My 1978 Bobcat wagon did not come with cargo area carpet (at least I don't think so - my seat back is covered in black rubber) so I need some basic help in getting it installed correctly. I'm looking for confirmation/suggestions on the following: First, it appears from pictures that the carpet is in three pieces - one for the cargo floor, one for the back of the rear seat and one for the filler panel between the floor and the rear seat when the seat is folded flat. Second, it also appears that all three pieces have edge binding on them but I can't tell for sure and with what material. Third, I need to know how the carpet is attached to these three areas.
Auto Custom Carpet does not make a kit for the wagon so I bought a large piece of material to have it done by a local shop if necessary.
Thanks in advance,
Mark Wall
Hi Mark:
I won't be alot of help here other to confirm that I am up against the same issues with my 1976 Pinto wagon. My suggestion to you (as I am going to do this myself) is to visit an upholstery shop and let them tell you what you will need. I am purchasing all of my carpet from SMS auto fabrics, and then handing the stuff over to a shop - where I know it will be done correctly. Best wishes on your efforts.
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for the suggestions. If the carpet required binding, I planned on having my upholstery guy do it. While I know he is knowledgable with higher end cars, I don't know how familiar he is with the Pinto/Bobcat and without a template to work from it might be problematical for him. Still, it's worth a shot.
Do you know if the original material for the 1978 Pinto/Bobcat is plush or loop? I bought the plush because I like it better but I'm curious about which was stock.
Mark
Mark:
It would have been plush; loop was in the early 70's. Check out SMS auto fabrics (smsautofabrics.com); I know you may already have material but these guys have all original material, vinyls, headliners, carpet, windlace, etc.
Good luck!
Chris
My dad's 79 wagon came with the rubber mat in the cargo area. My CW has carpet. The carpet is actually in three pieced but two of them are sewn together. There is one piece that goes on the back of the seat. The other piece attaches to the filler panel and is attached to the cargo carpet via ~ 1.5" piece of vinyl that acts as the hinge when the seat is up. All the pieces have an edge that is sewn around the carpet. I can take some pics of if you want?
Tigger,
I would really appreciate the pictures along with close ups of the way the carpet is attached to the seat back and the little filler panel. Also the way the hinge piece is sewn together.
Thanks!
Mark
Chris,
I have samples from SMS for the seats but my upholstery guy told me around $2,000 to do the seats!!!!!!!!! I told you he was high end :) I hate to go elsewhere because he has done great work for me in the past but the Bobcat simply can't afford new clothes that pricey.
I haven't shopped prices around here in NW Chicago yet for redoing the seats but I am going to have to make a decision soon because the car is almost done. I plan on reinstalling the repainted dash this weekend and then have the window reinstalled with the new gasket.
A few comments.....
1) $2k for seats? Pass....I was fortunate enough to buy a car that already had the front seats redone. Of course, for what I paid...never mind....
2) Repainted dash - tell me more, tell me more! Did you >remove< the entire metal dashboard and redo it? If so, can you elaborate on the difficulty of it/where the tricky part(s) were, what you had to do? I want to ask because I am very much wanting to pull my own dash and redo it...
Of course, if you mean the dash CAP - I have done that alreday.
Thanks! This group is GREAT for sharing info.
Chris
Chris,
I pulled the entire dash and pulled the dash pad off. It was easy but with one caveat and that is that I pulled my windshield out first because my gasket was completely cracked and dry rotted. This gave me easy access to the top of the dash where a few small screws hold in the top of the dash. I don't know if you can get to them while the windshield is in the car by lifting up the bottom of the gasket. They are small, hex headed screws and there are five or six of them.
The rest of the dash is pretty straightforward and I can talk/walk you through it when you are ready if somebody else can answer the question about the windshield gasket. I pulled my gauge pod out which helps with the light/wiper switch removal, dropped the column and there are 5 bolts that hold the bottom of the dash in, 1 at each end, 2 above the console and one small one directly above the steering column. That's pretty much it.
I'll take a few pictures so you can see the bolt locations and what you can expect with the dash out and apart and then out and together.
Mark
$2000 for having the seats redone sounds very excessive!
I got a quote from a upholstery shop a town over and he does a lot of hot rod and classic interior restoration. He quoted me $300 for both of my front seats, but it could be a little more since I would have to order the center inserts (which I would order from SMS fabrics). I would look around a bit and see if you can get "samples" of another shops work.
2K including NOS fabric/material for quality work for all 4 seats sounds very reasonable to me. Some of the cloth sells for $75. and up (way up) per linear yard.
Just my $.02 (hey, now all you need is $1,999.98)
Bill
Mark, I have been under the weather lately so I have not had a chance to take the pics you requested. I did find an older pic of the cargo mat after I cleaned it up. I will get you the others hopefully tomorrow.
the local "hot rod" upholstery shop here will do my Seats how i want them for 150 a Piece. and 225 for the rears. new carpet all the way is another 200 or so. I would shop around for a better price. No matter how good he is thats a rip off imo. There are people who do the same quality work for alot less.
Mark here are some pictures I took today. The cargo mat clips on back of the filler plate via a plastic channel that is sewn to the carpet. See the pictures below.
Below are pictures of the carpet that is attached to the back of the rear seat. The top of the carpet is attached into a punched out channel that is in the seat frame. There is a piece of plastic that is sewn to the back of the carpet that fits into the channel. The lower portion is screwed down. There are also some plastic pieces that are sewn to the back for the lower portion. The first two pics are of the replacement piece that Dave1987 sold me. The third and fourth pic are of what is left of the original piece that came out of my CW. The last one is a closeup on the lower plastic piece. I hope this helps you.
Tigger,
Thanks for the pictures and the comments, both were very helpful.
Mark
Quote from: Mark78cat on November 17, 2008, 05:46:27 PM
Chris,
I pulled the entire dash and pulled the dash pad off. It was easy but with one caveat and that is that I pulled my windshield out first because my gasket was completely cracked and dry rotted. This gave me easy access to the top of the dash where a few small screws hold in the top of the dash. I don't know if you can get to them while the windshield is in the car by lifting up the bottom of the gasket. They are small, hex headed screws and there are five or six of them.
The rest of the dash is pretty straightforward and I can talk/walk you through it when you are ready if somebody else can answer the question about the windshield gasket. I pulled my gauge pod out which helps with the light/wiper switch removal, dropped the column and there are 5 bolts that hold the bottom of the dash in, 1 at each end, 2 above the console and one small one directly above the steering column. That's pretty much it.
I'll take a few pictures so you can see the bolt locations and what you can expect with the dash out and apart and then out and together.
Mark
Mark:
I DO plan to remove my windshield as well to change the gasket, so it will be convenient to remove the dash at that time. If/when you can share pics I would greatly appreciate it - that would be very helpful. Glad you are making such awesome progress!!
Chris