I've been told this by pretty much everywhere whilst looking for NEW trim pieces for the Trans Am. Junkyards are ok for hard plastics and such, but weatherstripping and other things are nearly impossible to find for my 2000 Trans Am. Anyone have a place to find a cowl weatherstrip? I had to drop $210 on a ABS plastic headliner because pressed board ones are no where to be found and used ones are in craptacular shape as well.
That sucks. so far, all of the parts I have ordered from Toyota have been available for the Supra.
In reply to maroon92:
That is because the Supra is almost 25 years old and has a cult following, but his TA is only 10yo so it is in that limbo time. In another 10 years he will find them every where.
Try Steele or Metro Rubber.
hmmm....I would have thought that there would be more demand for TA parts than Supra parts. There were more TA made than Supra. Especially MkIII.
I dunno, I work in the parts industry, and I still don't understand it.
I have a 1998 Camaro that I'm willing to disassemble. Drop me a line at keith@miata.net and let me know what you need.
Some manufacturers are much better at supporting old vehicles than others. I think Volvo, BMW and Mercedes are the big winners here, but you can still get a surprising number of parts for old Land Rovers.
I thought manufacturers had to keep parts available for a certain amount of time, maybe 7 years? Then again, last Trans Am was 2003, so that'd put it right outside the range.
Mercedes will, if you can supply the part number, source and supply any part you need. Do not mistake that for fast or cheap. I have a 107 car in our body shop, the owner wanted all the rubber replaced including the front door vent window seals. Right vent seal = ~$95.00. Left vent seal = ~$890.00. 
Yup, the old seal doesn't look so bad, does it?
Companies like Steele Rubber (weird name) will make something once there's enough demand. There is a company called Uro Parts who do the same thing for European cars, if you can supply a good used one for them to make a mold they can reproduce damn near anything.
P71 wrote: Try Steele or Metro Rubber.
Metro rubber is local to me and I'll be heading down there this week to pick up some stuff for my Opel. Look over their site and let me know and I'll grab you some samples of anything you think is close.
maroon92 wrote: That sucks. so far, all of the parts I have ordered from Toyota have been available for the Supra.
I can still get parts from GM for my 71 Chevelle. Kia_Racer is right.....that model TA is just in limbo mode.
oldopelguy wrote:P71 wrote: Try Steele or Metro Rubber.Metro rubber is local to me and I'll be heading down there this week to pick up some stuff for my Opel. Look over their site and let me know and I'll grab you some samples of anything you think is close.
Metro has good stuff and decent prices. I got a weatherstripping kit for one of my cars from them.
Year One has a catalog that covers your car. http://www.yearone.com/pco/G_0309/t1.asp on page 206 they list a hood-to cowl seal, is that what you need?
I bought my 82 Z28 new. Now I have to buy interior parts from a restoration house. In 2 more years it will qualify for antique plates.
Just sayin.
And Year One is worth a look for sure. Thats where I got my headliner.
eastsidemav wrote: I thought manufacturers had to keep parts available for a certain amount of time, maybe 7 years? Then again, last Trans Am was 2003, so that'd put it right outside the range.
As far as I know, this is a rumor. If anyone has any positive, actual proof, please reveal it. I managed OES parts for Detroit Diesel a few years ago, and this never came up.
Well that's because 2002 was the last year of the F-Body from GM. Oh wait, you were talking about the parts support?
At least you can be reasonably certain that they will reproduce stuff for your car. Unless a particular piece for my Valiant happens to fit an early Barracuda as well, it's a crapshoot.
The 7 yr. thing IS a myth. Parts are mostly available due to demand. A search for NOS stock is often helpfull. A good parts dept. man can be a lot of help.
I've been surprised at how many C4 parts are either NLA or 2-4 week wait at the dealer! My other old car is an E30, and BMW seems content to stock nearly everything for an model from the last 30+ years.
racinginc215 wrote: We seem to have most of the Trans AM/ Camaro weatherstrip in stock at various SPO's across the country. My warehouse has the hatch seals and door seals. might want to give the GM dealer a call.
Called every single dealer in the Central Florida/Tampa area. None of them have it in stock, none of them will even attempt to find it. Parts guys at the dealership I work at won't even bother to help me, but that's because they can't talk on the phone and work a computer at the same time (different story).
Guess yearone is the next choice, I'll just have to wait until Christmas for it to finally be shipped to me lol.
I'll check the metrorubber site out when I get home, because I also need door/t-top seals as well. I thought my cowl seal was going to be fine after a thorough douching, but it's all crusty and cracked, and nasty, should have left all the grime and dirt on it.
http://www.compnine.com/index.php?u=1&year=2002&artnbr=2F08-020&artsfx=NULL&supplgroup=NULL&catcode=25F&modelcode=F&makecode=P&modelseries=FA&uid=1&modelid=1147577321&capuid=1&majorgroup=08&grouptype=B
is it #18 in the pic? if so, the GM part number is 10243828 and the cost is in the area of $20. www.gmpartsdirect.com has it for $12.
yeah 18 in the pic is the cowl seal.
you really need to find yourself the factory parts CD or book for your car. i get them for anything i buy and have every GM number for every part down to nut, bolt, screw, and clip on the car. went to the dealer one day they couldnt find something in the computer. whipped out my 4" thick parts book, he popped in the number and up popped my part as available next day.
damn thanks derrik, i owe you a brewski
pat--gmpartsdirect says it can't find anythign under that code lol
eastsidemav wrote: I thought manufacturers had to keep parts available for a certain amount of time, maybe 7 years?
They have to stock emissions-related parts for a certain amount of time, but anything else? They don't have to do squat other than cover their warranty obligations.
We've run into this many times, domestic and import. Most recently, we had to piece together two junkyard ABS units for a Ford because new wasn't available, reman wasn't available, and one had a bad controller and the other had a bad hydraulic unit.
I have heard that certain parts for ZR1s and Grand Nationals were not available even when the cars were new.
I can't wait until modern cars go NLA. A high number of things are VIN-encoded, or require flashing to a certain vehicle, and these things are one-time-set. So, you can't, say, put a junkyard ECU into a Chrysler, or a instrument cluster into a BMW. It's new or nothing.
So really an LS1 swap will cost the same as any minor repair. This is not so bad.
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