rossiter76vette

Alright everyone, I'm a long ways off from messing with the interior for my project car but I wanted to start this thread to start getting ideas on where to start. I have the seats and a big fill of parts, but will need mostly everything else! Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated!

PDerby

Im doing my 76 now, need a lot of patience

lvmyvt76

find a local corvette club, get help from members there!!!

Easy Mike

Purchase the 76 assembly instruction manual (AIM). Look through it three or four times to get an idea of what you'll be doing before digging in to the interior.

rossiter76vette

Any good resources to get an AIM? I looked on Ecklers and couldn't really find what I was looking for.

Easy Mike

Almost all the vendors carry the AIMs. I would be surprised if Eckler's didn't have them. Try Willcox, ZIP, and Corvette Central.

Alan 71

Hi r,
Many folks have found that using/restoring original interior parts (especially 'soft' parts) is better than buying new reproduction parts.
Often the fit and or quality of a reproduction interior part may be disappointing.
Regards,
Alan

Tom69

Amen!

Tom69

rossiter76vette

Alan,
thanks for the tips. Once I get the brakes all done I'm planning on going through what I have and see what I can save. The entire interior is ripped out of it and in about three boxes, it what's left of it.

AllC34Me

What color interior are you working with for your 76?
One thing to help you if you do look for donor parts will be to determine if you have an early 76 (which uses 69-76E parts) or a late 76 (which uses 76L-77 parts) on the interior. It is not an exact science but one you will want to know as interior parts changed coming into the 77 year which affected some of the later 76 cars.

Good luck with your interior restoration and have fun along the way.

David Howard
AllVettes4Me

rossiter76vette

It currently has black interior, which I think I'll keep instead of changing. How do I know if I have an early or late year 76?

AllC34Me

What month was your 76 produced? You can determine that from your information plate on the drivers side interior door frame. If you have the VIN number you can also get an idea where in the production sequence your car was assembled.

76 Early A-Pillar pads are actually padded.
76 Late A-Pillar covers are actually rigid plastic like the 77.
The same is true for the windshield top pad.

Just good to know if you are changing out pads for donors due to wear and tear on your originals.

As others have alluded, when possible, restore and re-use your originals if you can, you know they fit. Restore and use donor parts if yours are not reusable, you have a higher likelihood of success. Use after market parts if donor parts are not available.

Good luck with your search and installation.

David

derekderek

Except for seat upholstery. If there is a good 40 year old seat cover in existance, it is in a museum piece...

AllC34Me

Or it never got installed in the first place. But fortunately we have good sources of new seat covers today and the after market appear to be well suited for our cars. But you make a good point.

David

lvmyvt76

look at the a/c compressor, if it is the long one, it is an early model, small one , late model.

540 vette

Go thru what you have so you can make a list of what you need. Most of the hard parts can be stripped of the paint using Easy Off oven cleaner. It won't harm the plastic. Most venders sell a set that includes seat cover, door cards, rugs and a few other trim pieces. Also get an interior screw kit. This way you won't be going crazy looking for the correct screws. And while you have everything out check the wiring and straighten it out if Bubba got hold of it.

7T1vette

Clean, refurbish, and reuse everything that can be salvaged from your interior. Stock parts fit better and are one heckuva lot less expensive than "new" aftermarket parts.

Replacing usable stock parts is expensive and, IMO, just plain dumb....