Definitely get the Helms. I have a Chilton’s and a Helms, and the Chilton’s does a better job of illustrating ‘some’ things, but the Helms has WAY more detailed information and diagrams. Removing your interior should go in this order, door panels come first so they are not damaged while pulling out the front seats:
Door panels.
Front Seats.
Rear Seats.
Hatch carpet/spare tire cover.
Rear speaker covers.
Trunk tail light cover panel.
Rear panels.
The panels covering the hatch frame and rear wiper motor.
Weather stripping holding back of headliner to your frame.
Sun visors.
Rear view mirror.
Reading/map light assembly. (carefully pop the edges to get the cover off with a very thin and dull butter knife or panel popper, look for the flat spots around the edges to see where to pry)
Dome light assembly. (same as reading/map assembly, two prying spots on the front and back)
(at this point you can prop something up between your dash, or floor, and the two front corners of your headliner where the sun visors screw into to keep the headliner from getting in the way after the next couple of pieces are removed. This can also help to prevent it from bending too much, and creating ugly ‘wrinkles’ in the vinyl. Your headliner may still be attached to your roof by a few clips, if so this is not such an important step but is more than worth mentioning so you do not ruin your headliner)
A/B pillar combo panels.
Hatch hydraulic damper covers. (also the clips at the bottom of the C pillar cover panel)
C pillar panel. (you will have to unbolt the rear seat belt upper mount to remove this panel)
Rubber weather stripping holding the headliner to the sunroof aperture.
There is a little knob that holds the back of the headliner to the roof, turn this until it unhooks, and pull the headliner out through the hatch, which should be bare.
Kick/under dash panels.
Center console.
Ebrake cover panel.
Ebrake handle cover. (just pull hard away from the handle, it will slide off)
Dash assembly and accessory controls (if you need it). This is a multi-step removal but is pretty easy once you get it.
Now don’t forget the little things that people sometimes miss:
Hood latch, hatch latch, gas door latch and latch housing cover.
Seat belts.
Seat belt slot covers.
Lastly is the carpet and the steps (don’t remember what they are really called, they are the things that sit in bottom of the door frame for you to step on getting into the car :P). It can be a bitch to pull out the carpet, it depends what condition it’s in. I highly suggest buying some small zip-lock bags and a black sharpie, and carefully label each bag with it’s respective panel’s parts EG: ‘hatch carpet push pins’ ‘rear seat mounting bolts’ ‘driver door panel screws’.
Re-use the mounting hardware (screws, bolts, etc…) from your car that are still in good shape, and use the pieces from your bags to replace the others or ones that may be missing. This way you have spares accurately labeled should you need them in the future. :rockon:
EDIT: Also, be careful when pulling panels that have a lot of metal clips attached to them, like the pillar panels. Instead of pulling hard on them to take them off, pull enough to get the first clip undone on one side, and slowly walk your fingers down the part on both sides (so if you are moving your hands horizontally, have one set of fingers on the top and one set on the bottom moving together), prying the clips out of the frame one by one. It also helps if you can warm up the panel until it is warm to the touch using a blow dryer or heat gun, this gives you a LOT more room for error, but be very very careful not to overheat the plastic or you will ruin the finish. If you crack or snap a panel you will want to replace it or it will look like utter shit.