I'm talking about the hard plastic piece on the passenger side that, on yours, says "Monte Carlo."

 

I figured it out. The pad is now secured. Tomorrow I figure out how to fit the light sensor into the black trim piece, and it's finally done. Pics to follow.

 

It's not done. Our fun and learning never ends. The A-pillar on the driver's side will not go into its slot or snap where it needs to against the headliner. There is absolutely nothing in the way that wasn't there before.

The A-pillar on the passenger side completely fell out. The dash pad is actually a different design than the 06-07. so there's a tab blocking the slot where the tab for the dash end piece has to go. The wife lost the tin snips. Even if that gets resolved, it still won't work because the part that runs along the door pillar sticks out at a 45-degree angle and won't snap to anything.

For those of you who wondered why I was so concerned about the A-pillars, this is why.

HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPP!

 

If I remember on mine the metal tab stayed in and the plastic pushed into the slot. I also ran into the issue where the a pillar piece didn't fit right away, turned out the piece where in center of the door where the two pieces overlapped was under instead of over or vice versa. I can check and get a pic up later if you need.

 

I cant for the life of me understand why he is having such a problem. I have pulled a dash pad from an 03 monte and put in in my sons 06 monte LT and never had any issue with fitment at all or with the a post trim. It has to be something obvious but yet so minor he is just over looking it somehow.

Z34man, Did you happen to use the trim piece that snaps onto the dash pad at the base of the windshield from your 06 Car or did you use the trim piece from the donor car? I do recall a slight fitment issue with the 03 piece vs the one for 06. Mainly I noticed the hole for the light sensor near the middle was different. I did wind up using the trim panel from the 06. Maybe there is some slight difference in that perhaps?

 

You are exactly correct; I used the original trim piece because of the light sensor. I wanted to use the donor, because the original is missing a chunk of the foam at the front, but the function of the vehicle is more important than a little quietness.

Which makes the problems I'm having even more of a mystery, and wouldn't impact the problem I'm having at the bottom on the passenger side.

I'll try to get some pics up on Tuesday, unless I figure it out before then. Merry Christmas, everyone.

 

That happened on mine, too. I figured it out and fixed it. And it's under, not over. Sadly, those are not the problems.

 

And there he goes, bitching about the car again:

The worst part of this is, none of this would have been necessary if some of the testing of the mules would ever take place in Florida. If the vinyl and adhesives had survived the Florida sun, I could spend my time and money dealing with performance enhancements, rather than tearing my interior apart.

(As a side note, this would also eliminate the "exterior trim restorer" industry.)

 

I don't know for sure, but I would think they did at least some testing at the Mesa AZ proving grounds which should have higher peak temperatures than FL. We've got a Nissan and a VW test track locally, and it seems like those guys bring everything in their fleet out to those tracks and the surrounding areas for test mules, especially in the mid summer and mid winter months.

With that said, GM doesn't care at all about money made from the aftermarket resto business. However they do they do care about keeping initial cost down as most of their vehicles are more budget focused (ie using cheap materials as theyve been criticised for years). They've certainly also got some interest in the cars not lasting forever as they can make money by selling a replacement new car.

I will say that I'm surprised you've had so many issues though. Between my 08 Impala and 07 Grand Prix, I never had any interior issues after many years outside in the AZ heat.