Final Carpet Installation Pics & Description
Sorry about the delayed response. Was in Spain for the past week on work. Here is the final installment of my carpet installation saga. For those who don't remember or didn't see it:
1. I first installed Hushmat covering the entire interior front to back (1 box Bulk Kit containing 30 sheets 12" X 23" black sheets). Very easy to install and no problems. Really tightened up the car.
2. I next installed the Al Knoch underlayment Heat and Sound Deadener (DFS656700), which is the relatively thick "jute" with "rubber" on top. The jute backing really soaks up the glue. Cover once, let dry, then hit it again to get good adhesion. Needed to adjust rear wheel well pieces around convertible top trim piece bracket. Leave empty spots alone, as Al usually did this for a good reason.
3. Finally, I started to install the carpet. Luggage stop first. Went in fine with no problems. I have shoulder harnesses on my car, so I needed to make two additional holes for to mount the plastic cup holder. I used a straight edge to make the oval cuts on the front and back of the luggage stop where the parking brake console screws come through. At the ends, I used an appropriate sized ratchet head to cut a nice semicircle. I should mention that I had already done the jack board and kick panels in the house. These are very easy to do.
4. Now, for me, here is where the problems started. I had a very hard time getting the passenger side rear wheel well carpet piece to fit properly. I had glued the rubber sound deadener and the carpet back, so everything got real sticky real fast. Anyway, after about 12 adjustments, I was trying to warm a couple spots to fit better with my heat gun and while adjusting a spot stupidly allowed the heat gun to blow the opposite direction at the carpet and ended up melting some of the carpet fibers. That piece was ruined and has been re-ordered.
5. So, on to the driver's side rear wheel well. Here I only put glue on the carpet, and did NOT make the cut for the rear trim piece (convertible) till after the lower portion of the carpet was mounted. Started at the recessed storage area and worked my way back along the first ledge all the way to the back. I had only put glue on these lower portions first so as they took hold, I could dry fit the parts over the wheel well. Once these looked good on dry fitting, I folded the carpet back and applied glue to both surfaces (carpet back and sound deadener), and slowly began gluing the carpet down. As I approached the trim piece bracket, I carefully folded it down and made the appropriate cut, and then added glue. In this manner, I successfully and without much difficulty got the set.
6. So, my next project was to attack the front seat areas. I took both pieces of carpet and dry fitted checking where I might have the most problems. I them took a series of heavy objects (cans etc) and placed the on top of the pieces to form fit them and left them for several days. For my car, I needed to trim both ends of the carpet pieces up under the dash as both were too long. I did this in small cuts during the dry fitting process. Also, in needed to make some adjustment cuts around the side air vents. Finally, even though I spent weeks applying materials to free up the seat belt bolts, they simply refused to move. So, I was stuck with having to snip the carpet edge right at the base of each of these mounts so I could tuck the carpet around the seat belt mount. It worked fine and you really can't even tell it was cut. I slowly removed small amounts of carpet around the seat belt bolt mount until each piece fit perfectly. Again, when cutting, make a small series of sequential cuts so you don't cut off too much.
7. Made sure the seat screw holes where clear of Hushmat and deadener. I should add here that I removed one set of seat rails from my passenger seat and used these as templates for making all the carpet cuts. I also traced the seat mounts while mounted on the seat to a piece of poster board. This gave me a template of the seat rail pattern. I carefully overlayed the sound deadener and made so adjustment cuts so that the rails would fit properly after the backing material was glued down. This was important as some of the "factory cuts" were too close or overlapped the rails and needed to be trimmed. This would have caused a big problem if I had installed it without first checking.
