Interior Package

[Buck69]

My door panels are red and badly scuffed. Seat belts faded with sticking retractors and although the dash is in great condition, it is grey. Also, picked up a seat cover from LMC that has a poor fit for the bench in it.
Does anyone have recommendations for where a person can go to get a complete matching interior for these old trucks including visors. Fit/quality/finish is more important to me than the price. Is there any companies out there that offer this?
Looking forward to this being my daily driver until they take my license away.

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[TotalyHucked]

There's nobody out there that makes what you're looking for. You'll have to piece things together or go to a good upholstery shop and let them put it together for you.

If it were me, I'd figure out what color interior you want and purchase a few cans of dye to do any of the plastics. Then search out some good original door panels that can be dyed as well (aftermarket's are hit or miss. USA1 makes the best door panels around but you'll be lucky to get them 3 years from now). Dye all the plastics together.

For the belts, nobody repops these. There are aftermarket "kits" but they're kinda universal and don't look great. Tina King restores OE belts, there's a thread just for her here:

Tina King Chevy/GMC seatbelts

Why have them restored? Seems new is about the same price? Fit and finish is not at all the same on new. If you want the factory look you have to restore.

www.gmsquarebody.com

Carpet can be bought many places, but make sure it matches the dye you want or just go black or a rubber mat.

For the seat, there are a few places that make actual covers (not that universal blanket style you have there) that are halfway decent but my advice would be to find a good upholstery shop (and make sure to see examples of their work first) and get them to recover it in the material and style of your liking.

Also keep in mind, even when these were new, the interiors were about 10 different shades of whatever color they were. There's so many different materials in there, it's hard to get everything to match 100% like a new car.

 

[Scott91370]

Honestly, I would find a good upholstery shop and have them redo everything. They can cover it all in your choice of fabric and it will all the your original stuff so it will fit. And the price will be similar to buying replacements that may not.

 

[Ricko1966]

Seat belts, not exactly like originals but IDK judge for yourselves.

Replacement Bench Seat Belts for 1973-1987 Chevy Trucks

This 1976-87 Chevy truck bench seat belt kit is easy to install for front bench seat applications. Customize with your preferred webbing color and buckle style.

www.seatbeltplanet.com

 

[Buck69]

Thanks guys! Upholstery shops seem to have gone extinct in these parts. Kind of like parts salvage yards.
Pretty simple interior in this truck. Hadn't thought of dying anything. Does that work very well on plastic door panels? Have only seen someone do it once years ago from red to black on their corvette. His results were far from impressive but believe it was mostly if not all vinyl.
Thanks for the ideas and links.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Thanks guys! Upholstery shops seem to have gone extinct in these parts. Kind of like parts salvage yards.
Pretty simple interior in this truck. Hadn't thought of dying anything. Does that work very well on plastic door panels? Have only seen someone do it once years ago from red to black on their corvette. His results were far from impressive but believe it was mostly if not all vinyl.
Thanks for the ideas and links.

It works very well as long as you prep the panel correctly and use a quality dye. SEM is kinda the go to for dyes and prep is just to wash it very well with Dawn soap and water a few times to make sure all the oils and greases are out of the panel

 

[Buck69]

It works very well as long as you prep the panel correctly and use a quality dye. SEM is kinda the go to for dyes and prep is just to wash it very well with Dawn soap and water a few times to make sure all the oils and greases are out of the panel

Awesome! I will be looking further into this when I get back to town.
Am up in the Klondike now for a few weeks fixing mobile gold mining equipment. Hopefully don't run over any of the Gold Rush camera crew in a blind corner.

 

[505squared]

I replaced my door panels from LMC but everything else I used SEM paint and just prep’d everything really good and have not had any issues. Wanted a cheap console/armrest so found one at Tractor Supply that was gray and painted to match. I used Firethorn Red.

 

[Long Rider]

What TotalyHucked said.

" Even when these were new, the interiors were about 10 different shades of whatever color they were." I have done 4 of these SQ Bdys now and have had good results with LMC for retractable seat belts, lower door panel carpet sets, bench seat hinge covers, door sill plates, carpet, dash pads, and velour bench seat set. I have been very happy with them.

 

[Buck69]

I replaced my door panels from LMC but everything else I used SEM paint and just prep’d everything really good and have not had any issues. Wanted a cheap console/armrest so found one at Tractor Supply that was gray and painted to match. I used Firethorn Red.

Nice job!

 

[Buck69]

Gotta love the Klondike!
A few pics of what pops up out of the permafrost. A young woolly mammoth tusk, some sort of ancient buffalo horn maybe and of course the thing that put it in the history books!

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[CheemsK1500]

The nastiest OEM panels can be made fresh again with sand paper, JB weld, SEM paint, and a lot of patience. Degrease and clean parts to be painted like your life depends on it, adhesion promoter is also good to have. Some are cracked beyond saving, but I have successfully brought some back to life with this method.

The interior of this ‘85 Silverado that I used this method on is all original panels, except for the dash pad and A pillar trim (LMC). My carpet is still ugly but, I'll swap that eventually. The only thing I wish I did differently is spending more timing filling in the scuffs beneath the armrest. The paint made them much more noticeable.

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[Buck69]

You guys definitely have me reevaluating my choice to replace it all. Am really not a fan of the red on green. Will probably look to try something different for a color. Not quite sure yet. Probably look for one that is close to what was offered then.