> Do you glue down the padding and then glue the
> carpet or can you glue the carpet to the padding
> first and then glue to floor pans?
Put the padding down first.
> Best way to mark/cut out holes for various screws
> (seat rails, seat belt mounts, high beam floor
> swithch, etc.).
First, before you install anything, sketch a rough map of where all the
screwholes are. The tool you need is an awl. Line up the carpet
accurately, then try to poke the awl, through the carpet, through the
hole. It can't get through the carpet, except right where the hole is.
If you miss on the first dozen tries, carefully slide a free hand under
the carpet and locate the hole more accurately, pull the hand out and
try again. Tip: it's easier to thread large screws if you lift the
carpet from underneath with one hand, and push the screw through with
the other, before you try to thread it into the metal. That way you
don't get fabric threads in the screw threads.
For cutouts, i.e. high beam floor switch, poke the awl through at the
corners. Turn the carpet upside down and, using a good sharp knife, cut
DIAGONALS from the holes the awl made, to the center, so you have four
triangular flaps. Refit the carpet, and make sure the cuts reach out far
enough to let the carpet sit flat on the floor - too much clearance is
better than too little, and the pile of the carpet can fill gaps if
they're not too large. You're going to want to tuck the flaps under and
glue them, so the edges won't fray. To get ready for that, fold them
back, lift the carpet and mark the edge of the fold on the carpet
backing, with a pencil or chalk. Take the piece out, Cut off the tips of
the triangles, so the flaps are about 1/2". Tuck under and glue. If the
backing is too stiff to make a clean fold, carefully cut through the
backing, BUT NOT THE PILE, where the fold goes.
I've done this twice on my Herald. First time was with a hideous green
remnant from my parents' living room, around '75 (but then, baseball
uniforms in the mid '70s were hideous green, too). Second time was with
cheap black loop pile from JC Whitney, in the late '80s. Am looing
forward to installation #3 this spring, with high quality CHARCOAL GREY
LOOP PILE, the original color. ;-)
Bill Kelly
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