8. So, I put glue on the passenger side carpet and laid it in place. It really went down fairly easy. Put some weights on it to hold certain areas in place and let it dry for a couple of days. Now came the part that was most scary to me - making the cuts in the carpet for the seat rails. Here's how I did it. I went and bought some large sewing pins, crawled under the car, and jammed them through the seat bolt holes from the bottom. This gave me the center of each hole. I then used a small pointed punch and confirmed this at each hole. Taking the rail I had removed from the seat and using it as a template, I aligned the center of the hole in the rail with the hole punch in the bolt hole. Using the pin as a center point for the rear rail hole, I placed that in its proper position. I next used a thin point scalpel blade to cut the flap in the front. As I used the rail for a template, I angled the blade inward making a fairly tight cut and fit. Flap to the center of the seat. First cut successful. I then moved the pointed punch to the rear seat rail hole, lined things up and repeated the cutting process here. I chose the cut out pattern for the rear mounts. The way the rail is designed, you can make easy cuts along each side, but must lift the rail away to cut across the center to connect the sides. This was very easy and made a nice close cut pattern (again angle the scalpel blade inward under the seat rail which will make a nice tight fit). One very important thing to remember - MAKE SURE YOU CHOSE THE CORRECT RAIL FOR YOUR TEMPLATE. The rail with the seat adjustment lever is always to the right side. The two sides are not exactly the same. Now, repeat the process for the other rail. Remount rails on seat and mount seat in car. Boom, everything looks great.
9. Repeat entire process on the drivers side. REMEMBER TO GLUE DOWN THE GAS PEDAL BLOCK BEFORE INSTALLING THE CARPET. I was able to actually put the screws in loosely and then pop the heads through the carpet as I laid it in place, which made for a perfect fit. The area around the gas pedal went if very easily for me with no puckering. For my car which has shoulder harnesses, I have to mount two seat belt brackets to the center console bolts. This posed a bit of a tight fit with the new padding and carpet, but I was eventually able to get the nut to take hold and tighten. The area around the dimmer switch required some finesse.
10. So, as soon as my pass wheel well piece arrives from Al, I will install it as I did on the driver's side and then lay down the rear carpet piece, which looks cumbersome but should be relatively easy. I have already noticed that my jack board fits much more tightly now than before. Hope that helps. Here are some pics.
1. I first installed Hushmat covering the entire interior front to back (1 box Bulk Kit containing 30 sheets 12" X 23" black sheets). Very easy to install and no problems. Really tightened up the car.
2. I next installed the Al Knoch underlayment Heat and Sound Deadener (DFS656700), which is the relatively thick "jute" with "rubber" on top. The jute backing really soaks up the glue. Cover once, let dry, then hit it again to get good adhesion. Needed to adjust rear wheel well pieces around convertible top trim piece bracket. Leave empty spots alone, as Al usually did this for a good reason.
3. Finally, I started to install the carpet. Luggage stop first. Went in fine with no problems. I have shoulder harnesses on my car, so I needed to make two additional holes for to mount the plastic cup holder. I used a straight edge to make the oval cuts on the front and back of the luggage stop where the parking brake console screws come through. At the ends, I used an appropriate sized ratchet head to cut a nice semicircle. I should mention that I had already done the jack board and kick panels in the house. These are very easy to do.
4. Now, for me, here is where the problems started. I had a very hard time getting the passenger side rear wheel well carpet piece to fit properly. I had glued the rubber sound deadener and the carpet back, so everything got real sticky real fast. Anyway, after about 12 adjustments, I was trying to warm a couple spots to fit better with my heat gun and while adjusting a spot stupidly allowed the heat gun to blow the opposite direction at the carpet and ended up melting some of the carpet fibers. That piece was ruined and has been re-ordered.
5. So, on to the driver's side rear wheel well. Here I only put glue on the carpet, and did NOT make the cut for the rear trim piece (convertible) till after the lower portion of the carpet was mounted. Started at the recessed storage area and worked my way back along the first ledge all the way to the back. I had only put glue on these lower portions first so as they took hold, I could dry fit the parts over the wheel well. Once these looked good on dry fitting, I folded the carpet back and applied glue to both surfaces (carpet back and sound deadener), and slowly began gluing the carpet down. As I approached the trim piece bracket, I carefully folded it down and made the appropriate cut, and then added glue. In this manner, I successfully and without much difficulty got the set.
