89 Dash removal
Racer
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 293
Likes: 169
From: Mooresville, IN
2026 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Modified
2025 C4 of the Year Winner - Modified
2023 C4 of the Year Finalist- Modified
2021 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
[QUOTE=JasBass;1603438533][QUOTE=ACMX92;1603435436]
Dynamat has definitely gone up in price lately, there isn't anything wrong with generic ebay or amazon sound deadner. And the whole thing about overboard on a C4, these are good cars that are fun and produce a lot of fun on a smaller budget. For me, the slice of 80s makes it worth all of the headaches. That digital dash with all of the info right there at your fingertips rivals some modern expensive digital dashes.
The A4s I have been 50/50 on honestly. My seats were trash so I had no choice and had to replace them. They fit perfect when you buy the right seat sliders for them. They are reasonably comfortable and definitely hold you in nice and snug, but that comes at the expense of long drive comfort. When I moved down to SC from NC, the 5 hour drive down 95 was about as much as I wanted to do in a single day. I wasn't hurting or terribly beat up, 5 hours in any sport seat is tough. A small lumbar pillow would help and maybe getting around to fixing the cruise control...lol. They give the car a nice look and update the interior a touch. I did a breadbox delete and I think it really took the interior to something that is 80s retro and not 80s tacky. No regrets overall
I've never used dynamat, but there was some on the ZF6 swap floor patch I bought and it really doesn't seem much different than the stuff you can buy at home depot. I haven't noticed any strange smells after using it either. I guess I'll stick with it, but will need to come up with something thicker to put over the top for the firewall. The precut insulation I have will only cover from the front wheel wells to the back. I have to agree, a decent C4 is pretty cheap so I have no guilt for "hurting value" or "ruining the car". My last car was pretty rare and all original so I couldn't bring myself to do anything that wasn't factory.
My cloth seats are okay, but with how much I intend to use the car I know their days are numbered. For what it costs to refresh them, plus additional expenses to have an upholstery shop try and match the original cloth I would probably be most of the way towards a set of aftermarket seats. I drove for 10 hours straight in my C4 last year and didn't have a single complaint about the stock seats, so I am not sure I'd want to give that up. I'll have to try and find a set of A4s to sit in and see how they feel. Any pictures of the breadbox delete? I have one on the shelf waiting for when my interior goes back together. I have seen a few pictures and they look good. My plan is to try and make a Corvette decal for the delete panel that is close to the size and font on the breadbox.
I had a few water leaks on my 85 that I attributed to worn weatherstripping, but now that my interior is gutted I can see a crack along the firewall seam at the wiper well and I can see light through it. It definitely makes me feel better about gutting the interior since it will be easy to address now. I will be sure to try your method on some of my damaged interior pieces. My dash came out unscathed but I do have some cracks on the halo panels and hatch trim. It would save a ton of money to repair them rather than go right for a replacement.
[QUOTE=colter;1603440017]
Man, I had to fix a bunch of cracks on the floor board, and I had to bang out dents on the metal floorboard that was under the seats. There were even some holes in the fiberglass where a chunk I guess broke off. I'm guessing the shop the PO used decided to jack the car up via the floorboards. It was a nightmare researching how to fix it, and then actually having to fix it. I laid glass on the inside and outside. I think sprayed the outside with some rubberized undercoating stuff. My car had already been sprayed with that stuff anyways at some point in the past like maybe at the GM dealer when it was first bought.
What speaker are you using in your door? I modified mine for a larger speaker. Though I cut those flaps off on the door as I wanted to be able to remove the speaker from the front instead of having to go around where the inner metal skin part is of the door.
When I inspected the car before purchase I saw a crack on the passenger side but figured it wasn't too bad or was just cracked undercoating. I had no idea about the driver side damage. It really wasn't obvious until the carpet came out. I think the driver side damage happened after I bought the car. I hit a huge chunk of river rock someone dragged up from a drainage ditch. It was just over the crest of a hill in the middle of the lane and I was doing about 60. Didn't even see it, I just heard a massive thud and a new exhaust leak. I pulled over and saw it laying there, must have been a 30-40lb rock. It destroyed the LH side of my exhaust but I didn't see any other damage at the time.
I have a pretty good repair plan now after a bunch of research. Most areas that are broken and overlapping each other I am going to try and spread out and remove the loose fibers with my dremel to get them to lay flat again. I can get to most of the damage from both sides so I'll just do one side at a time, paint it up and undercoat the exterior and it should be good as new. I have stop drilled all the hairline cracks I can find so hopefully that keeps those from spreading after the repair. I also have to rebond the floor to the frame on both sides. The passenger side has a few broken rivets as well that will need replacement. I haven't been able to find a good source for those blind rivets and I am not sure I want to use a regular pop-rivet for it. The floor repairs not a huge additional expense since I am doing an auto to ZF6 swap and will already be cutting and patching the trans tunnel.
