Summer 2011 Trans Am Projects (No More Carpet)…

Mileage: 88,493

 

Even though most of the interior was out, I still needed to get the carpet removed.  Before getting the carpet out, I opted to remove the driver’s side kick panel.  This doesn’t need to be done to get the carpet out because the old carpet will slide out from under it and the new carpet will slide right back in, but this panel was one of the panels that was faded and needed to be re-dyed. 

Actually removing the panel was easy, but getting the emergency brake out of the way so the panel would come off was a real pain.  It consisted of removing two bolts on the inside (one of which was hidden), one nut, two nuts from the engine side of the firewall, and the release cable.  Even after all of that, it wasn’t totally able to be removed, it was just loose enough to swing out of the way and remove the kick panel.  I also removed the transmission gear indicator light wiring harness and the vacuum actuator cover from the passenger side kick panel, but left the panel in place.

Now that the kick panel and wiring issues had been dealt with, before I remove the carpet, I wanted to make sure and take some good pictures of the way the original carpet was cut and installed.

 

 

 

The next step was an easy and rewarding one, pulling out the old carpet!  You can see how faded it really was if you look at the areas around the edges and where the center console was!  After I got it out of the way I did a quick evaluation of the carpet pad.  As I assumed, the carpet pad directly under the heater core (passenger side foot well area) was soaked with coolant.  The firewall pad was also damp.  So, to get this area dry, I removed the carpet pad and cleaned up the area under it.  I then set up a small box fan to get some air movement in the foot well area.  The soaked carpet pad was allow to spend many days drying in the sun and with a box fan blowing on it.

 

I was really happy with how far I got with the disassembly just after two days working on it!  I never would have guessed it would have gone so easy!  Now that the interior is out, I can start on the heater core!