SteelCityYaga

I believe the catalog was free. Or, at most 10 bucks.

It unfortunately does not have only 4th gens, rather the entire Trans Am line from the beginning to end.

Like said earlier, it will have the Ram Air stickers for the WS6 Hood, tail lights, body panels, etc.

It's pretty cool to look through it and see items from the previous generations as well.

Highly recommended.

AnnivSS

It is pretty much all reproduction gm liscenced stuff.

jthunderz28

Its good to know that there are companies out there that will eventually start reproducing these parts. Thanks for all the input by all, I wasn't really that familiar with the restoration scene/players.

I too am OCD when it comes to my car, which is a daily driver so you can imagine the heartache i go through on a weekly basis. lol.

great421

iTrader: (1)

I'm in this camp as well.

Yes, I understand that concern, so, just like car guys do now, we'll use people who specialize in making custom car interiors to make custom-reproduction items.

I had a guy in Lapeer MI (Leroy June - Free Plug!) stitch up an entire interior to a 1966 Pontiac 2+2 with new black vinyl; all the "heat-formed" pattern lines he reproduced with a sewing machine.

Was it as "good as new"? It was better than new!

I even had a rear seat out of a 66 Bonneville that had a fold down center armrest, so I had him reproduce the 2+2's stripes on the Bonnie seat, and I put it in too. [At a car show, I had a couple other 2+2 guys say that they wish their cars had that rear armrest seat option.]

We'll do the same thing in 10 years to our F-bodies.

Yes, the plastic parts will be a bear, but (just like today where reproduction parts are not available) if we find a part that 'almost' works (i.e. - right part / wrong colour), we'll die it, or paint it, or cover it with fabric.

Hot rodders adapt - it's what we do.

bga02bird

back in the 70's when i had my 68 gto,,parts were very hard to find and expensive if you did find nos,,and look now,you can rebuild one out of one of many catalogs,,,,i'm pretty sure that in 10 years it will be the same with F bodies. If the demand is there,,someone will supply

Mecinoid

Door panels... 1998-2002 passenger side door panel... does anyone have one that is not cracked in ebony?

t_raven

iTrader: (12)

I actually think about this alot. I agree that it's interior stuff that is needed first. I don't even care about suspension or mechanical parts, because everything for all generations can be upgraded with aftermarket parts.

I started buying F bodies almost 20 years ago. At the time, 3rd gen stuff was still pretty new, 2nd gen stuff wasn't very desirable yet and still in abundance. 2nd gen stuff was all over junk yards, but not any more.

In the last 20 years things have gone from being able to buy solid 1st gens that need interior, complete 2nd gens with decent interior, and almost mint 3rd gens, to now any non restored 1st gen is a rust bucket, 2nd gens have moved down to solid bodies that need complete interior, you can still get drivable 3rd gens with decent interior, and near mint 4th gens are out there.

My 79 TA has a solid body but needs a complete interior. There is virtually nothing used out there any more. I had 5 2nd gens a couple years ago. One was low mileage with decent interior and really rusty body, all the rest were totally trashed. I was going to put that interior in my 79, but it wasn't exactly what I want, so I put it in one of the others and sold that car.

Anyway, all of this has made me realize 4th gen interior stuff is going to be hard to find in the near future. I'm hoping the aftermarket will start producing quality parts soon, and they'll be better than most repro 1st and 2nd gen parts currently are. But original stuff will probably always be better. I've parted out 2 4th gens and I'm sure I'll part out more. I've kept a good pair of door panels, interior plastics, dash, dash pads, and carpet that I can put in my '01 down the road. I'm going to continue to keep good interior parts for future projects, or to sell when they are no longer readily available.

Launch

I hear you. It's like my car which has the steering on the wrong side , all of the dash is made of custom fiberglass pieces and shrink wrapped in vinyl.

Whatever is obsolete and not being reproduced, as long as the body shell is there hot rodders will always just make parts fit and work.

(excuse the lack of carpet, you don't need that)

94LS1B4C

iTrader: (3)

Power driver/passenger mirror brackets!

F-Body International

Build your car the way you want it for yourself and be done. The most value will be achieved if you keep it.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I know this was posted 6 years ago, but even at that point things were starting to go away.

Back in 2005 I decided to start stockpiling certain things, NOS stuff that was still available and that I thought would be needed (and hard to get) later. I didn't buy in mass quantities though, just enough for my personal needs should I keep my '98 forever as planned. Having said this, there were some items that weren't on my "buy" list at the time, and now that it's 10 years later I wish I would have thought about getting those items as well as they are hard to find and the aftermarket versions are junk.

Anyone in the "old car" side of the hobby will be the first to tell you that a large portion of the aftermarket/reproduction parts supply for old cars is junk (not so much mechanical items, though some of those are junk too - but definitely the cosmetic stuff.) There are only a few companies that produce quality items, otherwise you are almost always better off with NOS or good condition used parts.

Trim Parts, Inc., is an example of truly high quality reproduction stuff. Much of what they sell is made on original GM tooling and none of it is cheap. I honestly can't tell the difference between their reproduction items and some of the assembly line original pieces for my '71. Just top shelf products in my experience. OER is another company that makes some nice items, though I've also had some disappointments with their products.

