about what the parts cost and will exert themselves instead of ... the other, like the owners of them today do for the most part.

Can you tell I'm a bit cynical about the "economic sensitivity" surrounding these cars these days?

Pro

Things have really changed then in the last 10 years. I remember i was able to get a new headliner, sun visors, seats from a 4th gen, carpet, door panels, and a bunch of other stuff brand new.
Maybe someday Dormin will start making parts for Camaros like they do for the trucks.

jpearcy1

iTrader: (1)

Interior Pieces
http://www.hawksmotorsports.com/82-9...s-accessories/

Headliners
http://www.1aauto.com/search?q=headl...r=1987&model=8

Direct fit injectors (for TPI)
http://www.southbayfuelinjectors.com...uel-injectors/

So your saying no one makes or sells these parts, that is a bit odd.

Now I completely agree that everyone seems to nickle and dime replacement parts but if someone is willing to search and pay the costs, parts can still be found for our cars.

It depends on what the person is looking for and willing to pay for. As I mentioned above these parts are available but I can not speak of the quality of all said parts.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Most of the reproduction parts I've seen are so far off from the real thing that I wouldn't use them on anything but a POS beater. They're rather like 4th gen parts, they look better than a trashed original part or nothing at all, but they're not even close to the real thing.

Some NOS parts can be found if you look diligently for them. Trouble is everyone is looking for the same parts, and the competition is tough. Then if you do happen to be the early bird and catch the worm, there's a 50/50 chance that the NOS part is going to show up covered in dirt, scuffs or scratches, surface rust, etc. Not to mention that sometimes even NOS parts were superseded, or service parts that weren't always 100% matching to original parts.

In other words, it's kind of like getting kicked repeatedly in the *****, unless you're not concerned with originality and authenticity, but then why would you be asking on this sub-forum?

As far as good used parts, again if it's something YOU need, everyone else probably needs it too. Anything that gives up due to age and exposure is going to be bad on parts cars just the same. Thanks to attitudes and demand for used parts creating a culture where so many thirdgens are junked for minor issues or because they're worth more in parts, there isn't much left out there but garbage.

A person is still further ahead now to buy the nicest car they can afford to start with, because a restoration of any kind will cost more than the car is worth.

Pro

Good info thnx. I noticed that oreillys has at least power steering pumps and o2 sensors lol

SolarGoldRaptor

Mechanical parts aren't a problem, nearly everything is available since the engines were widely used across GM models. I'm not in the US and never got a problem finding parts.

It's interior and specific exterior parts that can be very hard to find. Anything 82-84 is really rare, some are 82 only. Lots of plastic parts made of low quality materials or poorly designed, after 30 years of use they show cracks, wear, scratches, chalkiness...

It's quite nice to have reproduction parts available, but it's useless if these don't look and fit properly.

greenyone

iTrader: (1)

The big one in my book is door parts. Specifically latch mechanisms and window rollers. They seem to be worn out in most cars. Second hand ones are pretty much a waste of money because of that, nobody makes this stuff in the aftermarket and the OEMs appear to have been scooped up years ago.