Im in the process of pretty much rebuilding an 84 z28 inside and out.
This car has the 5.0 H.O. engine and automatic trans. I have taken the interior totally out from except for dash panel and shifter. The car had the round leather wrapped ****, which was looking is age like hell. Anyhow will a **** from a later model 3rd gen work with the current shifter or need to swap out the entire assembly?

Have you thought about an aftermarket **** possibly? I'm not sure what year the ***** are interchangeable. I know it will fit, your problem will be making stay since I've heard (I own a Firebird) that the round shiftknobs have a bolt on top of them, while the newer ***** have the "staple" clip that holds them in, but I'm not 100% sure, I've never owned a Camaro...

In my '85 Z28, it had the hard, round "8-ball" style shifter ****. It is held in by a 'c-clip' on top of the ****, and the button goes on top of that against the plastic piece which pushes the lever down for shifting out of park. The newer style shifter ***** won't interchange. I had to get a whole shifter assembly for mine and just swapped it out. Not a big chore. I'm not sure, but I think the "8-ball" style shifter is a rare unit (and by that, I don't mean highly sought after lol), and in my opinion, should just be taken out and tossed and replaced by a newer one. There is also an issue of shaft size as well that makes them next to impossible to fit a newer style **** on. Right now I have a trans am shifter handle on and it seems out of place, will be searching for the camaro style soon, but for now it works and it works well.

yea thanks guys, i have it off already, i know about the staple retainer on newer handles, its same as a monte carlo ss.
Im looking for a entire interior so i will add the shifter assembly to my list also.