Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

I'm concentrating a lot more on improving my interior....It's still the original Sandstone grey crap from the early eighties that's impossible to find in good shape. It's a very light gray color...but I am officially colorblind..

I've considered recovering my standard 80's seats with covers from Hawk's or Covergirl...but I still end up with base Camaro early eighties "fuzzy" plastics on the lower sides..which look like crap.

Plus, as for the rest of the interior, since the car sat out in the weather broken down in a driveway for numerous years before I bought it, all the plastics (almost white in color) are all pretty brittle and cracked, etc..

I'm not really that interested in modernizing the entire interior with 4th gen console, dash or anything like that, but I am seriously comtemplating getting a set of 2002 4th gen leather T/A seats with the lumbar supports...but all I can find is black....and they're not cheap...

I just put in a new ABS T-top headliner and visors in gray. As are my seats, carpet, sail panel inserts, rear deck - all gray in color. All the plastics are the white Sandstone crap and again...brittle. I'll post up a pic or 2 of what I'm dealing with....

I'm looking for ideas on this interior. I want to retain the basic look of what the car is...early 80's. So I'm keeping the dash and console.

-Pics to follow...

QUICKCHICKEN

iTrader: (12)

were in the same spot with my sons car. his 83 T/A is med sand grey and has the grey panels as well that now look almost cream. i actually like the orig color a its different and when the panels are in good shape the int combo looks good.

one option is to get a good set of panels from an 88 car and dye them and we have a good swatch of the orig carpet and we'll see who has the closest match.

as for healiner, thats easy as its black as are the sails and visors. if the panels dont dye we'll settle for grey. i have 3 sets of seats in the attic so we can make 1 good pair, not doing rears.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

It looks oddly better in these pics than in real life. Circa 1983 for sure...

I plan on changing the carpet and seats for sure....and looking for better plastics.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

My door panels aren't in very good shape, I got those used off another Camaro since my original ones were toast. I have my original kick panels, but they need carpeted since it fell off. As I said, my headliner is new - but gray....I had no idea at the time I was considering black seats in it when I bought the headliner.

ALl the plastics in the rear are again...brittle. The seats have no holes in them, but they're just worn from almost 30 years of use. I could try and get other plastics and dye them like you, but I tried dying plastics years ago..and it just doesn't last. Unless maybe I did it wrong.

EDIT: Then again, the more I look at the pics...maybe Ebony T/A seats would look OK even with the current surroundings. At least until I find better plastics (sail panels/rear hatch area...) Also, even though a crankin stereo isn't a big priority, I'm thinking of getting a AM/FM/CD with a USB port that'll adapt to my Ipone or Ipod...my SRT is spoiling me. lol

What's the general concensus?!? If this were your interior in a Camaro you just bought, what would YOU do with it?....(Go ahead, I can take it!

jbenge

iTrader: (2)

I think your car would look great with a black or charcoal interior. Or maybe even black seats with charcoal carpet, door panels and plastics. I would either recover your seats in black or get a black set from a 4th gen. Then buy new door panels and black or charcoal plastics. In general I prefer the pastics bare but I've seen a few that look good covered with carpet if done well(might be an option if you can't find a super nice set of plastics). Sounds like you need some new plastic pieces, but it may be hard to find a full matching set in good shape. So you may have to find the best pieces you can then paint/die them.

With the right prep you can dye or paint the plastic pieces and it will last. If not done right it will wear off easily and look terrible. My dad restored a couple of mopars and had some of the interior trim pieces painted and they have held up great. Keep us posted on what you end up doing.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Well, I ended up getting 4th Gen seats from a '02 SS....black leather, in perfect shape! Same style as what was in it...just better. Next step is to get all the black plastics!

68Strat

iTrader: (3)

Those are beautiful... I still find the seats in my 83 the most comfortable seats I have ever sat in, so I'm wondering if these feel similar. I've taken my car on a 6 hour trip stopping once for gas, and at the end of it walked away without even having to stretch.

jbenge

iTrader: (2)

Nice seats! Keep us posted on the rest of your interior, I think its going to look great.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Thanks guys!

I know I ended up paying near top dollar for the seats, but you just can't find any interior stuff for 3rd or 4th gens around here anymore...and when you do, they are normally so clapped out it's not worth dealing with.

So I ended up getting these from a private seller. I can see I'll end up getting most everything else that way too. The days of going to the boneyard and finding 3 maybe 4 Camaros and 'Birds are over around here....

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

You can always paint and recover your existing plastics with a carpet kit,I think 3rd gen ranch has them,very inexpensive,and you can recover your Sail panels and door panels with material that PUI sells buy the yard. It would make for a good winter project.Just a thought.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

True, I've thought about dying the plastics but I'm saving it as a last resort. I'm looking into just buying them or finding them in a boneyard...but again that doesn't seem to be happening.

I have a medium gray ABS T-top headliner I just put in it last year...but I decided to just change color to black since then. Plus, trying to find sandstone gray pieces to replace my somewhat ratty ones is darn near impossible. I have a shot at finding decent black pieces though.

