72 Lemans Carpet Replacement

[Frosty]

I started a quickly little project tonight. It took about 90 minutes to get this far. I am replacing the 39 year old carpet in my '72 Lemans with a new OER replacement. So I torn the interior apart this evening. I removed the front bucket seats, the console, the sidekick speaker panels, the seat belts, the sill plates, and the rear seat.

I also removed the driver's side door panel. I whacked my leg against the door panel the other day and that pryed some of the trim away. So I took the door panel off and I am gluing some of the loose material with Gorilla Glue and some clamps and fits-all wrenchs. I have straightended out the bent trim and re-secured the anchors. This is the original door panel and trim. I certainly don't want to replace it if I don't have to.

Tomorrow I will yank the old carpet, replace the high beam dimmer switch, and clean up some of the under dash wiring, before I fit the new carpet. I may remove the steering wheel too, just to get it out of the way.

[JJT*90]

Looking good. Can't wait to see it together.

[notallthere]

Looks good there buddy

[Jedi3]

NICE!

[Frosty]

Looks good there buddy

Thanks DK is coming over tomorrow nigh to help out.

I pulled the dimmer switched and compared it to the new one. The old dimmer switch is taller. I checked the two switches, no difference in Ohms. I may put the old one back. I thought of installing my Hurst his/hers dual-gate shifter, but after looking at it, I am clearly missing some parts on the Hurst shifter. So I will have to stay with the factory shifter for now.

I laid out the old back piece over the new piece. With a piece of chalk, I outlined where the cuts are.

[Ringo64]

Cool can't wait to see it!

[Frosty]

My buddy DK came over last night and helped me install the new carpet. I decided to install the new dimmer switch for now. We laid out the old carpet over the new carpet and marked with chalk all the old cuts. We still laid the uncut carpet pieces down.

Our first cut was the transmission floor shifter and the console bracket mounting holes. That way the carpet can lay flat against the tranny tunnel. We use a heat gun to get the carpet backing to soften up. Not too much heat in one place or you melt the carpet! We sprayed carpet adhesive on the dynomat and the juke backing and let it set up for about 5 minutes (thus it was time for a cold beverage in an aluminuim can!).We worked our way forward to the firewall, trim again at the tranny tunnel, and then we worked our way side to side. Once we had worked the firewall, we worked out way back to the footwell, then seat area. Finally, using a small flat stake, we trimmed the carpet along the kickpanels and sill plates.

We made sure to leave all the seat belt anchor bolts, seat mounting bolts and nuts, sill plate screws, and console brackets and bolts in place finger tight. That way, whne we came to them, we could use our quickly dulling carpet knifes to cut an "X" pattern over the nuts to get past the studs. We then would keep trimming until we got the entire nut or bracket uncovered.

We didn't quite finish up. We were layout and trimming the back piece when we quit for the night. I will finish it today and re-install the interior. I will have to vacuum the carpet first before I install everything.

One thing about this carpet, the juke installation padding on this carpet is thicker and somewhat tougher to cut than the original. It could be partial due to the old padding has been crushed and worn down over 39 years too. Who knows.....it is just a real chore to cut through this stuff.

Plenty of sharp blades, lots of patience, tunes, and cold beverages are required for this job. It is also a good idea to have bandages near by when you stab yourself with that sharp knife and then you cuss like a sailor.

Now is also a good time to color dye parts that need some help or have been neglected, things like arm rests, seat belt anchor covers, kick panels. etc.

DK working hard.....or hardly working with the best of us!

Applying carpet adhesive to the carpet and the dynomat and letting it set up.

DK trying hard not to get cut while cutting out an anchor bolt. The sissy insisted on wearing work gloves. Something about having to get 10 stitches in his leg earlier in the week made him a little gun shy around that sharp knife...ya' big sissy! I got plenty of Band Aids and Bacteen! Don't worry about it!!!

[JJT*90]

Can't wait to see it done. Are you using box cutters on it? If so, they make special carpet knives that will do a lot better of a job. You can pick one up at Lowe's fairly cheap.

[Frosty]

Can't wait to see it done. Are you using box cutters on it? If so, they make special carpet knives that will do a lot better of a job. You can pick one up at Lowe's fairly cheap.

