Update: Everything is at a stand still until I get my new front drivers seat belt from Hawk's along with all of the other little parts I need. I was hoping the order would have shipped out this week but it didn't. Without the seat belt I can't even install the new headliner.

Also no where can I find front seat belt receivers that are not cracked :/

Lastly I'm also having to deal with getting ripped off on the front bumper I tried to buy: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/clas...transam82.html

 

I don't know if this was covered already here, but the 1998-2002 style seatbelts are much safer than the 1983-1992 style with the lower retractor. Not to mention the top retractor is probably in better shape. I bought a set of the old style to replace my factory originals. They were in great working order, but with in a month they too were sagging. As for the 98-02 style, they are nice and tight and I actually feel safe when I use the belt. Youy might want to look into that. I know you are going for the factory look, and the 98-02's can be made to look factory. All that you would have to do is drill out the rivet on the lower retractor cover and simply attach it to the door sill or attach it to the seatbelt plastic which is what I did. I haven't gotten around to actually using a fastener to secure them together yet, but the gap that is there currently (because it is simply placed and not secured) is hardly noticeable.

Some places that you might find stuff are Moderndaymuscle as well as Trans Am Creations USA.

As for seatbelt receivers, because you have a gray interior you should be able to pick up a set of 98-02 recievers pretty easily and they will be in pretty good shape. If you find the right ones, at worst you would need to hit it with degreaser and a little soap and water.

In July I picked up a set of neutral tan seatbelts, painted them with fiero beechwood paint and they held up nicely. You probably won't need to paint them. (gray is gray, unfortunately that doesn't apply to tan )

 

Thanks for the tips. For the drivers front seat belt I'm buying NOS not used, and I need the correct 1992 style so it has the correct plastic loop for the head rest. I'm doing a restoration so I won't settle for one that is cut on placed on there.

Far as the receivers, I've seen the newer stye receivers from 93 on up and they are not the same, not even close, at the bottom where they bolt to the side of the tranny tunnel let alone use the same plastic bolt covers.

Again, I could make it all work if I wanted functional, but I'm going for restored.

 

I'm still waiting on Hawk's to get my order together and shipped :/

In the mean time I've decided to buy a set of new reproduction headliner mounting clips for the front of the headliner behind the windshield. My original headliner only used 2 and they had metal molded into the material to attach them. I'll be simply gluing the base of these to the inside of the ABS headliner. This should eliminate the problems people report with the ABS headliners sagging in the front.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251675406763

 

Fair enough

 

So you went after market ABS headliner?? which one? This is the LAST thing I have to order for my interior. I got new Carpets, Plastics, Seats, door panels, and center console.. unfortunately when I ripped my interior out I through away the cardboard backing or whatever was, didn't even look to see if I could save it lol.

 

I just went with the one Hawks sells, they all seem to be the same. My only issue at this point is the way it was folded in the box for shipping, there is a bend at the very front I'm trying to work out prior to install. Also note that the direction of the fabric grain is wrong, but again, all of them are like this.

My cardboard headliner could have been saved but when I compared it to the ABS one, I just threw it away.

 

Considering the pic on Hawks website is the same picture on every other website and eBay add, ya I say they all come from the same supplier. Also, they all state they ship them like that, roll them up to fit in a box.. it's hit or miss if they roll back out 100% perfect. I am going to take the gable on it.. I don't have any clips so will I need to order those ones you did as well? Also, I am going with black I don't think you can really tell the grain with black

 

Very true, the first one I got from Hawks unfolded perfectly, BUT had been damaged by another item shipped in the same box so they sent me a replacement. Go figure the replacement would have the crease in the middle of the font edge lol.

I haven't received those mounting clips from eBay yet but they are a 100% identical match to the factory ones from the picture.

