stock interior

[drdirt]

I'm looking for some advice from one of you guys with an unmolested Firebird. Ten years ago or so, the previous owner of my Trans Am glued cheap, thin parts-store carpet to the top of the original carpet. This same stuff is also glued to the panels in the hatch area (spare tire cover, locking compartment, top of the lid covering the "trunk"). A photo is attached. In stock form, are these panels bare plastic? I'm itching to tear off that nasty carpet.

[wildjeff]

Yes, they are bare plastic. Even if you have B48, luggage compartment trim, the factory would just glue over the regular panels. I’d worry about what the glue did to the plastic panels. have you tried removing a small section?

[TAdan]

I'd say remove the cheap stuff (and the original carpet). Clean the panels and then recarpet them yourself.

I've seen the panels with the carpet removed and you can see where the glue was. You may be able to clean/scuff the panels and repaint them to hide the glue stains.

[drdirt]

Thanks guys, unfortunately, the build sheet with option codes is AWOL. I want to look into getting a new one from PHS, but in the meantime, I tore some of the carpet off the lid to the locking side compartment. It had some kind of hard foam between the carpet and the panel, but it came off in one piece. It looks like it was held on with yellow weatherstrip adhesive. The panel doesn't seem to be damaged, but I need to work on the glue with some 3M Adhesive Remover. The carpet is definitely the cheap parts store type. It's not the same color as the factory carpet, which is dark grey or charcoal color. Any details on which panels were covered with the B48 option?

[drdirt]

The glue is coming off, but with application of liberal amounts of 3M Adhesive remover, scraping with a plastic bondo scraper, and lots of work! The job is half done, and I'm pretty happy with the results, here is a picture of the driver's side panel, showing before and after. I'll finish the job sometime when it's not so hot out!