I'm about to remove the headliner on a hardtop car, how do I remove the sail panels?? Will the cloth part just slip out once the clothes hanger hook is removed or do I have to take off everything bolted to the plastic part? (the seat back hooks, the seat bottoms, rear part of the window trim, etc)

Thanks

 

Just take off cloths hanger screw, will slid right off.

 

Once the hook is off, you need to lift up before pulling off. There are tabs that fit in and push down to install. Make sure you do that when installing them.

 

Thanks! I figured it came out pretty easy but it's those things that I end up breaking a tab off of

 

That trim piece is huge. You need to remove the rear seat backs and bottoms to get them out. That rear trim overlaps the side trim so it has to come out too.

 

I see the plastic part of the sides is huge, but I think I only need to remove the cloth covered part to get the headliner board out.

 

You are probably right. The headliner stops right at that trim.

 

Yep, took the hanger hook screw out and the cloth part just lifts right out.
I also had to take the top screw out of the plastic part to give me extra flexibility, its the one inline with the rest of the rear hatch part on each side.

 

Are you recovering the headliner? Did you find a good match to the original?

 

Hey 2QUIK6 when you get to the pillars let me know how that goes. If you don't brake all the clips, maybe you could get a picture of one and put it on here. I am going to do mine soon. But I am trying to get all the parts I will need to put it back together right. Good luck man

 

These are the A pillar clips.
http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/GM_...0_p/a16865.htm
There is a later design with a piece of foam on it to stop rattling, but they sell for about 4 bucks apiece. You can do the same thing with some weatherstrip or use these as is.

 

That pic is actually for the part that is along the roof line on the A-pillar part for hardtop cars.
First remove the vertical piece that is at the rear of the window, the B-pillar I believe it is called (This part also has a white push in clip connecting it to the sail panel plastic gently pry apart) , then gently side the top part of the A-pillar piece to the rear and gently pull down, that way the entire clip is not engaged with the a-pillar piece, I don't think its possible to slide it far enough to the rear to completely release the slits on that clip. Then gently pull the section that is on the A-pillar straight off perpendicularly. The part directly beside the front windshield has white push in clips.
I got it all off without breaking anything. It may be tomorrow before I can get pics and upload.

 

There is a interior shop right down the road from me that appears to have the exact match cloth, they have all the code books to lookup and match to.
Now that the headliner is completely out, I'll be able to tell better just how good it matches, but their sample looked to be an perfect match. This is going in my hardtop /cloth TTA 28k miles, 1 of 15 car, so I'll make sure it does now that its out. Will take it to them next week, will update here if it does, I am having the sail panels done also as they looked dirty once I got them out, couldn't tell in car.
Oh, this is a beechwood color interior.

 

Ok, took me a while, not to get the pics, but to figure out how to get them uploaded to my new Mac..I just switched from Windows to a Mac..so far so good except the photo part is a pita..

This pic shows the back side of the top part of the A-pillar piece, this part is above the door window, as you can see, the clips in the previous post would slide into the slots shown here..have to pull the trim piece back towards the rear of the car then pull down to get off.


This is the Passenger side A-pillar trim piece. This pic shows the back side of the part that snaps to the A-pillar, the 2 white push pins hold in in place, pull off gently after getting the top/upper part above door window off. Get new push pins to install at local part store, generic GM type.


Pic of the A-pillar after trim removal (Driver side), see the 2 slots where the push pins insert.


Pic looking back towards the B-pillar, see the clips up top that were shown in previous post link...also note the hole in the sail panel plastic where the b-pillar trim has a push pin that goes there.


Hope that helps you