 

I paid for the order from Hawk's today now that they got it ready and hopefully it will ship out tomorrow:
--------------------------------------
This order is marked as Awaiting Shipment

Your Order Contains:

1 x Misc. Screws & Bolts
1 x Front passenger side fender "V" brace
1 x TPI plenum plastic bracket for throttle & TV cables
1 x Firebird NEW GM 85-92 Radio Trim Plate
1 x Camaro/Firebird 83-92 USED Door Sill Plate
1 x Camaro/Firebird 82-92 Automatic Brake Pedal Pad, New Reproduction
1 x Firebird NEW 85-92 Power Window Switch
(Side: Driver)
1 x Firebird NEW 85-92 Power Window Switch
(Side: Passenger)
1 x New GM Gray Front Seatbelt Retractor, 83-92 Camaro/Firebird 91-92 Style
(Select Side: Driver Side LH (0493))
1 x A-Pillar Clips Set of 4 for T-Top Cars Only, 82-92 Camaro/Firebird New GM
--------------------------------------

That *should* be the last of what I need to do the interior. I bought and received the GM seat belt button kit for the recall so that should spruce up my seat belt receivers.

Tonight I got the seat belts removed so I can hand wash the fabric portions in Dawn dish soap. I removed the air bag, the radio pod (which looks worse when removed, maybe I'll have to find an NOS one, damn), fixed a dent in the floor pan, and removed more of the carpet jute stuck to the floor and a few broken trim screw plastic female clips.

The weather was great tonight. Once I replace my headlight switch and the bulbs in my HVAC controls, I'll wash the seat belts, wipe down the interior, then start re-assembly finally! Re-assembly will probably begin next weekend, I need the new drivers seat belt from Hawk's before I can install the headliner which will be the first order of business.

It's amazing all of the places they used the body goop and put that black sticky tar insulators all around the interior to really help make it quieter in 1992.

 

Since you have pictures of your car with the interior completely removed, can you post some pictures and highlight the areas with the addtional "goop" added? I'm curious to see how much additional material they added.

Wish you would have said something about the radio trim plate, I have an extra one I would have gave you.

Eldon

 

It's been like 10 years since I've had my 91 and like 16yrs since I had my 82, without one to compare it with I wouldn't exactly know which parts are what they considered the new for 92 lol. After I get everything wiped down, I'll remove the T-tops and try to get pictures of all surfaces I can in better lighting.

I didn't even think about it lol, mine is still like new BUT a tiny bit warped, the bottom right corner always stuck out a bit. If anything it's just parts hoarding I guess.

 

So.....it looks like the completion date for my interior has been much delayed The first upholsterer I was referred to passed away, the second one who I was going to drop the seats off to won't answer his phone or messages I leave him. I had to seek out a third, turns out he is 3 months out on the work. Also turns out all my front seat foam is junk and will need replacing, not just repairing. He also will re-dye my rear cargo shade for me and fix the zipper on my t-top bag.

I'm fine with this, I've been waiting years to do it anyway. Plus I haven't been able to find front set belt receivers in medium dark grey from anywhere, maybe a set will turn up on eBay over the winter.

My shipment of parts shows up from Hawk's today. Starting next weekend I will still begin reassembly of everything beginning with the seat belts and headliner. I want to get the entire interior totally completed, aside from the seat upholstery, before it gets too cold to work in my garage.

I'm also in a race to get my exterior parts prepped and painted before it gets too cold. The actual painting may have to wait until spring tho because the front bumper is going to take a fair bit of work to get perfectly straight everywhere.

 

Tonight I replaced the brake pedal pad and cleaned the gas pedal, looks like brand new.

I replaced the headlight switch and the air bag. There is a mark right on the front of the airbag I never noticed before, bothers the hell out of me. I bought the thing 5yrs ago because the corners of it aren't shrunk and curling off like my others. Stupid mark bothers me so much I think I'm going to look for another tho :/

I decided to install my new dash pad too even though I had planned on doing so after the headliner. Turns out the hold for the very left most corner bolt is stripped, but only a little. I'm going to trying an adhesive on the threads and I think that should hold it firm and keep it from coming loose.

Did allot of misc. cleaning while I had the dash apart.

 

I am curious about the headliner if you got it installed yet, can you please take pics during and after? This is the LAST part I need for my interior to be mint lol I haven't seen anyone post pics of their interior after using the ABS one.

 

Yup, those, looking for some nice black ones! tough

 

I can even do one better. I have the other brand new headliner from Hawk's with the damaged fabric and I have a set of extra those headliner clips I bought from eBay. I'll experiment with that headliner and clips, especially to get the measurements right for where to glue the clips. Then I'll take pics and do kind of a write up on it using my final one.

I can say it won't be this weekend, but odds are sometime next week or next weekend tho!

