25anniv

HI everyone im redoing the interior on my 78. Looking for some helpful advice on like who to get carpet from? should i apply a heat barrier (dynamat xtreme)? any special tools, paint, glue or hardware. Thanks for your help just trying to get as much as i need before i start.

Easy Mike

Free advice: order the assembly instruction manual (AIM); it shows how the carpets and hardware were installed at the factory. Not a How-To, but nice to have.

Your choice.

Your choice. Your car has factory undercoating/sound deadener.

A good pair of scissors and the best utility knife you can find.

Crafty12

I found a "Carpet Knife" at Harbor Freight. Best 5 dollar investment ever.

Sorry 3 dollars.

genuine1980

Did my 69 a few years back. Carpet from MidAmerica.... good fit.

Get a good razor knife, and A LOT of blades. You want a sharp blade at all times.

Good sharp scissors

Heat gun

Plenty of good spray glue.

Some clamps (to hold the edge that wraps behind the seats into the cargo compartment overnight).

hugie82

Test fit the entire kit before trimming and trim a little at a time until its all tucked in and flat on the floor.
You can always cut but you can never add carpet

cb.bums

if you want the best sound deadening, order your carpet with EVA or Mass backing. GM developed this in the 80's and is molded to the back of the carpet. you also still get the padding with it. this greatly muffle's road noise. this does not change the fit. easily cut if you heat your box cutter knife before cutting.

jtalka

I did the whole interior of my 1978 and got most of the materials from Willcox Corvette who posts here. The carpet was fairly easy to install and required very little trimming. Prices were very good as was delivery and post sale service. Good folks,

Good luck, Joel

BowTieBlood

1. I saw a tip on here to use a soldering iron to make holes for bolts/etc. This worked great for me and keeps it from having the loose threads of the carpet where you've made the hole. I used an ice pick to push through holes and then used the soldering iron around that. Also worked great for cutting in general, but hold your breath!

2. Place every inch of every piece where it will fall before you cut. If you're like me, you'll trim along an edge after measuring a stretch, put the carpet in place and then realize that one section could have just tucked under "x" part.

3. I also recommend considering that the carpet will adjust when you put the seats back in (installed mine completely on top of the carpet). If you've got one stretch that's a little short and may pull out with the weight of the seat, go ahead and make a cut under the seat so it's not affected. I also needed slightly longer bolts (1/8"-1/4" more) on the front to accommodate for the additional carpet under the rail.

4. Here's a tip for the seat rails...painted the ends of mine that you can see for appearance purposes, but didn't consider that from the side view, between the door sill and floor you can see some of the other stretch of rail...probably not worth touching up, but I may anyway.

As you can see most of my tips stem from rushing my own job. Good luck and plan to add a few hours on to your current goal