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Lay the new carpet in the sun to help remove wrinkles. (Unlike out-of-the-box pieces, this front carpet has already been notched for the the vehicle.)
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Begin stripping the interior. The door-sill moldings, seatbelts, and kick panels are a good place to start.
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Remove the seats. On many vehicles, the rear seat's bottom snaps up and out, and the back can remain in place. In some 2-door vehicles, the rear quarter panels may have to be removed. The front seats are usually secured to a bracket or, in the case of this Mustang, bolted through the floorpan. (The nuts are accessed from underneath by removing the drain plugs in the floorpan.)
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On console-equipped vehicles, the shifter handle must be removed before the console can be unbolted, unwired (if necessary) and extracted. On some air-conditioned vehicles, the AC drain hose will also need to be removed.
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The existing carpet can now be removed.
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Assess the insulation's condition and check the floorpan for rust. Now's the time to address sheetmetal cancer and/or add sound-deadening insulation material, but those are other stories.
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The rear carpet piece is centered on the hump and smoothed outward; this Mustang convertible has an extra frame member, so the carpet kit includes a felt shim piece to compensate for the tunnel's contour.
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Next, the carpet is slid under the pedals and centered on the hump. The molded portions are fitted in the seat wells and holes/slits/trimming are done around the steering column on the firewall, the high-beam switch, the floor shifter and console bracket as necessary.
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After smoothing the carpet outward from the tunnel, excess can be cut off at the door sills.
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An awl (Leatherman multi-purpose tool shown at right) can be used to locate bolt holes for seat studs, belts, the console and the door-sill moldings. Once the holes are found, they can enlarged with a carpet knife.
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Slotted plates prevent the seat tracks from damaging the carpet. Now's an opportune time to repaint the stock ones or get replacements. (Note Phillips screw, which secures both carpet pieces to the floorpan, in the upper right.) The job ends by reinstalling the seats, belts, rear quarter panels, console and kick panels.
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