I think I'm going to keep the gray headliner and perhaps the gray carpet and change everything else to black...I think it should look nice when it's done. If not, I guess I'll need to recover the headliner and buy new carpet too....it never seems to end!

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

Two tone interiors are done by almost all the new car manufacturers so go for it.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, I'm gonna try it and see how it turns out. But not all new cars are doing the 2 tone thing...on my '11 SRT, you had a lot of choices on exterior colors, but as far as interior...slate grey or slate grey....of course after I got mine, that all changed in '12....

BTW, if I don't get off my A** and get my Z28 put back together by Thirdgenfest, I'll be showing off the SRT at Crete....

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

Told you its t shirt weather quit complaining

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Just a small update...

I struck a deal with a board member here on carpeted black interior plastics, door panels, seat belts..essentially everything I could think of besides carpet and headliner to do the conversion to black. It should be in shipment as I write this.

Overall, a reasonable price considering parts for our cars are beginning to skyrocket. I'm holding off on getting a dashpad for now..I've seen some others have ones in way worse condition than mine. Oddly enough, mine is cracked dead center of the dash. It almost looks as if it belongs there...lol

jbenge

iTrader: (2)

Glad you found a full set of black interior pieces, its getting hard to find those in good shape. Keep us updated with some pics once you get started.

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

update!

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

tyler...you're killing me man!!
It's like 20 degrees out in my garage right now. Fired up the wood burner AND electric heater and waiting for it to heat up in there a little bit. I have all the pieces stacked up in the house....wife is lovin it.....not....

I'll start carefully taking out the old Sand Stone Grey stuff. It's really not in bad shape at all, and it's a hard color to find. For those looking for that color...I'll have a pretty much complete interior of it. I "might" still need to replace the rear gray carpet with black...but I'll see what it's looking like when I start putting in the black carpeted plastic pieces.

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

ive gotten used to the cold lol the new panels look very clean and not all scratched and what not

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

"New" is relative...they came off a 82-84 model, but they're in great shape considering. Got all the seats out, kick panels, sill plates, front and 1/2 the rear belts.

Kinda sucks that I'm going to have to at least lower down the rear of my new headliner to get the front shoulder belt off. The more I look at my gray carpet...the more I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and change it out to black...cha-ching again! I bought the front half of the carpet new several years ago, and the shade..."shade of gray" lol..never matched the original rear carpet. It was the worse fitting POS carpet I ever bought for a car anyways.

Anyone know of a place/brand of carpet that looks decent and actually fits our cars well? I'll just get the whole she-bang..front and rear and be done with it...for a while. I realize there's probably only a couple of makers for these anyways..

EDIT: A quick search...seems ACC is the only one that makes the carpets. They come with Jute backing....then I read others talking about "Mass backing"...is that the same as the jute?

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

At my shop we only use acc carpets and almost every person who gets their carpet done gets sound deademer

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

No, Jute and Mass Backing are two different backings,the carpet comes with the Jute backing,you can add the Mass Backing with your order for a few xtra bucks.The Mass backing is what came with the car from the factory.I got mine from 1A with the Mass backing,Free Delivery.ACC brand.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the info. I'll get it with the mass backing then. On their website though, there's no option for that backing....so im assuming this backing isnt attached to the carpet and a seprate item?

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

It comes attached to the carpet.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Seems Hawks offers it as an option for a "few extra bucks".....140 of them! I didn't know about the option first time around, which is probably why the carpet looked wrinkly after install.

I'll call 1A and see if they offer it and for how much...they say their shipping is free...

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

rock auto might have it too, and i have a 5% discount code from em. the mass backing is 140 extra? you can buy a roll of soundener for that much and be better off.

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

Just PM 1A Tony

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

You're right! Forgot about him...I sent an email in on their web site this morning. I'm going to get the mass backing, but depending on where you check, the price really varies a lot.

I'm not a tightwad, but I'm not stupid either...If I can pay less and get the same exact thing others want more for, I'll go the cheapest route everytime. I love competive pricing!

I'm seeing some add on as much as 140 bucks for the option, and others as low as 65 bucks....crazy IMO...

Another question...is the premium "Essex" line of carpeting worth paying almost twice as much for, or do most people get the regular cut pile?

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

A little progress...
Interior is pretty much gutted. On hold since I decided to get new carpet too.


Oh - And I know why my rear hatch light didn't work. The bulb was lying on the floor below it. It fell out. My rear window defroster never worked...my ground was unplugged. I also have one of those nifty rear hatch lock poppers (it just unlocks it from the console)...it's never worked...probably because the cable is broken. I could care less about that POS anyway. Key works fine when I want to get in there.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Well, I decided to bite the bullet once again... I just ordered a complete carpet with mass backing from 1A Auto. Won't arrive till 5-7 business days. Only a 7 dollar difference between them and Custominteriors.

Guess I have time now to recarpet my console sides and sail panels...

BADNBLK

iTrader: (11)

Looking great! Gonna really look nice when it all comes together.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

warming up that credit card huh buddy?

I need to get some light grey carpet up front and dump my faded charcoal, but that's way down the list at the moment.

