Is there any way I can dye my faded out carpet from my '74 Grabber? The carpet was originally avacado green but a previous owner some how dyed or painted it black. Now 22 years later, it is starting to fade back to green. He says he dosen't remember what they used to make it black but says he thinks it was in a spray can kind of like spray paint. Faded green carpet does not look good in my '72 with all black interior.
Mar-Hyde makes a sprayable fabric dye that might do the trick, but I can't say for sure how long it would be before the carpet starts to fade back to green again. Something like carpeting is almost always exposed to the sun, so some fading is to be expected. I used the Mar-Hyde dye on my faded black seatbelts and they looked good for a while, but faded again a few months later.
I got lucky and found a real nice like new mav carpet in the junkyard for like $30. course that is all about luck.
Not worth it in this car. Would be ruined in short order due to a leaky cowl which will never be fixed. If it dosen't affect how the car runs, I don't have $130 to waste on it. The car is currently as nice as it will ever be again. It will be a parts car when I get the money to straighten the frame/Mustang II my '74. Trying to spend as little as possible on this daily driver parts car, but at the same time want it to look as good as possible inside and out. Guess I'll just live with my faded green carpet.
Question: Wouldn't it be easier to make the '74 a parts car to fix up the '72 with? You could still do the Mustang II suspension on the front...but you would be doing it on a car that hasn't been "wacked" in a car accident. If I am missing something.....fill us in.
Jamie, on a different car I used a can of SEM brand dye in a spray can, I think it was about $10 for the can. You should be able to find it in a auto parts store or a paint store.
Craig, mainly because I'm not intrested in doing 10 times the body work and 20 times as much welding. I talked to the guy that helped my dad do the back halve on his Comet and he will cut me a real good deal on straightening the passenger frame rail, welding in the MII crossmember and putting sub frame connectors on all in one shot. When I'm done putting the car together I can bring it back to him to check the 4 wheel alignment and make sure it is dead on. He says the car will more then likely be straighter and stronger then it was before the wreck. He straightend my dad's Comet out after the dump truck pulled out in front of it. No one would ever guess that car was wrecked. This guy has been doing this stuff for years, knows his stuff. The '72 has been hit hard enough in the rear to crunch the passenger frame rail near the back and above the rearend. I'm no better off structurally with it then I am the '74, and it needs way more work just to be in the same ballpark as far as condition wise. The old "looks can be deceiving" saying goes well with that car. If I were to buy an entire diffrent car to do the work on, I would have done fixed my '74 and be back on the road with it. I would have the cost of the new car on top of the cost to do what I want to do. If I were wanting to build something like Dan Hines' Grabber, maybe the fact that it has been a little bent at one time would sort of bother me. In this case, it dosen't. In a nutshell, it would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to drive my '74 Grabber again. The fact that it is a real Grabber, I have all the original paper work, and I am not cutting up a perfectly good Maverick is iceing on the cake.
Jamie, I used Mar-Hyde fabric dye in a spray can 22 yrs. ago. But I was covering faded black with black. I don't know about changing colors. Seth
Dying seems to be the topic of the week. As I told another, and others before. I'd highly recommend using professional dye products. If you have access to a compressor and either have or don't mind investing in a small touch up gun, head to your local body shop supplier and get a quart of professional dye. It should come pre thinned so all you have to do is load the gun and shoot. The pro stuff seems to do a superior job of dying. I started out with a $15 touch up gun and it worked very well. Actually, I like it a bit better than the $100 gravity feed gun I bought later on. A quart of dye should run you about $30-40 or thereabouts. The gun's a good investment for future projects. The things put down paint and dye very well in thin coats. I think you'll be very satisfied with the end result and the longevity of the job.
In my driver I did the SEM in a spray bomb. Use a plastic scrub brush to fluff up the fibers. comb one way spray coat ,comb different way spray coat, repeat till the color covers even. Hope this helps Chris