 

Nice, and thank you. I am in no hurry because I have my whole interior ripped out. I am cleaning up and painting plastics, need to weld the floor and lay the brand new carpet, need to install the new 4th gen console and B&M shifter, I purchased some gray 4th gen seats I am dying black.. ton more work to do so the headliner will literally go in last!!

 

I spent tonight detailing my t-tops and all the weather stripping, etc. Tons of grime even though I've been pretty **** about cleaning them over the years, especially the weather stripping. I've very fortunate though all of my weather stripping is as mint and soft as it was 15yrs ago. I always wipe it down with orange wipes and slather on some EagleOne tire shine to keep the rubber soft. It might be **** for tires since it softens the sidewalls but I've always used it on my plastics and rubber lol.

I super glued the defroster vents on each end of the dash even though they fit pretty well. I was replacing the bulbs in my HVAC control unit when I found it had scratches in the face that I don't want to see right above my new re-man CD player. I posted in the wanted ads after I couldn't find an NOS unit anywhere. Are these not available anymore?

I ordered a *correct* NOS turn signal/cruise/wiper lever. I had replaced mine like 13yrs ago with a new one from the general and of course it didn't match the original and has always bugged me. Since the word SET and CRUISE were starting to wear I looked again and found one. So I'll be removing my air bag again to get the wheel off and install that along with fixing a small issue with my lever always being a bit too stiff engaging the blinkers anyway.

I still have yet to get a ton of towels and soapy water and really wipe down every inch of the interior. You wouldn't believe the dust on all of the surfaces behind where the plastics were and under the carpet and behind the a-arm pillar covers, etc. I don't want a spec of any dirt anywhere on the interior that could leave a mark on my new stuff. I still need to brush out and detail my side dash vents though then turn my HVAC on full blast to get the loosened dust out, then I'll wipe down the interior. Then next up will be the heat shielding material on the tranny tunnel from the shifter forward all the way to the firewall to mitigate the heat I always felt from the front of the console and the radio pod. Then I guess re-gluing down some of the tar paper material where it's come loss on the roof and over the sail panels. At that point I'll be ready to start on the headliner, then carpet.

 

I have to hand it to you, that is alot of work to make a car 100% original.

It is very inspirational.

(I gave up on that as soon as a bunch of mechanical problems arose from an incomplete engine swap.)

 

Thanks, that's a great compliment! I hope in a couple years to make it for the Trans Am nationals at some point. I even finally bought the correct shaped floor mats and a set of NOS Corvette floor mats off eBay to steal the GM logos from haha!

I've always liked the philosophy "make it look like it would have come from GM" when I work on this car. I've always kept my interior bone stock except for radio and speakers at times. On the exterior I'm going to put 91/92 Firehawk wheels on it so for the first time since new it won't look 100% stock on the outside. Under the hood everything looks correct, it's either SLP, or hidden, and never any logos anywhere. No chrome, always use GM weather-pack connectors, flat black or satin paint on parts, etc. Under the car I have thousands and thousands of dollars in parts but they are all powder coated black and all stickers removed prior to install.

Honestly I've always just been totally in love with every inch of this car as it came from the factory appearance wise. I have done a TON of mods over the years but you would never know looking at it.

 

Keep me informed about your trip to the Nats, I could meet up and roll over with you. It would be nice to hangout with like minded individuals
If you drive your car, I have a lift in the garage if you need anything on your journey.
The new location is very nice also.

 

Warning, I'll take you up on that offer for sure! I'll of course be driving, my old girl has never let me down yet and I'd trust her around the world if I had to. Thanks for the offer! Honestly, I would be too embarrassed to do it prior to a full repaint tho.

 

I may be taking 2 cars with "patina" or "as found" soooo Its no big deal to me!
I'm not going for a award, I go for friends and the cars!

 

I couldn't care less about winning anything, I just don't want it to look like a white trash mobile with a beat mismatching paint job lol. I've never been and won't know anyone else there personally so this might be the only time I go since it's so far. I'll most likely do the 2016.

I've decided to have the under-body of the car professionally steam cleaned and detailed next Wednesday and after I'll be having my Spohn tubular SFCs re-welded. Now that I have no carpet, instead of just doing a few spots, we can get crazy and really weld those things in. Perfect time to do it.

