As I start to restore the interior on my 83 L69 I have come across something very odd. The overhead panel that covers the rear glass hinge bolts was the same exact material as the entire headliner. The odd thing was it fit perfectly and was cardboard/ fiberboard backed. Was this something GM did in the very first third gens or did someone crack the overhead panel and instead of replaceing it rigged in a cloth wrapped board? All the other third gens I have seen have that POS plastic panel that always cracks like hell. Should I have a brown overhead panel or should it be headliner material? Thanks

 

I can't say 100% for certain on yours, but my old 82 and 83 Z28 both had the plastic panel that cracks. Yours might have been fabricated by someone that got tired of fixing the plastic piece.

 

My 83 had the plastic panel.

Incidently, if you ever take the time to notice, our interior panels are a mix of ABS and polypropalene... the Poly panels are the ones that never crack, the ABS pieces are the ones that are always beat to hell...
ABS panels are the headliner trim, door sills, etc...

 

Was this a interior color matched plastic panel? Seeing I have Dk. brown interior I doubt that I would ever be able to find one of these in good shape. The only one I have ever found was on ebay. Every car I have seen in junk yards has been cracked. Hell even Jason E 89 rs that was flawless had a ****ty panel. I have a black one that is perfect and will probably scuff up the back and fiberglass reinforce it so it will not crack and wrap it in headliner material. I refuse to paint any panel and this seems like my best option. Any other ideas?

 

The way they usually break is that the plastic under the screws pulls thru. The way I work around this is to glue a 1" square piece of plastic over the screw hole, then drill and countersink it. When the panel is installed the screws cover the repair.

We did this in the Iroc 2 years ago, its been fine since.

 

got me thinking now, i may just repair mine from the backside with plastic and then cover it with same material im gonna recover the headliner with, and use flat head screws painted to close to same color as the material, would be better than whats up there now,..

good luck, getting creative is a fun challenge