I am using a set of Alpine 6.5" component speakers up front. They are installed in a set of aftermarket speaker enclosures that mount where the bose enclosures were and fit the 6.5s no problem. If I unscrew the enclosures from the door I can take the speaker out inside the door and remove it without having to disturb the metal panel which is nice. I thought about cutting those flaps off but the speakers seem to have enough clearance so I left them alone. The adapters are made by a company called car-speaker-adapters and the PN is SAK073.
Dynamat has definitely gone up in price lately, there isn't anything wrong with generic ebay or amazon sound deadner. And the whole thing about overboard on a C4, these are good cars that are fun and produce a lot of fun on a smaller budget. For me, the slice of 80s makes it worth all of the headaches. That digital dash with all of the info right there at your fingertips rivals some modern expensive digital dashes.
The A4s I have been 50/50 on honestly. My seats were trash so I had no choice and had to replace them. They fit perfect when you buy the right seat sliders for them. They are reasonably comfortable and definitely hold you in nice and snug, but that comes at the expense of long drive comfort. When I moved down to SC from NC, the 5 hour drive down 95 was about as much as I wanted to do in a single day. I wasn't hurting or terribly beat up, 5 hours in any sport seat is tough. A small lumbar pillow would help and maybe getting around to fixing the cruise control...lol. They give the car a nice look and update the interior a touch. I did a breadbox delete and I think it really took the interior to something that is 80s retro and not 80s tacky. No regrets overall
My cloth seats are okay, but with how much I intend to use the car I know their days are numbered. For what it costs to refresh them, plus additional expenses to have an upholstery shop try and match the original cloth I would probably be most of the way towards a set of aftermarket seats. I drove for 10 hours straight in my C4 last year and didn't have a single complaint about the stock seats, so I am not sure I'd want to give that up. I'll have to try and find a set of A4s to sit in and see how they feel. Any pictures of the breadbox delete? I have one on the shelf waiting for when my interior goes back together. I have seen a few pictures and they look good. My plan is to try and make a Corvette decal for the delete panel that is close to the size and font on the breadbox.
Your water leak could be from rain getting past the hood seal where it's bolt to the firewall and running into the HVAC/Heater core box and getting into the car. Could also be from the seam that runs along the firewall down inside the wiper well area. It could also be coming from the corners of the cowl under the windshield.
My dash was cracked on the left side where that large nut going into it is. And so the left dash would like to bounce around and shake. I ended up using some zipties to hold the dash to that nut area and it's been rock solid ever since.
I'll give a tip on cracked plastic. Like the A pillar and B pillar trim which likes to get cracks at the screw hole areas. But I wipe the backside with rubbing alcohol, though you don't want any of that getting on the face of the plastic as it will stain it. Then I use sand paper to sand off the outer layer of plastic around the crack and/or screw holes. (I don't know if that is needed). I then wipe it again with the alcohol. And then I use some black ABS cement from the hardware store and I brush on a thick layer around the crack and screw holes making sure not to get it down into the screw holes. And that stuff dries to the touch in 10 minutes, and I let it sit for a couple of days to cure. And it's pretty much rock hard after that but kind of flexible which means it doesn't recrack like say if you were to use an epoxy that cures rock hard. This stabilizes to the crack to keep it from flexing say when you tighen down a screw.
My A-pillar piece on the side had a crack that ran almost all the way through it from side to side. It was real flimsy until I spread a thick layer of ABS cement on the backside. Now it feels rock solid, and it doesn't flex and the crack doesn't open up when I tighten screws down.
Many years ago my center console lid door was really saggy if you pressed on it as the internal honeycomb plastic was all cracked. I got a can of ABS cement and poured it all over the inside plastic honeycomb piece. Let it set for several days, and it was hard as a board for probably a decade before it finally went. Obviously you have to remove the plastic piece that has the RPO sticker sheet.
My dash was cracked on the left side where that large nut going into it is. And so the left dash would like to bounce around and shake. I ended up using some zipties to hold the dash to that nut area and it's been rock solid ever since.
