Carpet kit - How long to install? Black?

[Ringmaster]

I am contemplating installing a complete RS carpet kit in my '78 coupe. For those of you DIY'ers who have done this job approx how many hours did it take you? I figure maybe two hours to remove all the old stuff (seats and door panels are already out) but what about fitting and gluing the new sections of carpet?

Does anyone have nice pics of black Slivernit and Perlon to show?

[MikeDL]

I just finished putting a charcoal perlon set in my '68. It took about 4 hours to remove the carpet, horsehair padding, and dried glue chunks. Fitting the new carpet took about 15 hours, mostly just time trying to figure out what to stretch and where to cut.

[Ringmaster]

Originally Posted by MikeDL

I just finished putting a charcoal perlon set in my '68. It took about 4 hours to remove the carpet, horsehair padding, and dried glue chunks. Fitting the new carpet took about 15 hours, mostly just time trying to figure out what to stretch and where to cut.

Wow that is certainly more hours than I had expected

You had to

stretch and where to cut

? I thought these kits were pre-cut and ready to glue in? Perhaps your '68 is more involved than the later cars?

[Elombard]

Most of the pieces are pretty easy once you get a feel, I installed the rear side pieces upside down.... now I cant believe I did it but at the time I had it completely worked out in my head. The first few pieces take a bit then you get quicker.

The longest ones are the front kick panels. I got one in satisfactory the other one is a mess but you cant really see it (big fold in it).

Dont stress it. Start out slow and realize that you can remove a piece or replace a piece you mess up easily. I did mine over two weekends while I was doing other stuff. Probably have 4 hours in it.

Next time I could do it in 3 ish if the interior was out and cleaned up.

[Noel]

Do a search under Carpet Installation. I remember seeing very detailed instructions in a PDF format from ApplBiz that walked you through the process along with photos of what goes where and there may have been estimated times too. If you can't find it, then look on their website. Nice guys. I'm about to place an order for door panels and carpet myself.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Do be aware that at least with some of these cheaper carpet kits, glue/remove/replace really doesn't work very well. If you use a good 3M-type adhesive, it'll quickly eat through the material that essentially holds the carpeting together--that's really all there is to the carpet backing--and when you try to pull it off, some of the carpeting stays behind. Looks like somebody losing their hair in handfuls.

[Elombard]

I had the pdf...it was helpful but at some point you got to start cutting and gluing :-)

[dave231]

I just installed an APPBIZ kit in my car last weekend. With the help of just pictures I found on the internet it went in without issue. Start to finish was about 5 hours but I did some other stuff along the way.

David

[kmhemi]

I just installed a perlon set from App Biz. It was not too bad. I went a little heavy on the glue and it soaked through the first peice but other than that I really didnt have any problems.

[robert walsh]

A good half day to install properly, only an hour and a half to remove the old ones. My door pockets just needed to be re-glued though.

[rw7810]

Which of the different glue brands/types did everyone find to be the best overall?? 3M I know has several different types that could be used.

[Ag02M5]

Originally Posted by kmhemi

I just installed a perlon set from App Biz. It was not too bad. I went a little heavy on the glue and it soaked through the first peice but other than that I really didnt have any problems.

Any good recommendation on what is a good amount of glue for the perlon? I was planning to give a light mist. I didn't think it needed to be glued as much as the original for certian.

[Elombard]

I followed the directions on the 3M can.... You will probably need 2 cans (1.5 actually). I also used the home depot stuff when I ran out of the $13 3M. It worked pretty good.

The key really seemed to be coat both surfaces and then give it 1-3 minutes before sticking it down.

Cant believe you guys had no problem with the front kick panels...I must of been over thinking it!

[robert walsh]

I agree 3M worked best, coat both lightly let set a few mins and go for it. The factory over glued, in my opinion. The front outer foot wells were the most difficult followed by the rear upper sections, mine was a cab. I used a lighter RS type carpet which was easier to work with, in retrospect I wish I had installed the original style carpet, but it looks great compared to what was there. A previous owner spilled gas over the cork (tan) carpeting resulting in bad staining, I went to black and it looks pretty good now. The original tan always showed everything and stained baddly, I liked the tan color more but black made more sense for me.

[JohnJL]

Agree with Appbiz. It takes as much time as you want to put into it, a minimum of 3 hours. However if you do a thorough job removing all material, remove the sound deadening, find rust you want to remove/POR over, add backing to the carpet, get a perfect fit, etc it can take 20 hours or more.

On the Targa I spent 40 hours taking everything back to bare metal and removed all sound deadening with a grinder/wire wheel. Put down 2 coats of epoxy, then added 1/4 inch padding to the back of an Appbiz RS kit and then glued down using contact cement. Very happy with the outcome.

Take pictures and share.

[stormmaster]

I split mine into two different days...did the interior removal and install of the rear portions one day...spent part of the next day doing the front and then istalled the new RS door panels...made a HUGE improvement to the interior at least in my opinion...here are some before and afters...

[RWebb]

carpeteers should search up Jerry Hubs thread on his interior

posts as jhubs, IIRC