Replacing carpet in a 78
 

I need to replace the carpet in my 78.
1) the carpet is original and is in pretty rough shape.
2) incredible heat, I sweat so bad on the driver side.

I was wondering if any of you have any tips for me. I was looking at a foil backed new interior from Mid America, but was wondering if there is anything more I can do to alleviate the heat issues. Should I spray the floorboards with something before I put the new carpet in? Any and all advice is appreciated! Also, any tips on removing surface rust (no holes, just surface) and cleaning up the undercarriage?

I've not used it but you can get a product called Lizard Skin to combat the heat and sound in the cabin. There are two products, Sound Control and Ceramic Insulation. You probably want the Ceramic insulation but some have used them together to really tighten up the cabin. Here's a link to the website for more info. http://www.lizardskin.com/.

I just pulled my interior as well and found the undercoating on the passenger side very loose and flaky, like it had water sitting on it for sometime, no rust though. I am scraping off all the chipped and flaky undercoating and will probably POR-15 the pan. I'm then going to lay a foil backed thermo-coustic sheeting throughout the cabin for sound / heat / vibration control.

Do a search for Lizard skin on the forum, you'll find some good posts of those that have done it and what it looks like.

The greatest heat source in the 78 is the rear window. Engineers forgot to upgrade the A/C system to accommodate the additional heat from the glass. Couple this with the poor insulation and heat that rises up from the engine/transmission and you have a very nice sweat box.

So, replacing carpet will not completely fix the situation you're experiencing. A good book, that may be out of print, on this topic is Air Conditioning Strategies for the 63-82 Corvette by Michael J. Davis. Prestige Publishing is the publisher...or was.

Also check to see if the insulation collar is in place across the transmission in the tranny tunnel. This may help some.

the driver seat is the one that gets incredibly hot and it doesnt seem to be coming from the dash, the seat itself gets very hot. When I get out of the car, the back of my shirt is drenched and the passenger is just fine. I've read many anwers in other posts but it seems that is may be my floors letting a lot of heat come through.

Just put Dynamat Extreme and new front carpet in my 70 mainly to reduce noise.
Sprayed 3M undercoat (rattle cans) on the floor before the Dynamat.
Dynamat is expensive but I am satisfied with the noise reduction and didn't have a heat problem although am sure it is less.
Make sure to cut seat attach holes and any trim attach holes in the carpet before the final attaching otherwise you will be feeling around and cutting holes to find them.

Go to Lowes and get a roll of Reflectix from the insulation department. It's basically a mylar/bubblewrap/mylar sandwich and it works great. I did it in my 75's interior and there are no more hot feet. It's cheaper than any of the "automotive specific" products and works just as well (in fact, some are the exact same thing just precut). a little 3M spray adhesive on the floorboords and then lay it out and cut it. Best thing is with the roll, you can do areas that the precut kits don't include.
Here's a pic with some installed.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...0resto/008.jpg

An easy trick to find the seat holes is to install insulation and carpets, then poke an awl through the welded nuts under the car to locate the bolt holes in the carpet. This way you can minimize carpet cutting.

:thumbs:
Good tip.
Wish I had thought of this before installing my carpet and fishing for the attach holes.

I put down hushmat and then reflectix. The car is much quieter and cooler. I used a soldering iron to poke up thru the weldnuts for the seat holes. It melted the carpet in place and wil prevent pulling your new carpet.

I concur. I have just completed the Reflectix insulation from Lowes ($30/roll + 3M Super 77 adhesive spray [$10] + silver duct tape [$10]) and it solved my heat problem to satisfaction. 1 roll, 1 can and 1 roll is all you need for the job.