Carpet kit experience?

[Doug Smith]

I'm getting ready to purchase an aftermarket capet kit and install in my 79. Does anyone have any advice as to a supplier? I see kits available on ebay as well as from our host. Does anyone have any experience with the quality of either? I'd like to be sure the kit I order comes configured like the OEM pieces I removed. (Such as having the leather or vinyl strips sewn on to accomodate glueing to the door posts, etc.)

Thanks for any help you can give.

Doug

[pmason]

Talk to Bob at Appbiz, he helped be combine some things to make an RS carpet for my 84 Targa. He has a number of satisfied customers here on the forum.

[fred cook]

I just finished putting an Appbiz RS carpet kit in my SC and it was well made, had all of the proper trim (edges, rubber, etc.) and installed as easily as one can expect when dealing with carpet. With this kit you will have to measure for and cut out for the shifter tower and for the seatbelt mounts. However, if your center carpet piece is still intact, you can use it as a pattern and mark where you want to cut with a piece of chalk. I used 3M spray contact cement to glue in the carpet. Be sure to have a can of the 3M solvent remover to clean up any spots that show. Since I had removed all of the sound deadener and insulation from the inside of my car, I put down a layer of dyanmat on the floors, rear seat area and in the rear window package tray. To make certain that the carpet layed flat in the rear window, I cut a piece of thin paneling to fit the rear window area and glued the carpet to the board. Then, I used 2 5mm bolts to secure the board in place. Since that piece of carpet extends down where the folding seat backs used to be, I used 3 carpet screws to hold it in place. That way, I can remove it if/when needed.
Here is a picture of that area:



I built the rear speaker housings to hold the 4x6 rear speakers. The housing are bolted to the board mentioned above and are covered in some of the same carpeting used in the kit. They now have speaker grill in place and are much more "subdued" in appearance!

[Doug Smith]

Thanks Guys. I'll talk to Bob at Appbiz. I was planning on picking up a couple of replacement door panels from him anyway, so I'll just have him ship carpet as well.

Fred - Nice job. I'm going to put sound deadener on mine as well, but i'll be going back with a stock interior so I won't need as much custom fabrication as you performed.

Thanks again for the information.

Doug