I purchased carpet from ACC and thought I would post how I went about installing it and sharing some of the challenges I ran into along the way. After doing a search on carpet install/upgrades, I ended up combining different ideas and experiences from other members. Thank you all for your posts.
Here is a picture of the cutpile carpet and the OEM Fiero carpet.
I spent the extra $$ for the "Mass Backing" and I'm glad I did because it more closely resembles the OEM backing.
The Mass Backing measured with a micrometer was slightly thinner than the OEM carpet.
Here is picture showing the new carpet on the left with the extra backing and the extra carpet I purchased for the door panels, far right, with no mass backing.
Some tools I ended up using and the 5/8" hole saw not shown.
I sharpened a 5/8" steel tube to cut around the seat studs.
I carefully pealed off the OEM foam rubber backing and reinstalled it on the floor pan with a couple tacks of spray adhesive.
The green arrows, are pointing to what did NOT come with the new carpet, I was a little disappointed about that.
I used the old carpet as a template to mark out hole locations for reference only, to help remind me where to look for cut outs,
using a white grease pencil/china crayon to mark with.
Reinstalled the carpet and marked around the parameter for the second cut, the mass backing had clumps of flashing that needed to be trimmed at various places, in order for it to lay flat.
I ground a sharp point on some screws to punch through the carpet where needed, then marked the locations with a paint marker to be drilled out latter with the hole saw. I did the same thing to locate the seat belt hole.
This is the vertical trim piece behind the seat which covers the seat belts, the plastic tab is very close to the edge of the trim and I almost notched the carpet back to far on my first attempt.
I just cut a slit for the one on the other side.
Here is another spot that required a little more trimming to get this gray panel to sit flat.
The carpet has 1/2" chute on the bottom for extra sound deadening, I had to remove some of it around the E-Brake area, in order for the plastic trim to align and set correctly. Also about half of the trim screws were stripped out. I was able to go up 1 screw size to get them to hold, but on this one I had to use a tinnerman spring nut to repair the oversized hole.
Cutting around the seat bolt studs. I had to lay on the seats, in order to get the seat studs to poke through far enough to start the nuts on the studs. Because of the extra 1/2" of chute on the bottom side of the carpet. The tube I sharpened didn't work as well as I had hoped, it helped to define the location of the studs but I ended up removing the drill from the hole saw and using it to cut the holes.
One thing leads to another, in this case my center counsel had to be repaired where the vinyl started to shrink and pull away from the plastic framing. I used Loctite Vinyl,Fabric&Plastic glue to repair it. Other members seem to have good luck using Gorilla Glue.
I cut back some of the foam rubber as other members suggested before gluing and it worked well, I think it may also provide a little more space, if the vinyl continues to shrink.
The Corvette seats were set next to the Fiero seats to see if there would be any major problems installing them, other members have installed these seats so I know they will fit.
I laid a piece of particle board over the seat studs and used a dead blow hammer to mark the stud locations, drilled
then bolted the board to the Fiero seats rails before unbolting them.
I couldn't use the C4 seat rails because the were just to high compared to the Fieros.
The bottom of the C4 seats had a rectangular flare that had to be trimmed off, in order for the aluminum adaptor plates to sit flat.
The glass fibers from cutting on these was irritating to my skin, so I used some latex gloves.
I had to install a flat head Allen screw in this location for the pneumatic pump, to clear the aluminum adaptor plate.
For the adaptor plates I purchased a 6'x2-1/2"x 1/4" aluminum plate and cut two pieces 16-3/4" long.
I used flat head 5/16" alen bolts to secure them to the fiero rails. I set the C4 seat on the adaptoe plates and used my framing square to get the 1/2" offset away from the tunnel, then marked the C4 seat bolt hole locations and drilled.
The front bolt for the C4 seat is 1-3/8" forward of the Fiero front seat bolt location.
I drilled and tapped 1/2" fine thread bolts for the back set of C4 mounting holes, then I ground down the bolts to provide clearance for the Fiero seat rail rollers.
In hind site it would have been easier to make studs from flat head allen bolts.
I tapped into this large red wire and installed a 15 amp fuse at each seat.
I wanted the like new passengers seat for the drivers side, so I mounted the passengers seat on the drivers side.
[This message has been edited by Jims88 (edited 03-01-2018).]
