Customs Floors and carpet/padding

Hey everyone!

So we were going to put in seatbets (6 aircraft style) so we can occasionally cruise with the whole family, and figured this would be a good time to do carpet as well; Lowe's has an indoor/outdoor that will do just fine look/feel/color wise. This lead me to wonder, when i got the car, it had regular indoor carpet padding, and from being left to sit (previous owner abandoned it at a service station - see photo) through a Rochester winter (snowiest city in the USA with more than 100,000 people 2019-20 winner), the trunk floor and driver side floor pan got more rust/damage in that winter than its first 64 or 65 winters. Sad.

Leads me to my question... what have you all done for a padding/sound deadening material that doesnt soak up water? I dont want to dynamat it as I am going to "restore" the body someday and dont want to have to remove that stuff. My thought was perhaps modern indoor waterproof padding with the waterproof lawer down? and perhaps clean/paint/seal the floors while I have the carpet and seats out?

Would love to hear how you all deal with this to prevent floor issues. It doesnt see rain often, but leaks like a 70 year old car when it does

Thanks

Drew

 

Until you fix the window and door seals, and anything else that is allowing water to get into the car, nothing on the floor is going to help. If there are already holes in the floor pan, any kind of floor covering is going to hold water inside the car, and something with a cloth material (like carpet) will make it worse in a hurry.

That said, if you think you need to have something on the floor, a simple spray paint job may help a lot. Then buy some of those rubber/plastic floor mats to lay down (with nothing under them), and remove the mats when its going to rain or there is a chance of water getting into the car. Gene

 

I was thinking , if you are going to restore the car someday why wait . Repair the floor now.

 

I’ll repair the floor to an extent during this, or whatever issues it has. The driver floor is Pretty much it.

The car doesn’t see water. It gets washed once or twice a year on hot days and we don’t drive it when rain is in the forecast.

As for restoring it someday, it requires a second old car to drive, and much more space. We’re just going to repair all rust and old repairs, then paint stock colors but with a base coat clear coat. New seals. Then it can sit outside for a week of rain and who cares


I figure I’ll do this floor pan when the carpet is out. If y’all are saying padding is a a bad idea I guess I’ll just throw down the outdoor carpet. Was hoping to find something like that shiny-foily-foamy stuff they make old school windshield heat shades for when your car is parked. It’s padded but wouldn’t hold water just in case


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Home improvement store sell that.
shiny-foily-foamy stuff

Its normally glued down and normally used on vertical surfaces, but you could use it under the carpet.

I would make any carpet and insulation easy to pull (not remove seats) until you have the water / leak figured out. 1 wet down can hold water for weeks, stink, mold, rust etc.

Painting it is a good suggestion, derust well with wire wheel, acid, Neutralize well. Epoxy primer is best, but a good coat of gooey enamel (brush on rustoleum) will hold up and put you ahead on the resto.

 

Awesome thanks!

So if I was it I get maybe a table spoon in two different areas. Typically only do it on like 90° days. But yea I think I’ll address the floors now. Wouldn’t be too much back tracking later.

I’d love to dynamatt it but I worry about what I’d do at a later time if I needed to get it off


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I just did this on an OT GTO.
I have some of those 12" carpet squares that they put on office floors, about 1/4" thick rubber with carpet imbedded in it. I cut out pieces to fit on the flat areas of the floor and glued it down with liquid nails. I have used this before for sound deadening and it works well as long as it is on a flat area of the floor. Trying to get it to curve up on the edges is not possible.
The stuff is also a bugger to cut and I ended up using a cut off wheel in my air die grinder, messy, stinky but quick.
If later you want to take it up it will pop off with a putty knife and a wire wheel will remove the remains of the glue. I had to do that on a previous project.
I followed the carpet stuff with the shiny foil from Lowe's for thermal insulation. I stuck it down with the spray on contact glue, also from Lowe's. I figure that the glue isn't the strongest but that the only pressure on the insulation is down, no side motion. The foil stuff forms well into the curved areas like the transmission tunnel. It is also easy to cut with a pair of scissors.
It wasn't a real difficult project and if I want to put in the factory pad later, no harm, no foul.

 

In the old days when working on my cars I'd run into a plan like your doing. Rounding up everything I needed to do a complete floor restoration.

Until that point I'd buy heavy weight felt paper for roofs under shingles and use that. I'd glue a couple pieces together to make it as heavy and thick as I wanted and it's cheap.

Lasted a while, long enough for me to get all my parts gathered and the resto started.