Problem with having everything apart, my OCD brain just keep coming up with more and more things to do lol. Probably a good thing my upholsterer is a couple months behind, gives me time to not be in a huge hurry.

 

We went to the show last year, took no car and took my less than 1 yr old son!
we had a blast. John "Okfoz" was there and several other very nice 3rdgen cars and owners also.

 

Quick update...

Tomorrow at 2PM is my appointment to have my under-body professionally steam cleaned and detailed. I was under there tonight and it looks like I have either a leaking axle seal or a leaky wheel cylinder now also. I just freaking replaced my rear drum brakes less than 100 miles ago too and didn't see any sign of a leak! Frustrating.

This weekend I will be installing my all new front brakes; slotted & cross drilled rotors, Hawk Ceramics, new inner & outter bearings, new dust caps. I also have a new spindle I'll be installing as I suspect mine is bent slightly on the front right.

Then next Wednesday I'm dropping my car off at the frame shop. They are going to straighten my Spohn tubular k-member that bent in the center, install my adjustable panhard bar (car is lowered) and be sure everything is squared up perfectly and the steering aligned with the camber that I want. Then they are going to do a full weld job on my Spohn tubular SFCs and weld on my LCA relocation brackets.

So yeah, the next couple weeks I'm getting side tracked but it all needs to be done before installing the interior for sure, especially the carpet so there is no risk of fire when doing the SFCs which is why they were never done correctly in the first place and only spot welded.

Other GREAT news is that I located a set of PERFECT condition front seat belt receivers in medium dark grey, YAY!!! They only need new red buttons installed which I have and they are a correct pair with one being longer than the other. They are from a 1990 Firebird. Bad news is I had to buy an entire set of front seat belts to get them, but worth it. I'll just sell what I don't use.

Also my upholsterer told me today that he had a cancellation and can move me up from 1st week of February to the end of the 2nd week in January! He is still trying to source the GTA "Optima" seat foam tho.

 

Mmmmm, tasty clean under-body. Haven't seen it this clean in like 10 years lol. A damn rear main seal leak I had for a while that I replaced a couple years ago really did a number on the underside. Yes I'm going to re-install the flexplate inspection cover, yes I'm going to re-install the fuel filter bracket. Yes I'll fix that hard line wrapped around the y-pipe. Yes I'll replace my transmission cooler hardlines someday lol :P

 

Here are my tasty new front brakes in progress. Yes my new bearings are packed hella well, I'm just not one for having a crap ton of extra grease where it's not needed so it won't fling out the dust cap.

I'm swear I'm endlessly side tracked doing a ton of other stuff other than finishing my damn interior lol.

Oh and my stupid drivers side dash speaker grill is loose on 1 corner now, great, time to remove my dash pad, again.

 

wow...squeaky clean under there! Well worth doing.

 

In my case because of the rear main seal leak, for sure. Otherwise, depends on your cost. This guy came at me saying $200 and I said no way, $150. He agreed. I'm VERY limited on choices for actual steam pressure cleaning with degreasers/detergents where I live and the guy knows it lol.

Once I have everything wrapped up in a couple years, I'll pay him to do it again but next time I'll give him the $200 to scrub and wipe down/dry-off everything to make sure it's friggin spotless!

 

Is that the original oil pan? And do you have black valve covers?
If so, you should have powdered metal rods and maybe LT1 type pistons.

 

Is that the original oil pan? And do you have black valve covers?
If so, you should have powdered metal rods and maybe LT1 type pistons.

 

I have the silver valve covers, f-body tpi runners, blank LT1 TB plate, non-leather shifter with a leather interior. My build date is about Sept 29th-Oct 1st 1991 give or take a couple days.

The oil pan I replaced because the original was destroyed by the rocks in the road I hit from a mountain slide. The original looked identical though I think...

 

That's the "newer" pan and it caught my eye is why I was asking.

 

Learn something new everyday, I never knew that!

I finished the new brakes, removed the dash AGAIN to superglue down the speaker grills so they don't come loose again, and the car is now at the frame shop.

