Hey guys this is my first post on this forum and I am very excited because I am switching over from the Cj7 Jeep forums. I trading my Jeep play toy for a 1979 Corvette with a new 350 4 bolt main engine bored .040 over and a brand new burnt orange paint job. The car is perfect and looks amazing but the interior is all out of the car. The guy has every interior part in black from a corvette pace car to be installed but it is all sitting in the car waiting to be installed. This includes everything from seats, carpet, dashes, and gauges. He says everything is 100% there and the gauges are just ready to be plugged back in and everything just needs to be put back in for it to be 100% restored. Everything seems to be done right on this car.

So my question is how long do yall think it would take to put everything back in once i get the car. Would a buddy and I who are pretty good with cars be able to complete the job in a day of working hard on it? Also should I be worried that everything is out of the car? All the work seems legit and the fiberglass body is perfect.

Please let me know guys and I really appreciate the help. I look forward to being active on this site.
Thanks,

Cole

 

Hard to tell how long it would take to install given you and your buddy have no Corvette experience.

I can tell you that the Corvette Pace Car interior was only in silver.

 

I think it could be done in a day if more an one peron did it, and you know what your doing. but my .02 cents - if you've never done a C3 interior, I would take my time.

I did mine (4th vette, 1st C3) about two years ago. I did it myself in about a week, after work and over a weekend. The dash pad can be tough, take your time. As a matter of fact, the more time you take, the better it will Look.

If you have a lot of replacement parts, you may need to work a little harder to get a good clean look/fit to some pieces. The dash, console and gauges usually need some TLC while installing them.

If they are 30+ year old parts you really need to take your time. Unless the PO was dumping a ton of cash into this, my guess would be a combination of old/new stuff to install? In either case, slow and easy will benefit you.

Also - If you don't have an AIM, buy one from one of the forum vendors like Keen Parts, cheap and useful for stuff like this. And Vettebuyer is right, the black interior isn't from a pace car. That may be a flag...

 

It took me around a month on and off. By myself. Take Your time and Do Yourself a favor and get an IAM for Your 79 It will help You a lot when it comes to putting things back together. Welcome to the forum and good luck with Your project.

 

Very good advice. If you're in a rush to get things done, you're looking at the wrong car. Get the Assembly Manual as stated above, study it, and see what you're in for. Good luck.

 

I really appreciate everyone replying. I really think its a great deal and the guy has the original interior and then the new one. I think I could do it.

 

Does the AIM book show me everything that should be there for the interior? Like a list of everything I should look for?

Thanks,

Cole

 

Yep, it shows you how it was assembled at the factory.

I did the seats, carpet and installed new gauges. It will probably take you a few days to do it right.

I'm going to venture a guess that everything is not ready for immediate plug in and it will be restored to 100%. There is a reason he didn't put things back together.

Welcome to the forum and good luck on your project. Keep us updated on how its going. If you need help, this forum is great. Tons of knowledge that has helped me for over 12 years.

 

FWIW: do not count on getting the interior in it in one day. It's a big job. Carpet alone could take that long. You should rationally expect things not to progress as quickly/easily as you think they will.

Take your time and plan on things going slowly. You could easily spend a weekend reading through the AIM just to familiarize yourself with what the job is going to entail.

Good luck.

 

There's a lot of parts to install!

 

Dear lord I hope it doesn't look that bad haha

 

LOL....if your "whole" interior is out - that's what it looks like!

 

Get an interior screw kit from one of the vendors. It will make installation easier if you have all the proper screws and the right amount and marked for each panel. This way you won't go crazy looking for screws.

 

Have you seen the car you want to trade for? One look inside should have given you an answer.

I certainly hope you are intending to examine the car before you make the swap.

 

Ya, my 74' isn't much different than the photo's and I'll add my note. I have two interior screw kits, one that came with the car and another one I ordered and believe me, even with that, you still won't have all the screws, because there's stuff you'll find, that should've never been taken apart or if it had, you would've kept the screws or bolts.

A good example is the center gauge cluster air condition vent assembly to the center gauge cluster itself. Two bolts attach that. Ditto for the two bolts that attach the center gauge to the central heater duct from behind. There aren't a lot of common fasteners and each set of fasteners is specific to that application!!!

The interiors of these cars are giant jig saw puzzles, that even with the AIM, FSM, etc, you're gonna be experimenting and piecing it together by direct experience. It seems that the whole dash, both left and right, dash pad, center gauge cluster, heater ducts, AC ducts and firewall all rely on each other for support and if one piece is not there, then it's not going to go together like it's supposed to.

Find a good source of used C3 Corvette parts on CL. My guy is in San Diego, never met him, but great people and I've purchased hundreds and hundreds of dollars of C3 parts from him at a pretty good discount over Ebay used parts.

Inventory EVERYTHING and see what you have missing, make a list and then start ordering. Don't forget to clean all the AC and heater ducts of all the dirt and accumulated dust. Lavish care on the rubber flapper valves and lubricate the pivot points. Before you actually assemble the dash, get a vacuum test gun and apply vacuum to all the HVAC components and verify that they work. If you're going to install speakers in the dash, do it before you button it all up. I'm installing the 4x6's as we speak in my dash (and of course, they don't fit and I'm using grills on the top).

Service the window regulators as well, grease the tracks and the regulator. Clean up the door lock pivots and rods and lubricate it all well, because you might as well do it, while it's all exposed. Ditto for that shifter. Then check out all the electrical. I'll bet that many of the 'grey wire' light sockets are wasted and you'll need to get used ones from your source. I've replaced an easy half dozen of these already!

 

if we knew wher you were, perhaps someone in the area could help. fill out your information on the forum. it will take at least a long weekend. I would plan for 3 and that way you will be happy...

 

I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I haven't seen the car in person yet because the guy is out of town but I have seen pictures. It seems to be in great shape for its age. I sent him that picture of the interior with nothing in it and he said the interior is a lot farther along than that which I'm relieved about.

 

I'm sure you wont but please dont do any trading that can''t be done face to face, car to car. Many, many scams out there be careful. Couple of bells aready going off- black pace car interior? out of town? Don't know the whole situation, just say-in.

 

Ya man the guy is located about an hour away from me in Georgia. Hes currently working out of town in Alabama until Wednesday so unfortunately I have to wait until then to make the trade. We are doing it face to face and he even said he would bring it to me.

I asked him about the pace car and he said he when he bought the whole black interior the guy told him it was from a pace car but it might not be. He still has the original interior either way. Should any interior from around 1978 to 1980 work in the car? I guess I don't want to get screwed with it not fitting right.

Thanks again for all the replies,

Cole

 

Yes, the interior from a 78 to 80 will work.