TEDSgrad

iTrader: (4)

Black & Gray go together, and they match your paint scheme.
I used Raamat for sound dampening: http://www.raamaudio.com/
When I purchased the Corbeau's, I bought matching hides to do the backs to match, then customized the console lid so it all tied together with the same stitching/leather.

Brian

83HOZ

Black, charcoal and grey make a very attractive combination. And it'll work with the car's exterior. Was silver the car's original exterior color?

If those interior panels are from 82-84, then the name of the color is Charcoal. And judging by the lack of an extra bulge in the rear panel(to accommodate an electric hatch motor), then those panels are, indeed, 82-84 panels, which makes them Charcoal, not black. IMO, Charcoal was the best interior color ever in 3rdgens. Shame they ditched it after 84.

Your car's existing interior color, is that original, per the tag on the upper radiator support? I believe it was called Silver-Grey. In 1982 it was called Silver-Grey, doubt they'd have changed the color for 83. Early interior colors lasted from 82-84.

And I see you have the 140 mph "Z28" speedo. Did you add that yourself, or did a previous owner add it?

It's going to look very nice when you get it finished. Keep posting pics!

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Warming up?...it's been at critical mass!!

PM me if you want me to bring my old front light gray carpet down with me..it does have one small burn on the rear hump I didn't notice till I was taking everything apart. "Old" is relative since it's only a few years old. No mass backing on that one though.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

You got me 83HOZ....it was officially called "Charcoal" for 82-84. No electric hatch motor, just a "popper" that's never worked. My interior color is/was sandstone grey as per the tag. I had replaced the door panels because the originals were toast a while ago with the silver-ish panels because that's all I could find. My '83 was a mid-year model when the HO models first came out, so it may have been a new color then...not sure.

Original exterior color was always silver-ish...but a slightly darker metallic silver. It's painted Dupont pepper metallic gray now, but looks more silver to me than anything.

And you have a good eye...I got rid of that POS dual needle 85 MPH speedo a long while ago and bought the Z28 140 speedo off a board member here years ago!

I still have all the original stuff all over my garage...not sure why. lol

TEDSgrad - That's a sharp looking interior you have!
I could only hope mine comes out remotely as nice!

Glad to hear everyone thinks the gray headliner and otherwise black everything will go together OK...cause I'm NOT buying another new ABS headliner!!

My new carpet just arrived last night! I gotta get it out of the box and lay it out to get the packing wrinkles out....

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

Not bad delivery time,2 Days,that's quick!!!!

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Very quick! But in all fairness, I ordered them the afternoon of the 5th....3 days..still quick!!

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

Beats 5-7 days.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

If its light grey like the later years it sounds good to me. Maybe I'll swap it at the show while having a few.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

OMG....I forgot what a pain in the A** putting car carpet in is. My fingers are killing me trying to push this crap further into the front footwells....did any of you that did this recently remember if you had to do some cutting up front?

It seems like the area where the center front vent on the floor is stopping it from going up further. I just want to check before I start hacking this thing. I remember the E-brake handle being a pain...and it is again! Even harder this time since my last carpet didn't have this mass backing which makes it a bunch stiffer and harder to work with. Any tips?..I'm all ears!

EDIT: Oddly enough, the rear hatch carpet dropped right in...first time replacing that...
Double edit: OK, I see I'm not alone...I'll try removing that lower vent, but I think I'll still be cutting A LOT...found this post: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...tion-cuts.html

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

Did you layout the carpet in a warm area before attempting to install it ???

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

BTW xpndbl3 - You don't want this old gray carpet...when I took it out it looked bad...wrinkly. Your car is way too nice for this sub-standard carpet.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Yes - for almost a week.

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

I stopped at that vent,that's as far as it goes.

soul.justice

I feel your pain on the carpet. I didn't get mine pushed up far enough before I started making more permanent additions and as a result I will be ordering new carpet *again* very soon.

I kicked myself in the a$$ for being so impatient.

TEDSgrad

iTrader: (4)

I replaced the audio deck, pulled out the heater control unit, and removed the duct when I tucked mine up in there. Makes it difficult to snake wires through there, now. But it did tuck up in there. Like was mentioned, take your time and control your/our frustrations (we've all been there).

Brian

TEDSgrad

iTrader: (4)

Old fuzzy photo of how old carpet was before pulling out.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the pics TEDSgrad, they do help a bit. Looks like the hole you cut for the console is way bigger than I had mine...not that it matters at all so long as the console covers it. I'm more cautious around the e-brake area cutting it.

I almost got too aggressive with cutting on the previous carpet I had in it. Another inch or so and the sill plates wouldn't have covered it.

I rarely if ever get so frustrated that I start throwing tools or anything....I just take a few deep breaths, sit down and ponder it for a while...so I don't kill anything..lol. Today will be "the sequel"....I will prevail...not this carpet.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Ahhh...success!

It (the carpet) was just flat out too long! I "notched" where the vent was, and it still didn't fit...then I got to looking real close at the backing. You can see a raised line in the rubber around the edge where it was originally molded.

I cut within an inch or so of the line on the outside of it..and whallah!! It tucked right up in there! The foot and heel pads are right where they should be on the driver's side!

...Now for the tedious part of locating all the mounting holes, etc all over the place.