I purchased a carpet knife at my local HW store. The juke backing just played havoc with the knife blade - it is real fibery stuff. The carpet by itself was easy to cut. The heat gun I got at Harbor Freight.

I snuck out at lunch and finished the door (except the arm rest which I re-dyed to touch it up - it was still drying when I took this picture) and the carpet. I obviously still need to install the seats and console. I will install them tonight. The speaker/kick panels and sill plates are already re-installed.

So start in the middle, work your way forward/back and outward towards the doors. Be patient, have a buddy to bounce ideas off of, carpet adhesive is a good thing, lot of tools and have a sufficient supply of cold beverages readily available.

Here are a couple pics of the old carpet, before I threw it in the trash. Notice the dark - slmost black stains on the old juke padding. Lord only knows what it is from. This is what your carpet might look like after 40 years.

[Frosty]

One last thing to do before I install the seats, I need to run to Wal-Mart and get some Scotch Guard carpet stain repellant. I will vacuum the carpet one last time then spray the Scotch Guard.

[Ringo64]

New carpet looks great!

Man the old one sure looks like it's seen better days, probably going to feel weird with new carpet now

[Jedi3]

WOW that looks a ton better!

[Frosty]

The ScotchGard is down. The seats are in, the seat belts are back in. I still need to put the console back in the car once I re-ground the knee knocker tachometer. That will be done today, before I go to my local cruise.

I had trouble getting one of the anchor bolts back in from some reason, it would tight down the tractable seat belt on the passenger side. I grabbed some large washers to take up the slack and now it is tight again. Not sure what is up with that.

[Ringo64]

Very cool! Definitely pictures when you finish up!

Is the belt secured then? That's weird, did you have any issues taking it out?

[Frosty]

I will take a picture tonight when I am at the cruise for sure. Tongiht looks to be great.

The seat belt retractor is now very tight. I was very, very worried that I stripped the threads on either the floor pan or the anchor bolt. It is tight now.

I will say this, there are two different size anchor bolts on this car. One is longer than the other. The longer one goes to the seat belt(s) that are bolted to the tranny tunnel, just next to the console. It has to go through two bent catch hooks. The shorter one goes between the seat and the sill plate. At first, I had reversed the two. Once I figured that out, I still had the slack on the shorter one. Only other thing is perhaps there is some cut carpet, juke padding, or even dynomat got shoved down into the hole preventing it from bottoming out. Not sure, but that sucker is tight now.

[Ringo64]

Sweet can't wait!

Awesome glad you got it tight now.

[notallthere]

hey if you ever need someone to stop by the house and check on the car and make sure that she is fired up I am your man. I promise I will not go that far with it.

[Frosty]

I am sure you and the wife would look good on Woodward and the Back to the Bricks this week in it !

It needs gas. Please leave it with a full tank when you're done. Double check the oil too! Cleaning supplies are in the trunk already.

[73GTOdad]

Defenatly comin back to this post when i go to do my own carpet. Oh and if you think your old carpet was bad i'm to ashamed to post pics of mine.

[valid]

My roommate currently has his Beretta in pieces to do some floorboard rust repair and carpet replacement. The old stuff was also terrifying especially because it was beige. New stuff is black thankfully! I feel a lot less scared of interior work because of his project, though. It's not so bad if you have the time to just sit down and do it.

Anyway, nice work! How was the local cruise? Any new photos of the finished product?

[Crimson]

booooo i was scrolling with anticipation to see pics when the seats are in.... i love me some old GTO's!!!!

[Jedi3]

LoL it's a Lemans not a Goat.

Im splitting hairs but im not wrong acording to his title and history.

If a Lemans has a GTO package its not a Lemans anymore its a GTO. The only year that a Lemans is still a Lemans with the GTO pk is the first year for the Lemans GTO. After the first year if a Lemans has the GTO pk its no longer a Lemans its a GTO. Chevy has the same crazyness for a while with the 66 thru something Chevelle and the Malibu. The Malibu is a Malibu unLess it has the Chevelle package and now its not a Malibu anymore its now a Chevelle. or a Chevelle/Malibu.

lol that was harder to explain than I thought it would be.

[Crimson]

[Jedi3]

[Professur]

A carpet replacement without a rust repair? I'm sure there's a rule against that somewhere.