Replacing the door sill carpet on my 88. There's got to be a better way?

This is the passenger side so if I make any mistakes, I don't have to look at it every time I drive it. Learning as I go. Helpful comments welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

Good goin'. I think you're well up on your learning curve. If you end up not liking your result, here's a set. It's off a brand-new late '80s Vette being turned into a race car.

 

A lot of it has to do with allowing the contact cement to set up. This will make it so the carpet will not need to be clamped and held in place.

AS long as what you have done holds and you are happy. Me typing out how I do it is pointless.

DUB

 

Thanks to both of you. I attached the sill to it's home and the door closes but is tight. Since the door has been closed for 12 hours, things seem to be ok. I put lubricant on the door spindle. I can't get that factory mold. I have a little carpet slack on top.

So far on my interior rebuild the sill carpet and the carpet under the passenger

dash as been the worst. One needs to have a blunt end screw driver to shove the carpet under the center trim to attach the dash carpet. Got spray glue all over my hands and onto the carpet. Cleans up with mineral spirits. I had to use black silicone sealant to fix parts on the sill carpet that did not respond to the spray glue.

Can't wait to fix the driver side.
I have a dimple on the right knee side carpet under the dash. Some foam insulation came off with the original carpet. I will improvise in the driver side.

 

Finding the original screw holes on the door sill to match up with the car body was fun also. A lot of lost time.

 

And I know this all too well. The time to put things back together is much longer than taking them apart.

DUB

 

DUB, I see a lot of viewers but no encouragement. It seems I need some washers to help the original screws hold better. I tried to paint some washers flat black but it was so cold it took over 3 hours for the paint to dry. I would like to attach the new leather seats into the buckets but it is too cold to paint the buckets. So my pic is “what it will look like” when done. I see the light at the end of the tunnel.





Thank you.

 

It's looking good! Coming along nicely. I sometimes paint screws and small hardware in my garage where there's some heat but not warm enough to paint. What I do is use a heat gun to warm the parts up and then spray them and hit them with the heat gun again. Do it in thin coats instead of one heavy one. And hold the heat gun about a foot and a half away. Works great for small stuff. I keep all of my paint cans inside to keep them warm.

 

Boy am I in for a treat then...

 

BY NO MEANS am I telling you how to do anything. BUT what amazes me is when it takes 3 hours for paint to dry...when it is designed to be applied when it is at ambient air temps and applied to a surface that is at ambient air temp...and when the paint flakes off and fails people 'wonder why'?

The screws for your door sills should have a tapered spinning washer on them...and they are obviously a Phillips head. And not knowing if that is what you are using...it is hard to comment. BECAUSE I have done more of these interiors than I can honestly remember...and the older they get...the more problems I find due to previous people working on them can not seem to put the CORRECT fasteners back where they belong.

As for your seats...and KNOWING that you did not ask for an opinion. I would HIGHLY suggest that you leave the seat backs and bottom frames BLACK....and NOT paint them. I would clean them up really well and then make a determination if painting is required.

WHY?? do you ask. (if you did) Because with all the years and possible countless wiping with some form of conditioner. Prepping these seat backs and bottoms so anything will stick is a 'hit or miss' scenario. I am ONLY speaking from experience and I have some SUPER WICKED cleaners and adhesion promoters....and I can still have issues. Which is WHY I hate it when they are needing to be painted a specific color...and I let the owner know what can happen....and if they want to...they can come by and prep/clean/prep/clean/prep/clean until THEIR fingers are bleeding...SO if and when the paint flakes off...THEY know they cleaned them the BEST they could. Just saying. And honestly the BEST OF LUCK TO YOU if you choose to do so.

DUB

 

YES YOU ARE...make NO mistake about it.

DUB

 

I took off the driver side sill. Had to act like Superman to pull the carpet off. One question, should I leave the vinyl plastic strip that is stapled onto the sill or pull it off like I did the passenger side. Gluing the strip back on was kind of messy.

 

Thank you DUB, advise taken I'll leave the seats alone for now and pull the driver carpet and add my insulation.

 

I work around the plastic edging if I can. AND if I have to take the edging off. I staple it back on.

HEAT GUN. and work slowly.

DUB

 

Nice job and nice write up. Think I am going to start on sills and under dash until I can afford some new what carpet for the rest. What carpet did you use?

 

I purchased the full coupe carpet set from Vette Works International for $450. Carpet really came from Mid America.


Finished the driver side last weekend which completed the job. Driver side sill was harder due to emergency brake contour of the sill. Here is a photo.



This way failed and I had to pull it off and glued one side at a time starting with the top first.
I made finding the screw holes easy this time by placing a piece of wide masking tape to mark the spot when I made the holes where the screw holes went.
Special thanks to DUB for helping me removing the console door lock. Will post again when the new seat go in.

 

Thanks. I guess I didn't realize that was part of the kit.