They are going to:

1) Install adjustable panhard bar per instructions (parts supplied)
2) Replace passenger side outer tie rod end (castle nut stripped) (parts supplied)
3) Replace passenger side ball joint zerk fitting (easyout?)
4) Straighten tubular K-member
5) Check to be sure the entire car is square
6) Front wheel alignment with -1.5 degrees of camber (For Toyo R888 tires on new 17" wheels)
7) Weld sub frame connectors to bottom of car along entire length
8) Weld rear lower control arm relocation brackets per instructions (parts supplied)
9) Complete chassis lube ALL grease fittings and be sure everything is adjusted correctly.

When I get it back next week, I'll be taking my seats, t-top bag, and rear cargo shade to my upholsterer to do his magic on over the next 2 months. I'm also going to have him shampoo my door panels.

I still have 2 more things I want to complete before putting the all new interior back together: Fix the door hinge that broke and do a complete R&R on both door windows and locks. Then I'll feel safe about having the new interior going in without possibility it might get stained or dirty.

I received my front seat belt receivers and they are indeed everything I'd hoped for! So glad.

 

Glad to hear it, I hope your interior comes together well and that everything is tight and snug for a factory looking fit.

 

Car came back from the frame shop after being there a week. They did everything but weld the subframe connectors in better. I'm going to do that at a friends house on Sunday, this place wanted $225 just for that Everything else they did came out great, better than I expected even.

Since Spohn was having their big holiday sale I took the opportunity to re-buy this adjustable torque arm to replace the one I sold when I was hard up for $$$ 5yrs ago. Super excited about that, now I finally have every single suspension part made by Spohn for the 3rd gen Firebird (Yes I regret getting the k-member and a-arms from Spohn tho). I have a brand new (not reman) quick ratio steering box ready to go in too. In January I'm going to buy the new 17" crosslace reproduction wheels that Hawk's is getting instead of the reproduction Ronal R15s, mostly due to weight and still liking the factory crosslace wheels. My car is going to freakin kick *** now in the handling department once I throw a set of Toyo Proxes R888 tires on.

Anyway once I finishing welding the SFCs better on Sunday I'll get back on track with the interior resto. On Monday or Tuesday I'll be dropping off the seats, t-tops bag, and rear cargo shade at the upholsters. They will be done mid-Jan so that gives me time to get the entire interior back together between now and then.

 

Be nice to see this done!

 

Right?! I need to stop getting side tracked lol.

SFCs are now hella welded to the bottom of the car! Today was my early x-mas, my new Spohn TQ arm arrived along with my near NOS tail lights (which I had to make an online UPS claim because of damage, FML ). I literally sick right now over the lights, I can't believe this is happening. My NOS auto shifter plate arrived just a couple days ago too.

Turns out I need to send back both of my refurb exchange factory CD players. One has a few bulbs burnt out and the other has issues with the CD mechanism. Hell, one of them has a QC sticker dated 2004 so no doubt sitting on a shelf has taken it's toll. Instead of exchanging again, since they are all out now anyway thanks to me , both are going to get new CD mechanisms and a good going-thru under their warranty so they will be nice and fresh. Dude is even going to refund my return shipping costs, awesome.

I still need to find a mint HVAC control, a radio pod, air bag, passenger sun visor vanity mirror, and I got the passenger side front seat belt out with a friends impact gun and I've decided to buy a brand new NOS seat belt for that side too, why not haha! My OCD is sucking my wallet dry.

I should have lots of very nice cleaned up parts to sell after this if I don't decide to keep most of them.

My seats get dropped off at the upholsterer tomorrow and this weekend I'll make my aero wing gaskets, put my dash pad back in after gluing the speaker grills, and replace my turn signal lever and re-adjust the mechanism in the steering column. I'll also do my deep clean final wipe down of the entire interior and do the heat insulation on my tranny tunnel from the shifter to the firewall to mitigate heat in the radio pod.

By the next weekend my passenger side front NOS seat belt should be here and I'll tackle the ABS headliner being sure to modify it to use the new factory retainers I bought. I'm really glad I have an extra to practice on to get all the measurements spot on.

After the problems tho over the front nose, the broken taillights, the refurb CD players, who knows what next. I might just decide to step back for awhile unless something good happens :/ I didn't even mention how the frame shop botched my alignment, my cars darts to the right and they just slammed my upper mounts to max camber and won't make good on it or provide me with a print out copy of the alignment from their machine. I was just going to eat that mistake and go to another alignment shop in a couple months.

