Hi guys, I'm new to this forum. I have a 1998 Camaro Z28/6 speed. I need to replace my rear shocks. In order to get to the upper mounts i need to remove both rear interior quarter pannels, and fold the carpet up. How do i do this!? haha I dont wanna break any tabs that might be there and get rattles later on. thank you!

 

The hatch panel on the passenger side has 3 plastic tab-lock screws, you should be able to simply turn them to the Unlock position then pull up, then out on the piece. The drive side I believe is just latched in with plastic hooks and should be fairly easy to safely remove, the carpet should easily fold up (unless you have TTop mounts, then you may have to remove those).

 

All you have to do to get to these is fold the rear seat down, right under the seatbelt anchors is where the top of the shocks are located. You can go the hard, time consumming way of taking everything out in order to pull the carpet up or just cut the carpet a little to open it up around this. Feel for a indention and then cut around it.

 

I will be able to get to the mounts, and remove the nuts and bushings if i cut the carpet right there? I dont want it to be a half-assed job.

 

You can do it all, there will be some filler foam pieces plugging up the holes you just pull that out and the tops of the shocks are right there.

 

Another Question. My z28 has ~197,400 miles on it. It has the original shocks all around. If I replace the Rears, will I notice a difference? Im going to put on the KYB Excel-G's. (GR2) I bought this car from my uncle, and it is in amazing shape and has been properly cared for.

 

which panels are you trying to get out? the small ones all the way to the back, or the massive ones by the back seats?

 

On the back trim, the driver's sad has 2 hooks that you have to pull up and then out from the sail panel. Then there are 3 "christmas tree" pegs that you have to release from by pulling the panel straight back towards the taillights. The passenger side has the 2 hooks you have to pull up from the sail panel and then it has 3 screw tabs that you can unlock with a flathead screwdriver and pull the panel straight up.

The sail panels are easiest to remove with the backseat folded down. You need to remove the kickpanels from holding the sail panel down. Then you have to remove the coat hangers on each side, these are compression tabs so you'll need to take a flathead screwdriver and work them out. The best way I found is the push in and down, the lift up on the screwdriver and pull back. Once those are off, you'll need to slide the back seatbelts out through the slits in the sail panel. They also hook around the catch bar for the seats, but if the seats are down its easy to remove. After that all that's holding those in are a few pieces of velcro.