[Tail Light Lenses]

The plastic tail light lenses on my 83 Avanti are distorted from the heat of the tail light bulbs. I am wondering if this a known problem with Avanti's or is it something unique to my car possibly from having high wattage tail light bulbs installed somewhere along the way that overheated the tail light assembly and distorted the lenses?

I am going to replace the tail light lenses in the not too distant future and am debating on do I want to replace the traditional bulbs with LEDs to get rid of the heat or keep the traditional bulbs and just drill some holes in the tail light body casting to allow the heat to escape into the fender and trunk. You will not be able to see the holes when the unit is mounted on the car. The downside of drilling holes is you open the interior of the tail light assembly to water infiltration but you should be able to minimize this by drilling a few large holes in the bottom of the casting under each bulb so if any water gets in it will drain out.

Has anyone else dealt with this problem and how did you solve it?

[Air Conditioner Switches]

I need to replace the two Air Conditioner control switches mounted in the front console pannel of my 1983 Avanti. I have purchased replacement switches from Nostalgic and was wondering if anyone can tell me what I am up against in removing the front console pannel to gain access to the switches so I can swap them out? Are there other interior components that need to be remove first or is it a straight forward job of just taking out the console screws and pulling the console back to gain access? Also, do the control knobs that are mounted on the switches just pull off or is their some trick to removing them?

[Power locks and antenna]

Suspect it is. My 83 has toggle switches mounted on the lower lip if the dash for those two functions. The power antenna is on the left side of the steering wheel and the power door locks is on the right. There is a third toggle switch on the lower lip of the dash just to the right of the console that controls the interior lights.

[1983 Avanti Spare Tire]

Does anyone know what type/size spare tire the 1983 Avanti was originally equipped with? A contemporary roadtest says they came from the factory with P205/75R-15 tires on the road wheels but my spare tire (mounted on a Magnum 500 wheel) is this size and fits so tightely in the well that you need a couple of tire irons to pry it out. Additionally, when in the well, tire spare tire assembly sticks up a couple of inches higher than the floor of the trunk which makes mounting the tire well cover moot. Did the car originally come with a space saver spare or were they shipped from the factory with this ill fitting spare tire?

[Turn Signal lever Replacement]

I recently took the Nardi steering wheel off of my 83 to replace the ignition lock and the only snap ring I encountered (not really a snap ring but a split ring) was after I removed the steering wheel hub. The split ring holds the ignition lock disk onto the steering shaft. I do not know if your 76 uses the same steering column configuration as my 83 which looks like standard GM. The replacement ignition lock was the same as that used on an 83 Chevrolet Caprice.

[Chrome Plating]

The chrome plating on my 83's headlight and taillight surrounds is breaking down and needs to be redone. Speed & Sport Chrome Plating, Houston, TX usually advertizes their services in the AOAI magazine and I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with them.

[83 Door Pannel Removal]

The door lock tumblers in my 1983 Avanti are sticking so bad that I am afraid to lock the doors. I am thinking about replacing them and was wondering if anyone knows which manfacturer Avanti sourced the door lock tumblers from in May 1983 when my car was built?

Also, I was looking at the interior door pannels to see how they come off and it is not obvious how the arm rest is removed. The rest of the hardware on the door pannel looks straight forward but there are not any screws visible on the arm rest that should be removed. As solid as the arm rest is I cannot imagine it is just attached to the door pannel. Is anyone familar with how the door pannel arm rest is removed in the the 1983 model Avanti?

[83 Door Pannel Removal]

The door lock tumblers in my 1983 Avanti are sticking so bad that I am afraid to lock the doors. I am thinking about replacing them and was wondering if anyone knows which manfacturer Avanti sourced the door lock tumblers from in May 1983 when my car was built?

Also, I was looking at the interior door pannels to see how they come off and it is not obvious how the arm rest is removed. The rest of the hardware on the door pannel looks straight forward but there are not any screws visible on the arm rest that should be removed. As solid as the arm rest is I cannot imagine it is just attached to the door pannel. Is anyone familar with how the door pannel arm rest is removed in the the 1983 model Avanti?