Overall, I wouldn't count on much high quality reproduction cosmetic parts support for these cars. Good used items and private stashes of NOS items will likely be the best bet for future restorations.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

We live in a different time and view our cars differently than people did 40 years ago. All of these muscle cars from the 60s and 70s were just daily drivers and toys people beat on back then, people didn't view them for what they thought they would be worth 10, 20, 30 years from then, they just drove them and didn't worry about it. Now you have people buying modern "muscle cars" and parking them in a garage and putting minimal miles on them in hopes they will be worth something in the future, there are ALOT of low mile cars out there to be had still, ****, when I was looking for my formula the sub 10k mile cars out numbered the middle range mileage cars. I don't think it will be as difficult to find clean examples in the future, they will be out there which if anything will hurt the value. But it will be interesting to see where it goes in the next decade when it comes to reproduction parts for the Fbodys, it's already very difficult to find clean interior parts. I can't imagine how it will be years from now if some companies don't step up and buy up some of GM's tooling to reproduce alot of this plastic stuff.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I've definitely seen this same trend locally as well. For the last two summers I've been looking for a nice, mid-mile 3-season driver 4th gen to replace the '02 Z28 I sold back in '14. I've only found a few potential cars in this category, but many more ultra low mile garage queens; I don't need another show car though.

On a side note I'll be headed out to Mt. Prospect shortly. I'll bring a few LS1Tech decals with me in case any of you guys are there and want one.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

I can testify to this. It's rare for me not to be disappointed in a repro part I've bought for my GTOs.

Some stuff is coming on line for 4th gens, though. Console lids for example. And I think there will be more. I do hope somebody does Firebird door panels - a complex project to be sure! Not that I need them; mine are good, having done the LS1tech repair years ago. But I feel sorry for the rest of you guys

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Sometimes they lull you into a false sense of quality by looking so nice when they come out of the box. Last summer I decided to upgrade the rear view mirror in my Nova to one of the earlier polished stainless models. I believe this part came from OER. It looked so nice coming out of the box, thought I had a real winner....until I installed it and discovered how poor the quality was of the pivot bushing, and that the mounting arm wasn't robust enough to provide the necessary interference fit within the mounting bracket. Due to these issues, the mirror would come loose every 5 days....haha, at least it was consistent. Put my stock 45 year old stuff back on, and not a single problem - imagine that. I guess I could modify the repro part to make it work, but it's a shame that this is such a common requirement in this hobby.

This is one of those items I wish I had picked up sooner. Even in 2005 I was unable to get a Code 14 "Dark Gray" version for a '97-'99 Camaro. I could only get the '00+ Ebony version from GM. I should have looked around and found whatever vendor bought up the NOS stash, but I back-burnered it for too long. I think I still have an NOS Ebony one somewhere in my collection though.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

I have had this problem with the stock pieces. They're just old and you can only tighten the set screw so much. On my current cars, they're adjusted perfectly for me and never touched. The only other person who drives them is my brother, and he's the same height and weight as I.
Yep, and they're only being reproduced in ebony now.

This topic is of interest to me because I'm "restoring" a salvage title V6 car to be one of my sons' DD. 75k SoCal car with only minor damage; runs good and the suspension's straight. Unless you want to part with that console lid, I'm going to try one of the repros. I have a perfect pair of cloth door panels, some nice wheels and other things to throw on it. With a little paint work it should be really nice.

BFK86

iTrader: (1)

I had my eye on a low mile ebony console lid on ebay but I waited too long to pull the trigger..there are a few for sale on ebay right now that look to be in good shape. The only thing I'm worried about is the hinge where it attaches to the lid, they become flimsy and it's tough to tell from a picture. The one in my car appears nice, but when you open it, it just doesn't feel very tight anymore. Also I want a backup set of ebony cloth formula door panels, I did the preventative crack fix but in the event they get worse I'd like to have another set.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

If you can get a hold of a good used original bushing, I think you can make the original mirror quite stiff again (assuming the ball isn't also loose.) The repro bushings and set screws don't seem to get the job done though.

In fact, I bet I could get that repro mirror to stay in place if I installed a good used bushing from an original mirror that has been discarded for other reasons, and added shims between the tab and the bracket. One day I'll work on that.


Looks like I do have an NOS Ebony lid in the GM box still, I'd probably be willing to trade it if perhaps one day I found someone with an NOS Dark Gray lid. Or maybe I'll get another '00-'02 car some day.

wannafbody

iTrader: (2)

I'll bump this. I remember a few years back, genuine WS6 hoods could be had for $ 500-700. Now they are between $1000-1500.

Jennifur

any good uhpostery shop can 3d print and fabricate any parts and pieces currently out of wood...fiberglass or plastic. Replace and even enhance the door panels and such to stock or even nicer than stock...
3D printing parts at home is becoming more commonplace and alot of these parts mfg realize this and they make parts in the same way vs. Making custom injection molds for items that printing them is much easier and thousands to tens of thousands of dollars less so they will be able to get an order in...print the parts and ship them out in a day or two and lower their overhead costs of stocking parts in shelves and warehouses. I think you are all worrying over basically nothing...
in 10 years from now you might have your own 3D printer and we on this forum will be sharing the parts files to make each of the 10..20 total parts & pieces small and large to each door panel completely or part by part so if you accidentally snap/break a part..... just log in here....search and download the file yoiu need
(98-02 pass door panel)
(98-02 drivers door panel)
Select wich part or all
Speaker bezel
Bottom rail/storage comp
Back edge
. Top edge
. Door lock/door handle bezel
Door grab handle
. All parts
Pick what you want or ALL PARTS
..download it into your computer
...hit...
File
Print
Quantity = 1
Start ==>
Then Go to dinner for an hour or whatever
come back from dinner and part or parts are sitting there waiting to get painted gray or whatever color and install.

you can print and modify parts now like intake manifolds and all that...panels...side skirts..rear spoiers. Chin spoilers...tail lights and housings.....braces and brackets...plastic rivets and sun visors...mounting flanges and hardware...center consoles. Ash trays and ash tray lids.. arm rest and arm rest lids.. shifter handles... anything you want you can print just about... You name it if its plastic fiberglass etc. you can print it.

thats where we will all be in 10 years.

Jennifur.