Ok, I left the carpet in the car over the weekend and it has settled a little bit more. Today Im going to try to get it roughly in the right spot and cut out the holes needed (seatbelts, rear seat hoops, front seat bolts, and trans opening). Eventually I want to adhear it down to the metal to prevent it scooting around, but I'll wait till its completly broken in to do that.

 

Put new carpet in yesterday, too. Opened up the drapes and let the sun beat down on it for several hours prior to installation. Made it a lot more malleable!

You will have to trim the sides and create holes for the floor dimmer switch and AC drain (if you have AC) - The manufacture supplied 2 grommets that fit these holes very well.

As for carpet adhesive, I did not use any since it was "molded" carpet and the attachment points (shifter boot, seats, at the sill plates, seat belts, etc.) fixed it pretty well.

Thanks to James W for the Elemental Designs recommendations. I was able to insulate the floor prior to carpeting and the road noise is very much diminished. Unfortunately, it makes the "Above 60 MPH whistling leaks" due to my dessicated weather stripping more conspicuous. Feel like I am playing "wack-a-mole" - fix one thing and another problem becomes apparent.

 

I figured out my back half was in backwards (kinda hard to tell) so I flipped it around and its almost perfect. Just gotta install the things around it.

Mine is molded too but I get OCD tendencies about the loosness around curves and stuff.

 

I'd hold off on the adhesive. There should be no need once it is in the proper place, it will be held down by seats, door sills, console (if applicable), seat belt bolts, etc.

And mustdoc, love the "wack-a-mole" reference. Kinda sums up restoring in single phrase.

 

LOL i live in so. cal so im just gonna wait till june to install my carpet.

 

I can definitely identify with the "whack a mole" reference.
2 weeks ago I decided to replace my carpet.
So I rip out the old carpet & the old rotten underlayment.
I decide to POR 15 the floor as long as it's exposed so I order POR-15.
I decide to put down eDead deadener, so I order that.
I decide the heater is in the way of painting & deadening completely so I pull it out.
I take it apart & see a lot of rust & bad rubber seals.
So I POR15 all the heater metal & order a rubber seal kit for the heater.
I notice the heater motor bearings are shot so I order a motor, so I can replace it while the heater is out.
While removing the seatbelt bolts, found about half of them stripped so I have to fix that.
My interior is blue but my belts are faded to an aqua color so I have to order a set of them too.
All in all it looks like that $99.95 carpet is going to cost me about $500 & 3 weeks of working on the car.
And as long as the seats are out I would like to recover them, etc............
It never ends, but I love it.

 

Right. But now you will know exactly what you've got. That is the only way to know, to dig into it. When I'm finished with mine, I will have touched every single nut and bolt. Seen places on that car no ordinary man would want to see!