A Newer Project!

[TMagda]

Steve, you may be able to steam the headliner instead of replacing it. Check this, Larry from Ammonyc. Great detailer with tons of technique vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjHEcPcTJTE

[njsteve]

Thanks! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[RPOLS3]

From what I have seen the adhesive on headliners in later model cars that were &quot;smoker owned&quot; ends up failing and the fabric comes loose from the foam eventually.

Steve - it looks like a great car - and a really nice way to spend time with your son.

Jake

[njsteve]

The new bump stops arrived today from Hendrick Motors in NC. They had a pair on the shelf down there. You can see that they are made of some weird, yellow, hardened foam. The originals just crumbled away after 13 years.

At least the bolts loosened nicely with some PB Blaster. The aluminum spacers were part of the modifications done by ASC during the factory WS6 package upgrade. The WS6 cars came with 17 rims so the had to use the spacers to lower the bump stops, in order to prevent the tires from bottoming out in the wheel wells.

Here you can see how the original foam section is gone, leaving only the metal backing bolted to the spacer.



The new snubber next to the spacer.



And after the boy installed it. Another successful afternoon project.

[SuperNovaSS]

Just curious, is the originals are a faulty design, why are you replacing with the same parts? The originals could have deteriorated 10 years ago.


Jason

[njsteve]

I'm a glutton for punishment and like original parts. The aftermarket urethane ones look like aftermarket pieces. And they require you to hacksaw off the locating tabs on the unique spacer blocks.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'm a glutton for punishment and like original parts. The aftermarket urethane ones look like aftermarket pieces. And they require you to hacksaw off the locating tabs on the unique spacer blocks. </div></div>

I like the logic, I'd just find/buy another pair now for the inevitable....

[CC Rider]

Nice TA Steve. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

We got back from camping a couple days ago. Nothing like spending a week in the middle of no-where in the July heat, with no A/C and then have the A/C go out on the truck the moment you start the 300 mile trip back home. Ugh! It was like a Clark Griswold family vacation nightmare from the 1960's. I ended up ordering a new condenser from rockauto while on the road and it was delivered just in time for our arrival at the homestead. I then spent an evening at my buddy's garage installing it. After 19 years, the original condenser sprung a leak at the factory seam. The new AC/Delco unit bolted right up...after some modification to the original brackets.

So the next day me and the boy tackled the smoke impregnated factory carpet. I had him remove everything and he did very well. I'm glad we pulled the old carpet since it appears that the prior owner must have tried to clean the driver's foot well area and soaked the carpet so badly that the jute and the foam padding was too wet to reuse.

Here's the boy hard at work removing the rear seat attachments. He spent most of the day with me (9:00 AM to around 4:00 PM when he dumped me to go to a movie with his sister). [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/no.gif[/img] The kid has no stamina.




And here is the old carpet once we pulled it out. Many cups of coffee found their way onto the floor by the cup holder area of the console. And the driver's foot well section was just as nasty. We ended up pulling off and reusing the all factory jute backing sections from every spot but the driver's seat area, since that was soaked and moldy smelling.




And the nice clean floor area...after vacuuming. We found $1.95 in change!

[njsteve]

That new carpet from Auto Custom Carpet weighed a ton with the optional rubberized backing. To add to the grief is the fact that the Firebird used a one-piece carpet that goes from the dash to the rear hatch area. It took a very long time to get it centered and then installed. I quit at 9:00 PM after getting the carpet in and the surrounding moldings.




I pulled out the factory foam backed headliner and gently scrubbed it with a damp cloth soaked with dishwashing detergent and water. I let it dry overnight and Fabreze'd the heck out of it the next day. That seemed to work to get the smoke out.