6. So, my next project was to attack the front seat areas. I took both pieces of carpet and dry fitted checking where I might have the most problems. I them took a series of heavy objects (cans etc) and placed the on top of the pieces to form fit them and left them for several days. For my car, I needed to trim both ends of the carpet pieces up under the dash as both were too long. I did this in small cuts during the dry fitting process. Also, in needed to make some adjustment cuts around the side air vents. Finally, even though I spent weeks applying materials to free up the seat belt bolts, they simply refused to move. So, I was stuck with having to snip the carpet edge right at the base of each of these mounts so I could tuck the carpet around the seat belt mount. It worked fine and you really can't even tell it was cut. I slowly removed small amounts of carpet around the seat belt bolt mount until each piece fit perfectly. Again, when cutting, make a small series of sequential cuts so you don't cut off too much.
7. Made sure the seat screw holes where clear of Hushmat and deadener. I should add here that I removed one set of seat rails from my passenger seat and used these as templates for making all the carpet cuts. I also traced the seat mounts while mounted on the seat to a piece of poster board. This gave me a template of the seat rail pattern. I carefully overlayed the sound deadener and made so adjustment cuts so that the rails would fit properly after the backing material was glued down. This was important as some of the "factory cuts" were too close or overlapped the rails and needed to be trimmed. This would have caused a big problem if I had installed it without first checking.
8. So, I put glue on the passenger side carpet and laid it in place. It really went down fairly easy. Put some weights on it to hold certain areas in place and let it dry for a couple of days. Now came the part that was most scary to me - making the cuts in the carpet for the seat rails. Here's how I did it. I went and bought some large sewing pins, crawled under the car, and jammed them through the seat bolt holes from the bottom. This gave me the center of each hole. I then used a small pointed punch and confirmed this at each hole. Taking the rail I had removed from the seat and using it as a template, I aligned the center of the hole in the rail with the hole punch in the bolt hole. Using the pin as a center point for the rear rail hole, I placed that in its proper position. I next used a thin point scalpel blade to cut the flap in the front. As I used the rail for a template, I angled the blade inward making a fairly tight cut and fit. Flap to the center of the seat. First cut successful. I then moved the pointed punch to the rear seat rail hole, lined things up and repeated the cutting process here. I chose the cut out pattern for the rear mounts. The way the rail is designed, you can make easy cuts along each side, but must lift the rail away to cut across the center to connect the sides. This was very easy and made a nice close cut pattern (again angle the scalpel blade inward under the seat rail which will make a nice tight fit). One very important thing to remember - MAKE SURE YOU CHOSE THE CORRECT RAIL FOR YOUR TEMPLATE. The rail with the seat adjustment lever is always to the right side. The two sides are not exactly the same. Now, repeat the process for the other rail. Remount rails on seat and mount seat in car. Boom, everything looks great.
9. Repeat entire process on the drivers side. REMEMBER TO GLUE DOWN THE GAS PEDAL BLOCK BEFORE INSTALLING THE CARPET. I was able to actually put the screws in loosely and then pop the heads through the carpet as I laid it in place, which made for a perfect fit. The area around the gas pedal went if very easily for me with no puckering. For my car which has shoulder harnesses, I have to mount two seat belt brackets to the center console bolts. This posed a bit of a tight fit with the new padding and carpet, but I was eventually able to get the nut to take hold and tighten. The area around the dimmer switch required some finesse.
10. So, as soon as my pass wheel well piece arrives from Al, I will install it as I did on the driver's side and then lay down the rear carpet piece, which looks cumbersome but should be relatively easy. I have already noticed that my jack board fits much more tightly now than before. Hope that helps. Here are some pics.
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