Carpet removed-Heat barrier installed

[Scott81]

Finally the old nasty carpet is out! From the looks of it, it was the original carpet and it was nasty and faded, and so brittle you could poke your finger through it.

On a suggestion from bobchad I went down to Lowes and bought a roll of Reflectix, they have different sizes but I got the 24"x25' roll so I would have plenty of it just in case, good thing too as I used every bit. For $24 it sure beats those $100+ kits. Also picked up a roll of aluminum tape, bringing the total to a whopping $33. Thanks Bob!

This stuff is easy to work with as Bob noted, cut a length of it and mold it in then just trim as needed then seal it up with the tape.

I also bought new rear storage doors(complete) from Dewitts, it showed up promptly and looks fantastic! I can't install it yet as I'm still waiting on my carpet which I ordered the very same day, hopefully it arrives tomorrow or I'll be quite ad as I'm supposed to be at a show Saturday.

Carpet removal & heat barrier install

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Looks really good Scott. Did you apply POR-15 or some other product to the rust? Also, did you go over the transmission tunnel with the Reflectix?

Good luck with the carpet. It was easy after I procrastinated the cuts. Make sure you lay it out for a day or so so that it gets flat. Once it was flat, I matched the indentations to the indentations in the car and cut the excess. I amazed myself and didn't cut it too small once.

Can't wait to see the pictures.

Bob

 

[ccflorida]

Lookin good

Scott looks great..How long did it take ya to remove seats and all of carpet??? Want to do mine also. Contemplating doing the rear deck.I want to reuse exisiting carpet.. Is it possible??
Thanks
Roy

 

[Scott81]

Bob,

This was kind of a last minute thing so I didn't order/buy any POR-15, haven't been able to find it locally. I just took a wire brush to the bad area which cleaned it up pretty good. I can pull up the reflectix as I didn't glue it down and put some POR down there, which I just might do now since I don't think I can get everything together for the show and the carpet still hasn't arrived.

I didn't go over the trans tunnel, just did the sides, I wasn't about to take that mess apart 2 days before a show. Lesson #1: Don't install carpet 2 days before a show! What I might end up doing is making a piece to fit above the trans. The problem is my console trim pieces, they need to be replaced but I don't want to buy new ones as I'm planning an aluminum console so once I finally get to that project I'll lay some down there....I've never really had a bad heat problem and I think the sidepipes help with that.

Thanks for the tip of laying it out for a day, I'll do that if the darn carpet ever gets here :cry

Roy- the seats are easy to remove, 4 bolts and pull it out. If you have a pre-1981 car then you don't have to unplug your electric seat, that takes another 5 seconds :L On my 81 the drivers seat unbolts from under the car and the passenger side from inside the car, unbolt the seat and lift it out of the car. The carpet came out easy, took maybe all of 5-10 minutes. I took out most of the trim pieces in the back for easier access to the speakers. What took the longest was removing my Shark Bar and trim pieces, and even that wasn't bad.

As for using the old carpet, what I've heard many times was that you can never get the old to match the color of the new stuff. A complete set of ACC carpet from Willcox was $205, I've always heard good things about the ACC carpet, so far anyway, and it's cheap so replace it all and be done with it. You could buy from Romeo Engineering but it seems to take up to a year to get it.


PROBLEM AREAS:

Seat back carpet; GM used carpet staples and the glue from hell to put the carpet on the seat backs. It was one HUGE PAIN to remove that mess.

Kick panels; too many staples but no glue

Speaker grills, also a million staples holding the carpet piece on.