 

So I've taken a deep breath over the issues I've had and I've come an interesting conclusion. The interior restoration is officially on hold.

HOWEVER....

Where I work, we have our shop in an industrial plaza. As luck would have it, the bay RIGHT next door to us opened up several months ago as a body shop. I've been closely watching this guy and he just finished building a top of the line paint booth, I mean like best you can buy just about. I've also been checking out his work and I decided to get a quote from them to get the dent out of my passenger door. It was crazy reasonable what they wanted. They are just getting started and trying to build a name for themselves. The front of the building the guys wife has been running an employment agency out of for years so you only would know about this guy from word of mouth or you would never see the place. He does allot of 60's and 70s stuff almost exclusively.

Anyway, bottom line, I've decided to have them do the body on my entire car and paint it. So yeah, no interior will go back in until it's done. Who knows how long that will be. I'm even going to remove my dash board, again lol. If I can pay for it now, why not do it, otherwise I'll just keep putting it off and the last thing I want is doing this after the new interior and having some place park my car out in the sun for god knows how long after all that expense and hard work.

What made me decide was the fact I work next door and can keep an eye on my precious baby twice a day as I come and go for work. No where else would I have anywhere near this level of confidence for handing over my car for however many months this may take. Plus I already have 50% of all the PPG paint, primer, clear, supplies etc. so I'm going to get the other 50% and provide all paint materials so I know everything will match plus of course it won't be marked up by him.

So wish me luck. I'll be starting an exterior restoration thread soon and with any luck, maybe I'll have my baby back in March or April to throw in the all new interior!!!

Just gotta figure out where to get a drivers seat to get it there since the upholsterer has mine all taken apart, hmmm...

 

Passenger seat should fit in there, if only for temporary use

 

True but all of my seats are being re-done.

 

I was thinking you use the pass side to just drive over, then take it with you when you leave

 

I'll probably get either seat in whatever condition from the upholsterer, use it to take the car to the body shop, then yeah drop it back off.

 

UPDATE: I did go get the drivers seat for a day to take my car to the paint & body shop. I've been checking in every day and the guys are doing great. It will be ready for color by Wednesday. They are going to powder coat the door handles and key lock covers along with the key lock cover for the hatch between the taillights.

They did a great job of repairing the passenger door that was dented in without using any mentionable amount of filler. Same for a few other dings they were able to get to from the inside since my interior is out. They are hopeful they can completely the restore the used front nose which has 3 bad warps in it but it's not going to be cheap.

Only issue so far is they FREAKIN BROKE off one of the tips of the aero wing removing it from my car! ARGH It broke off in 1 piece tho about 4" long that they have and they promise they can plastic weld it and after they are done I will never know. We'll see

Today I got them a list of all the black trim and exactly what color everything should be around the t-tops and the hatch, etc. I'm going to have them reinstall everything except the emblems and front fender GFX (I need to visit another alignment shop, see above :/ ). Anyway, I'm pretty happy so far with how things are going. They are also going to do a ton of clear and wet sand/polish the car for me. I'm then going to have just the nose clear wrapped for rock chips, also no front license plate on this nose!

My newer set of taillights shipped today to replace the broken set I received. UPS by the way sent those back to the seller without telling me and even though it was signed for, the seller says he never received it and UPS only wants to deal with the shipper even though they let me file the claim! Grrrrr.

 

UPDATE: Upholstery place STILL hasn't really started on my seats or given me a price estimate even though they said everything would be done by middle of January.

My used front bumper had to be sent to a bumper repair specialist to get repaired to my standards, $300 just for that

The shitty aftermarket fender had to be taken apart and re-welded and trimmed/messaged to fit. My original we decided was too far damaged from my Spohn ball joint failing.

The drama continues....

 

Alex when you do your headliner, the clips that hold the front up don't have a place to mount on the ABS version. I thought that if I got an ABS style I would use F-26 to glue the clips to the headliner. that stuff WILL NOT let go and is a much better alternative than using Velcro like most people use.

F-26 can be bought at any Lowes or HD.

 

Never heard of F-26 before. I just used plastic epoxy, I don't think that's going to come off haha!

 

a neighbor used F-26 to stick his 2nd gen S-10 mirror back on, nuff said.