I'll give a tip on cracked plastic. Like the A pillar and B pillar trim which likes to get cracks at the screw hole areas. But I wipe the backside with rubbing alcohol, though you don't want any of that getting on the face of the plastic as it will stain it. Then I use sand paper to sand off the outer layer of plastic around the crack and/or screw holes. (I don't know if that is needed). I then wipe it again with the alcohol. And then I use some black ABS cement from the hardware store and I brush on a thick layer around the crack and screw holes making sure not to get it down into the screw holes. And that stuff dries to the touch in 10 minutes, and I let it sit for a couple of days to cure. And it's pretty much rock hard after that but kind of flexible which means it doesn't recrack like say if you were to use an epoxy that cures rock hard. This stabilizes to the crack to keep it from flexing say when you tighen down a screw.
My A-pillar piece on the side had a crack that ran almost all the way through it from side to side. It was real flimsy until I spread a thick layer of ABS cement on the backside. Now it feels rock solid, and it doesn't flex and the crack doesn't open up when I tighten screws down.
Many years ago my center console lid door was really saggy if you pressed on it as the internal honeycomb plastic was all cracked. I got a can of ABS cement and poured it all over the inside plastic honeycomb piece. Let it set for several days, and it was hard as a board for probably a decade before it finally went. Obviously you have to remove the plastic piece that has the RPO sticker sheet.
[QUOTE=colter;1603440017]
Man, I had to fix a bunch of cracks on the floor board, and I had to bang out dents on the metal floorboard that was under the seats. There were even some holes in the fiberglass where a chunk I guess broke off. I'm guessing the shop the PO used decided to jack the car up via the floorboards. It was a nightmare researching how to fix it, and then actually having to fix it. I laid glass on the inside and outside. I think sprayed the outside with some rubberized undercoating stuff. My car had already been sprayed with that stuff anyways at some point in the past like maybe at the GM dealer when it was first bought.
What speaker are you using in your door? I modified mine for a larger speaker. Though I cut those flaps off on the door as I wanted to be able to remove the speaker from the front instead of having to go around where the inner metal skin part is of the door.
I have a pretty good repair plan now after a bunch of research. Most areas that are broken and overlapping each other I am going to try and spread out and remove the loose fibers with my dremel to get them to lay flat again. I can get to most of the damage from both sides so I'll just do one side at a time, paint it up and undercoat the exterior and it should be good as new. I have stop drilled all the hairline cracks I can find so hopefully that keeps those from spreading after the repair. I also have to rebond the floor to the frame on both sides. The passenger side has a few broken rivets as well that will need replacement. I haven't been able to find a good source for those blind rivets and I am not sure I want to use a regular pop-rivet for it. The floor repairs not a huge additional expense since I am doing an auto to ZF6 swap and will already be cutting and patching the trans tunnel.
I am using a set of Alpine 6.5" component speakers up front. They are installed in a set of aftermarket speaker enclosures that mount where the bose enclosures were and fit the 6.5s no problem. If I unscrew the enclosures from the door I can take the speaker out inside the door and remove it without having to disturb the metal panel which is nice. I thought about cutting those flaps off but the speakers seem to have enough clearance so I left them alone. The adapters are made by a company called car-speaker-adapters and the PN is SAK073.
Last edited by ACMX92; May 13, 2021 at 03:21 PM.
2nd Gear
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Would you be kind enough to let me know how you unfastened the heater box please? I'm removing the interior on my new to me 84 to get rid of all the mouse fouled carpet and padding. I'm at the firewall and the pad is toast. I'm stuck on the heater box at the moment, scratching my head trying to figure out where all those darn fasteners are in the engine compartment. Thanks, ***** T
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 343
Likes: 18
From: Newport News VA
Would you be kind enough to let me know how you unfastened the heater box please? I'm removing the interior on my new to me 84 to get rid of all the mouse fouled carpet and padding. I'm at the firewall and the pad is toast. I'm stuck on the heater box at the moment, scratching my head trying to figure out where all those darn fasteners are in the engine compartment. Thanks, ***** T
1st Gear
Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
I have an issue with my 90 convertible wire harness 
that had been altered because the fuel relay had been removed ? why who knows I don't .So because of the reason that I can replace the complete harness to make the car safe and hopefully eliminating some constant on airbag lamp and intermittent abs system lights.. I have located a harness and the only issue is That it has a harness side for a passenger power seat mine does not. Your pics with the disassembly gives me some comfort knowing it is lengthy but doable project to say the least. Great images !
Dan R.
that had been altered because the fuel relay had been removed ? why who knows I don't .So because of the reason that I can replace the complete harness to make the car safe and hopefully eliminating some constant on airbag lamp and intermittent abs system lights.. I have located a harness and the only issue is That it has a harness side for a passenger power seat mine does not. Your pics with the disassembly gives me some comfort knowing it is lengthy but doable project to say the least. Great images ! Dan R.
Last edited by Ladder#1; Oct 5, 2021 at 09:04 PM.
