It all started because I needed new carpet. Girlfriend spilled her starbucks hot chocolate all over about a month and a half ago, and being in SoCal in the heat, made that hot chocolate smell really bad. I guess they use real milk when they make that, becasue DAMN did it smell. I ripped all the old carpet out, cleaned the dash and other trim well. The smell would not go away even with Fabreez. So I was looing around for a place to get carpet. I decided to go for black, which would mean that I need to dye my dash and plastic trims. For this I went to the good 'ol Black Dragon catalog, ordered some ColorBond and some of their PREP solvent. [Originally my 85 GSL was the grey/blue inside]

I ordered my carpet from 1A Auto for something like $224 shipped for the complete set. Not bad. Got the carpet, looks like ACCMATS makes the capet (came in a box from ACCMATS). Anyway, I got it, looks good. But before I put it in, I figured the floorpan was nasty and dirty from previous owner(s) and old age. Upon cleaning it, I decided to go even further, and rip out all the factory sound deadener. It was all bubbly, cracked, and pealing. So I used a hammer, chisel, a scraper I cound at AutoZone for $6, and a lot of dry ice.

I then went even futher, I got the wire wheel out, and took up all the left behind tar and to rough up the old paint. I then cleaned up all that mess, and DAMN was it a big mess. Wiped it all down with acetone several times, vacuumed again, aetone again, vacuum etc. Once I was satisfied, I masked and shot a new coat of primer. After that dried, I put down some Dynamat.

These are the pics of my weekend. I still have to put the carpet in, and install more dynamat, install the dash etc.

 

More Pics!!

 

The rest of the pics.

 

Wow. Thats nice. Keep it up. Looks brand new. Good job

 

Outstanding!!!

Can't wait to see pics with the carpet in too.

 

+1^. How long did it take to strip the all the carpet? I heard that you should clean it every so often.

 

Taking the carpet out was EASY, since it was all old and I didnt care, I just got out the trusty knife, and sliced away. No removing all the tar **** was another story. Worked on it from friday after work, until midnight lastnight. I need to pick up Dynamat today for the rear section.

 

Thanks. Ya, i don't plan on removing the tar. I just want to clean up under the carpet a little bit.

 

It will clean up nice. I just did it for peace of mind. Knowing that my floorpan is all purdy when I go to run wires or whatnot. My new carpet project kinda snowballed into "Extreme Makeover, ROTARY Edition" I will take pics and post them of the newly BLACK dash and plastic pieces, tonight when I get home and have NATURAL light to use.

 

You say it "looks good", but how's the quality? In the pics it looks a little thin maybe. Is it comperable to oem?

 

what did you use to lay down the primer?

 

WORD OF CAUTION!! if you do plan on stripping the old tar, wear thick pants, long sleve shirt or sweater, eye protection, and a hat, so you dont get tar stuck in your hair. the wire brush we used shot brizzles everywhere.. so protect those eyes of yours....

::i have more pics i will post later today...::

 

Wow that looks great I wish i had the time to pull out my inerior and do the same.

Dont forget to cut out those dranage wholes that had the rubber plugs in them incase you ever get any water on the inside of your car it would make it a ton easier to drain out.

Are you also going to dynamat the doors also I think it would make a big difference inside the car. Anyway good luck.

 

I is a little thin, and the pile isnt quite as tall as OEM. Best comparison is the Subaru WRX/STi carpet. Its thin like that, but the pile is slightly taller and more "full". It feels durable though. We'll have to see how it holds up over time. It does have the 'jute' padding attached for added insulation, dunno if I mentioned that or not. And I do have the rear half, will post pics of that piece later.

I used this metal etching, rattle can stuff from Pep Boys. Layed down several layers. Came out nice.

Yeah, I forgot to mention those 'lil wire bastards. They can hurt.

I will cut around all the gromets tonight, I was too tired last night. I will be layin Dynamat on the doors, rear, and up the sides to the roof. I will also stick it on the outter door skin and anywhere else I can get it on the inner side of the outside panels. (as you can probably tell, I dont really mind the added weight, and to be honest, after removing the old crap, it probably wont be too much of a weight difference)

 

I like your plan. Also if that carpet didnt have the extra padding on the back you can use this sound deading stuff called V-COMP by www.b-quiet.com that can be used for the same purpose but works a lot better.

 

Good to know, the rear section didnt come with any attached to the capet. Since I dont have the rubber/insulation mat thing that lays down under the carpet, I may have to get some of that and glue it to the carpet.

 

very nice indeed. Anyone know where to get dry ice in canada?

 

Try your local grocery store. I got mine at Albertsons. Then break it up into small pieces and scatter about the floor pan. Let sit for about 20 minutes, listen to all the cool sounds it makes as it unsticks the tar paper. Then you can literally just lift it out if you let it sit long enough. This only works on flat spots. The tunnel and bin section were all done with hammer and chisel.

 

Looks nice. I was also wondering about the "ColorBond" sold from VB. Wondering how well the ColorBond works on plastic and vinyl. Please keep this thread alive and let us know how it works out. I have been getting ready for a full interior color change and have been debating what dye to use.

Good luck

 

I was going back and forth between colorbond and the method used by $100T2. I chose colorbond, because I couldn't find any info on here about it. So I bit the bullet, coughed up >\$80 for 3 12oz cans of back, and 3 bottles of their "prep". I didnt really need 3, which I later found out. 2 will be more than enough to prep all the interior. I dries so fast, you can touch it about a minute after you spray. I did a few coats. My only question about it is, can I bring some shine back to it with regular OTC products at PepBoys, or any other parts store. Will have to try it out on some spare parts form the parts car 1st. I will keep this thread going until I finish the interior.

 

Well, if the stuff is as good as they advertise then you should be able to shine it up with some Armoral. Hopefully it will work out well because if it does I will be going the same direction.

Good work.

 

Wow... Amazing Job, great attention to detail. I like it very much.

The interior is something that I've always been very squeemish about working on because mine is in relatively good shape. I *do* like the black carpet though, and definitely like the idea of wirebrushing the whole floorpan, bins and all (removing any surface rust in the process) and re-primering it all. The dynamat will probably work wonders too.

Damn you! Another project gets added to the list! I figure if I do the interior like that, and do the exterior and underbody the way trochoid did with his widebody, I definitely won't have to worry about the body for *another* twenty years.

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Jon

 

great job there, man - and just in the nick of time for me. the way you've written this has taken away a little of the apprehension i had about tackling this leg of my build. great pics, too. i can't wait to see what the finished product looks like.

just curious why you didn't buy the Black Dragon carpet since you mentioned buying the dye from them? is this other place better quality? i'm pretty much poised to buy mine from Black Dragon that's why i'm asking. if this other place is better quality, let me know.


Vipernicus42/Directfreak - i'd like to nominate this for the archive.

 

Here is a pic of my interior when I bought the car, it was the pic the guy emailed me, so its kinds small. But the interior was in great shape when I got the car. I wanted to do black, but kept thinking mine was in good shape, why change it. Then the spill happened.



And one that I took:




I read somewhere on here that the BD/VB one wasn't good. People had a few complaints. So I tried something different. Like I stated earlier in the thread, I think there is just one place that makes them, and everyone just sells them. I ordered from 1A Auto and the box had ACCMATS.COM's logo on it, and the UPC lable was all ACCMATS too, so maybe DB/VB sells this same carpet that ACCMATS.COM makes. Just a guess.

Here are some Dry Ice pics that I found from when I started.

 

Looks good