old yellow 78
Well-Known Member
Well, I finally decided to put OY at the top of my list of "gotta dos". The wagon has been just sitting in the garage all boxed in with furniture and "stuff" and still with the two sets of brand new ACC carpet laid out on its roof since NOVEMBER!!! 
Enough!! Yesterday, I took two truckloads, and one trailer load of furniture and "stuff" to the thrift store and just got rid of it. Now, I have my garage back and can work on OY and the Pontiac.
So, today OY finally got it's new carpet installed. I knew it would be quite a job, but it actually bordered on being a PIA! Lot's of cutting and trimming, climbing in and out, and contorting myself into positions that I didn't know I could do. I had to be really careful in measuring and cutting because I sure didn't want to have to buy any more. As I had planned, I used the front half of the four speed coupe carpet, and the rear half of the automatic four door carpet (because ACC doesn't make carpet for a four speed four door F) and then sectioned them together under the front seats with about a 5 inch overlap, front half overlapping the rear. I started by installing the rear carpet, measuring back and cutting it in half about 9 inches from the rear of the shifter hump. This distance allowed for the forward seat bolts to only have to go through one layer of carpet. I have the "mass-backed" carpet, which is heavier than plain carpet, but cuts nicely with a sharp razor. That is until you get to a section with the fiber insulation. That stuff was a real PIA to cut through! I used blue painters tape as a guide to keep things square, and where needed used metal shears to cut though the insulation.
The rear section was much easier than the front section to install. But, I did make a mistake in not remembering to mark and cut an X slit on the drive shaft hump for the inboard seat belts for the front seat. This was a problem I discovered later on after I had all the carpet in and secured, so now I have to go back and jack the car up to push an awl through the holes to find where the bolts go through. But, otherwise, it fit very well. Just needed to trim the sides and cut a small section for each rear seat hook.
The front section was much more difficult and it was hard to trim out for the shifter, and still keep the carpet nice and tight against the trans hump. This was because the trimming under the dash had to be done first to make it fit nice and tight. It had to be done carefully in small steps so as not to cut too much or in the wrong place. I had trimmed up under the dash before, but had to make some small adjustments to get it just right. The trick was to cut a little, and go back and cut more later. The insulation where the shifter hole goes was a real pain!
The trimming around the emergency brake cable and cutting a hole in exactly the right spot and right size to be able to correctly place the dimmer switch grommet, all required time and a lot of patience.
Enough!! Yesterday, I took two truckloads, and one trailer load of furniture and "stuff" to the thrift store and just got rid of it. Now, I have my garage back and can work on OY and the Pontiac. So, today OY finally got it's new carpet installed. I knew it would be quite a job, but it actually bordered on being a PIA! Lot's of cutting and trimming, climbing in and out, and contorting myself into positions that I didn't know I could do. I had to be really careful in measuring and cutting because I sure didn't want to have to buy any more. As I had planned, I used the front half of the four speed coupe carpet, and the rear half of the automatic four door carpet (because ACC doesn't make carpet for a four speed four door F) and then sectioned them together under the front seats with about a 5 inch overlap, front half overlapping the rear. I started by installing the rear carpet, measuring back and cutting it in half about 9 inches from the rear of the shifter hump. This distance allowed for the forward seat bolts to only have to go through one layer of carpet. I have the "mass-backed" carpet, which is heavier than plain carpet, but cuts nicely with a sharp razor. That is until you get to a section with the fiber insulation. That stuff was a real PIA to cut through! I used blue painters tape as a guide to keep things square, and where needed used metal shears to cut though the insulation.
The rear section was much easier than the front section to install. But, I did make a mistake in not remembering to mark and cut an X slit on the drive shaft hump for the inboard seat belts for the front seat. This was a problem I discovered later on after I had all the carpet in and secured, so now I have to go back and jack the car up to push an awl through the holes to find where the bolts go through.
But, otherwise, it fit very well. Just needed to trim the sides and cut a small section for each rear seat hook.The front section was much more difficult and it was hard to trim out for the shifter, and still keep the carpet nice and tight against the trans hump. This was because the trimming under the dash had to be done first to make it fit nice and tight. It had to be done carefully in small steps so as not to cut too much or in the wrong place. I had trimmed up under the dash before, but had to make some small adjustments to get it just right. The trick was to cut a little, and go back and cut more later. The insulation where the shifter hole goes was a real pain!
The trimming around the emergency brake cable and cutting a hole in exactly the right spot and right size to be able to correctly place the dimmer switch grommet, all required time and a lot of patience.
