So I have a 1985 Iroc Z and I want to remove the stock grey interior parts, but cannot figure out how to for the life of me. Particularly, I want to remove the plastic underneath and around the sail panels and convert them to black via new parts (any recommendations of websites or stores with good interior parts) or some form of paint. Any help would be great

 

I am doing this from memory - You need to take off the trim behind the headliner. You need to remove the back seats - bottoms and back. You need to take out the rear trim panel - the furthermost piece under the hatch behind the tail lights. Take out the spare tire trim. Remove the rear speaker covers. Now remove the trim under the speakers - those weird looking pieces that the seat belts stick out from. Now those long pieces on each side that extend to the rear and cover the wheel wells should come off. Keep track of the screws and fasteners you removed because there will be plenty and they are all different sizes. I may have missed something, but you should get the idea. The trim can be painted if they are not dry rotted. Let me see if I can find that thread.

 

Check this thread for painting the interior trim.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...ic-carpet.html

 

If you are removing the panels, it's best to start with the kick panels up by your feet. There's usually two screws in the sides which will be easier to see if they don't have carpet on them. Some kick panels have no screws in the side. There will be a screw visible where the kick panel sweeps down to the door sill plates which run along your door jam. Take out all the screws in those sill plates as well. You'll have to twist/turn the kick panel a little around the hood latch, but it will come out. To make it easier to get the door sill plates out, you need to lift up the back cover on the seat belt retractor assemby and you'll see a torx bolt in there. I can't remember the size, but remove the bolt and the lower retractor comes off. Lay it in the seat. You may be able to remove the sill plates without taking off the seat belt retractor, but I'm not positive on that.

Now, remove the rear seats. It's relatively easy. Feel underneath in front of each seat bottom in the center, there will be a 13mm bolt (I think), take those out, bottoms come right out. If it's solid or split back, there's a nut on each bottom corner just above the seat bottoms. You'll see these nuts (also 13mm I think), when the bottoms are out. Take those nuts out, and if it's solid back, unlatch it on passanger side (with the handle) and lift it out through the hatch. If it's split, unlatch each side and slide each one off of the steel shaft in the center above the transmission hump.

Now, that the back seats are out, you'll see a philips screw in the corners of the lower panels under the sail panels. (The seat back hides these screws). You'll need to remove the black upper "B" pillar trim which has a few screws. If it's a ttop car, you'll need to remove the ttop to access the upper screw in the B pillar trim. Remove the coat hooks and screws, slide the speaker panels upward and out. Remove the rear speakers. Remove the headliner trim panel (just screws). Remove the screws in the side of the sail panels below the headliner trim panel.

Go the rear of the car and remove all the large plastic colored screws. Remove the spare tire cover (just held on by the large plastic screws). There are two philips screws in the top of the rear panel, take those out, and the back panel will fall inward. You may have some wiring connectors to undo here depending on your car. Remove the cargo shade if you have one, just grab one side and pull toward the other and out it comes. Remove the screws for the mounts. Now, the rest of the side panels are held on by plastic clips.

It's best to have a trim panel removal tool for this. Pull back the large panels gently and locate the clips. A trim tool works best for separating these. Most of the time they break due to age, but take your time. Once those are free, you'll see that you can now remove all of the panels and that's pretty much it.

 

I forgot about the kick panels and the sills.

 

Hey, thanks for the help! I started taking panels out last night but stopped due to low lighting. It may take a while (a few weeks just due to low time) but when I'm done, I'll throw some pictures up on here!

 

i can take out interior panels in 15 minutes or less, i dont see the big deal here. am i doing something wrong or something? i've had to remove my interior in my car about 6 times

 

That's why it only takes you 15 minutes!!!

 

sombodythat has done something several times will be faster than somebody thats never done it. how long does it take you to make custom seat covers?

 

I try not to forget that there are people who are "NEW" to these cars. No one automatically knows how to take one apart as soon as they get it if they've never had one before.
I've done it about 12 times and it still takes me a couple of hours or so to gut the whole interior carpet and all (minus the dash). I tend to take my time though. I don't like breaking things or getting in a hurry. I like to do things with as few cuss words as possible. I could probably have all the plastic panels out in 45 minutes to an hour if I rushed it some.

 

yea sorry guys, its hard for me to grasp and remember that there are people new to these cars too,