[david-b]

Me and my bro are going to start restoring the interior of the Monte. We cleaned it out for the 1st time since buying it, and it's in decent shape. The rug was redone at some point, but installed half-***, so we're going to pull it and reinstall, making it smooth. I do have some questions though on the rest of it.

#1 - The seats are black leather and have small tears. Nothing major, and all on seams. Would a place that does upholstry be able to general fix something like that?

#2 - The drivers side swivel doesn't lock in. Figure I'll have to pull the seat to fix it, but is fixing that generally an easy thing to do? Why would it not lock in? The little handle is there and locks, but the seat still swivels then.

#3 - Dash. The dash has a large crack on it. Is there a place that sells dashes? Not finding any

#4 - The seller threw in a spare dash/gauge cluster from another year Monte, that has a tach, and some other more useful stock gauges. However, it's in very bad condition. So I was thinking of pulling the dummy lights (since they're circluar) and adding in some vintage-style gauges. How do you guys feel about that? Any other recommendations for something similar? Trying to keep the interior decently stock looking, but I hate having just a dummy light for coolant temps and oil pressure.

#5 - Back window dash has a crack as well. Any places that sell those as well?

Thanks all!

[DanTwoLakes]

#1 If it is open at a seam and not cut at a seam it is an easier fix. The seat cover still has to come off and replacing leather can get pricey.

#2 You'll have to pull the seats out to do a decent job of carpet installation anyway, so look at the swivel mechanism then.

#3 Your car is not exactly a classic, so finding any interior parts for it is going to be tough. There are web sites that specialize in Monte Carlos, but I don't know if '75s would be included.

#4 I like the idea of putting gauges in instaed of idiot lights, but that's just my personal opinion.

#5 The package shelf is in the same category as #3. If there's no market for the part, nobody will reproduce it. The good news there is that it probably can be repaired unless it's totally trashed.

[Coodeville]

There is a place called "Just Dashes" that restores dash, deck and door boards