I had a 3 day weekend (took the Monday off) and spent most of it getting caught up on car jobs I've been procrastinating. Nothing went as planned, so I didn't get everything done, but the list got a little smaller none the less.
In somewhat chronological order
First, I'd ordered a new headliner backing board for the 85 T/A to replace the original which had disintegrated, and I got some headliner fabric from a local supplier. My retired dad has gotten pretty good with automotive upholstery work, so I spent Saturday morning with him upholstering the new board.
The rest of Saturday I detailed the Sonoma, including the bed which was nasty, and fixed some loose weather striping. No pics.
Sunday I figured I'd start by replacing a cracked front sway bar on the 96 Firebird. As I recently described in NoTo's thread in the tech section, the ends on some GM bars have a bad habit of getting rusty and splitting. Like this:
(old bar)
![](http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w449/Firm84/D9D596F2-98F1-4F44-AD71-4C26C0ED1221.jpg)
I sourced some really low mileage WS-6 Trans Am bars (front and rear) and started in on the front bar. Told Mrs Firm I'd be done in 2 hours, max. 9 hours later I finally put down the tools and called it done. The front most fastener on the driver's side bushing is actually a stud with a nut on it (unlike the others which are bolts). It was incredibly seized; I tried all the usual tricks, torch, impact guns, more heat, breaker bar, etc and ended up just ruing the nut. miraculously I eventually got the entire stud out and replaced it. One of the hottest, sweatiest, swearingest job I've done in recent memory.
The new front bar installed - The rear is going to have to wait, I am not risking that kinda torture again for awhile!
![](http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w449/Firm84/47AE821D-FDED-481B-B317-B4E6AD5F6C19.jpg)
Today (Monday) i decided to do something a little cleaner and install the headliner back into the T/A. Again, easy right. Wrong. The fitment of the aftermarket board sucked (I should have tested fitted before we upholstered) and it took another 3 hours working in the blazing sun to get it all fitted to an acceptable standard. Made a mess too, so I had to detail the interior afterwards.
![](http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w449/Firm84/DSC_7758.jpg)
![](http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/w449/Firm84/DSC_7759.jpg)
After that I had the detailing stuff out, so I did the other Firebird and called it a day.