356 Carpet

[Nate Greene]

I have a question:

I am about to replace the carpet in the 65 Cab. Many vendors sell original weave carpet sets. Who is likeley to sell the best carpet set that is also going to fit the best? I am not trying to save money as much as I want the best experience and final results.

Also, do you have any recommendations for the best glue to use. Any other tips or instructions on self-installation would be helpful.

Nate
Tennessee Tubs

[Thomas VanTol]

Well Nate, I am doing a carpet installation for the second time in 35 years. Lots of things are coming back to me. Like I needed to take the doors off to get the vent diaphragm and knob off. (don't drop the socket down the inside of the support.) I am sure there are some that will tell you the you just unscrew the knob, but I could not do so without the risk of damage. Other than that, read the May June Registry 1995 for some hints. Oh, the glue is toxic, get a proper respirator rated for chemicals.

[Sebastian Gaeta]

Thomas,

Welcome to the forum!!

It sounds like you have an A car which has the vents. Nate's car is a '65 which does not so he won't have to worry about that, although you gave great advice for a car that does.

You need to get with Bill Waite and come on down to a Motor Cities Gruppe event this year in SE Michigan.

Follow our blog to get updates:

http://www.auspuffroar.com

(Sorry for the hijack)

Nate,

You can never go wrong with Auto's International, they've been around a long time and have many happy customers.

[Lynn Sheeley]

Nate

Go to Lowe's or Home Depot for a quart of Weldwood contact cement in the flooring section. About $13. Buy some of the small cheap wood handled paint brushes to spread it around with. You could buy some mineral spirits to clean brushes, or just throw them away as you use them.

Bad fumes, so use a fan to get some fresh air and take breaks.

Apply glue and let it sit for 3 or 4 minutes and it gets tacky and easier to work with.

[Matthew Devereux]

Some of the new glues are water based so their performance is unknown. I went to a carpet supply store and got the good stuff (solvent based). You need a gallon. Buy extra brushes in case you lose one

[Greg Bryan]

Nate - 3M makes a high quality glue in a spray can that is probably the best product to use, at least in my opinion. There are two strengths - regular and high strength. Home Depot carries the stuff in my locale.
The brushable contact cement is great stuff but is pretty unforgiving for making any adjustments when positioning the carpets whereas the spray stuff gives you the opportunity to pull it off at least once (if you time the drying period just right) to get it right where you want it.

[Steve Harrison]

What I used was a combo of the two. I used the brush on contact cement on the body of the car. It gives you great control and you can paint it on exactly where you want it and get right up to the edge of every area you want to. Spray you can't do that because it'll go all over the place unless you tape off and mask. (pain) Then I used a combo of the brush on and spray on the individual carpet pieces. Brush on lightly, and then spray a few sweeps of the spray on stuff. It'll give great coverage and it will stick to the contact cement you put on the body. That way you get good coverage.
Auto's International is who I used, and I was happy in all ways. They also were the ones who gave me the tip on the contact cement.

Don't know if you're doing the vinyl also, but the hardest part of redoing the vinyl I thought was the piece that wraps the lower part of the B pillar, down where it meets the carpet. It needs a lot of padding to look like it's filled properly but not so much it bulges.