johnny80 said:
Hey Chris,
One of my projects when I return from Iraq in Jan is to replace my carpet. I am not much of a wrench turner but I can do simple things as long as I have good instructions and some music cranking in the garage. Is the carpet relatively easy and did you use the mass backing carpet that they offer? I have an 1988 Black 4+3 and the carpet that is currently in their has started wear at the pedals and has separated off the console area. I have tried to glue it down without luck. My seats are in great shape but I really want new carpet. I will take any advice you have.
Hi!
It's not hard to do the carpeting at all, but you will need a good work area with lots of light. I have a tight parking space with a cover and gate, and simply could move the car inside and out. Basic tools will suffice: You will need a socket wrench with a 13mm deep socket for the seats, and you will need a Torx fitting to put on the socket wrench to take off the seat belts. There are a number of screws which wrench fittings on the end, yet these are all the same size so one socket will do (although you will need one of those socket extensions that converts the standard 3/8ths drive to 1/4th (I think this is correct) for these screws. Other than that, a good set of screwdrivers, carpet cutters (from a Loew's or Home Depot) and a knife and some of the spray glue you get from Auto stores (3M makes it) is all you need. You may also want to have a portable light handy that plugs into the cirgarette lighter. The instructions with the carpeting mentioned getting a heat gun, and I bought one but I didn't need it and will return it.
I did get the mass backed carpeting from Mid America. I thought it might fight better, since this was the original type of backing, although I am not sure that it is really necessary to get it. My recommendation would be to get it, to be on the safe side. It came nicely packed, with instructions. I had to cut speaker holes in back and small holes for the thing the top attaches to when you take it off and store it in the back, but this is all VERY easy to do, and there was very little other trimming that needed to be done. Also, note in pen on the instructions which pieces go under/overlap other pieces.
To take off the side console plastic pieces to which the carpet is attached, what I did afer taking out the bolt like screws beneath the soft console lid was loosen all the screws that hold the console plate (in front of the lid) on, or which hold console or dash trim on that press in some way on the console plate. There is also a screw which holds the side console piece down that is right below the place where the vertical dash trim meets up with the console plate. Once all the pieces I mentioned have been loosened, you can move/bend the pieces around enough to remove that screw without taking everything off (the other screws holding the side console piece on are located lower down, beneath the carpet on the side on the transmission tunnel. Simply lift the carpeting to take these off). THAT screw (the one beneath where the vertical trim piece meets the console plate) is actually totally unnecessary, as there are enough other screws on the plastic piece which hold the console trim on just fine. So, it's up to you whether you want to go through the hassle of trying to put it back in.
The carpeting goes back in much more quickly, it seems, than it comes out! The fact that many of the Corvette carpeting pieces simply overlap each other makes it surprisingly easy to put in the new carpeting. You simply lay it in there in the proper order (over and under) and things line up fine and look fine. To take off the big flat peice in the back, I removed the plastic trim piece above the pull out shade. There is a weird little washer type piece which screws down over bolts and holds the carpet down. I did some minor trimming of the console pirces before spray gluing them on the panels, but, again, it was VERY easy to do and only a minor trimming was needed. On the sill panels, I had gotten some used ones and so did not need to take off the old carpet from the plastic panels and then glue the new stuff on---that COULD be tricky, as the carpet is glued on pretty tight. Interestingly, Corvette Central makes a new driver's side sill panel with the carpet atttached (but only in black)---if your driver's side is shot, but the passenger side in o.k., I'd recommend getting the Corvette Central piece to cut down on the hassle. I also had some used black door panels, and so did not need the door carpeting piece. It looks fine (most of the door carpeting is covered by the sills when the door is shut), so unless your panels are bad, or the carpeting is bad, I wouldn't sweat it.
I am sure that there are lots of other questions you might have, so please forward them to me. If you want to talk, my phone is 713/227-7444.
Finally, I want to let you and everyone else in Iraq know how I and the rest of the country are 100% behind you, there. Don't pay any attention to certain naysayers you might hear about from time to time on PBS or CNN-- no one is listening to them. Everytime we overcome one "oh, my God" moment from these people, then they've got another "oh, my God" complaint. I am familiar with the Middle East, and taking the fight to these thugs and stopping them is absolutely essential to the nation's safety and well being. Today the wire services are reporting that Zarqawi may have been seriously wounded in Operation Matador last week---let's hope he was! Anyhow, as you think of other questions please ask.
/s/ Chris Kennedy
Houston, Texas
All it took was three very long months bombing the sh** out of Saddam.
