Carpet pad - floor insulation

[Notes]

Pulled back the carpet to help get the Vintage Air unit between the dash & firewall (not a fun thing) and the pad under the carpet disintegrated. What should I get? Jute and/or foam pad, or maybe just put down some rubber/foil sound deadening stuff and put the carpet back over that? Thanks

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Subscribed, because no more than two seconds ago I was dreading the thought installing all new from scratch. Mine had a rubber mat, though at this point I'm lost.

[72c20customcamper]

I used the duct insulation from lowes and used carpet with the mass backing .

[67ChevroletDude]

I recently installed my mass backed carpet and picked up some of the EVA deadening stuff too in a kit that was on sale at the time, big improvement coming from nothing.

[CS1972]

Just replaced my carpet (they had laid one over the other so I had 2 sets of carpet) AND put down sound deadner. I bought my carpet from https://www.accmats.com/ and bought the mass backing for additional sound deadner and have no regrets.

I also took the seat track off the seat and refinished. Since I had everything apart I dropped off my seat to be recovered - should have back next week.

[old51sedan]

Your truck floor looks great. I'm getting ready to do mine, already have the sound insulation, just need to order the carpet. I see you have the holes all cut out for the seat bolts, looks like little rubber grommets. How did you cut them out without the carpet unraveling? I take it the frame will sit on top of the carpet. Would like to see a picture when done.

[CS1972]

What looks like little rubber grommets are actually the seat frame bolts. Once I was sure I had the carpet in place and the hole "burned in" I would use the bolt to hold the carpet in place while I was doing the other holes. The only time I used a razor blade to cut carpet was for the 4X4 shifter. What I did was start on one side of the truck - in my case I started on the passenger side so I could use the dimmer switch hole to "pull" the carpet close to the side if need be. Find the seat track holes and marked them with a black sharpie, as well as the seat belt holes. Then I used a tent stake that I some wrapped some insulation around and duct taped it to hold it in place - use the benzene torch to get it real hot. The hot tent stake pushed right thru the carpet and melted it so you get no fraying. If you want the hole a little bigger you just rewarm the tent stake and move it around the hole. When I did the 4X4 shifter area I used the tent stake to melt all the outer edge so I would get no carpet fraying.

[57taskforce]

I used a 1/2” piece of stainless tubing and a propane torch to do my holes. I set the carpet in the truck over top of all the seat bolts barely threaded in there holes. Got everything where I wanted it, then found where each bolt head was and melted thru the carpet with the hot stainless. Its worked really well for me. I used the 3/8 tubing for the shifter boots’ holes

[old51sedan]

Thanks for the information, hopefully this will help several of us to install our carpet.

[Notes]

Great info, but how to fit the carpet wasn't the original question. "the pad under the carpet disintegrated. What should I get? Jute and/or foam pad, or maybe just put down some rubber/foil sound deadening stuff and put the carpet back over that?" Not sure what mass-backing is, but I'm pretty sure my carpet doesn't have it. Thanks.

[72c20customcamper]

Mass backing is a rubber like membrain bonded to the carpet its between the carpet and the jute .

I've used this on all my cars and trucks with good results holds up well cuts heat and noise

[SRU1436]

I replaced my carpet which I got from rockauto. The carpet had the jute on the back and I added additional sound deadner to the floor before installing the carpet. I bought sound deadner from Amazon, it got good reviews and wasn’t too expensive. I also reupholstered the bench too( purchased from USA1industries. My first time doing all of it, the hardest part was putting the new upholstery on the bottom part of the bench. Overall, wasn’t very difficult.

[SRU1436]

Sorry for the sideways pictures

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by SRU1436

I replaced my carpet which I got from rockauto. The carpet had the jute on the back and I added additional sound deadner to the floor before installing the carpet. I bought sound deadner from Amazon, it got good reviews and wasn’t too expensive. I also reupholstered the bench too( purchased from USA1industries. My first time doing all of it, the hardest part was putting the new upholstery on the bottom part of the bench. Overall, wasn’t very difficult.

Looks great! That’s a pretty nice olive steering wheel. They are hard to find with even a few small cracks.

[SRU1436]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

Looks great! That’s a pretty nice olive steering wheel. They are hard to find with even a few small cracks.

Thanks, it does have cracks but it doesn’t bother me. I like the original equipment, I’m keeping the truck all stock.

[NorCalC20LWB]

You guys did a nice job on the carpet install, looks like it just came off the showroom floor. Did you just run the insulation/sound deadener pads up the firewall and put carpet over it? In other words, did you not need to also install the cardboard firewall pads under the dash?

[57taskforce]

I ran my floor insulation up under the the lower edge of the Cardboard firewall insulation.

[SRU1436]

My cardboard firewall dash insulation was still good, so I just ran the floor insulation under the dash insulation. The end of the carpet is just about even with the dash insulation