this summer i have plans to refresh my 77' 4 door. all original and it's in good shape. its a daily driver though and not garaged so i plan on doing a few things to keep it rust free and from turning into a rust bucket. my idea's -take out and steam clean the carpet, replace headliner -paint the floorpans(anti-rust or rustoleum) from firewall to trunk -replace driver door hinge (it sits down about a 1/2inch when opened due to wear) -replace everything rubberized,(trunk, rear-front windshield, door weatherstrip) - dad and I plan on painting the car a dark green (so outside should be alright after sand down, any rust removed, and paintjob) - the car from what I know was undercoated from day of purchase (ohio car) by the original owner. the undercoat is still there (gets in the way on oil changes/tuneups when it crumbles down onto your face, ) my question is -without a complete restoration what other ideas should i do to preserve the body of this ride? so far its solid everywhere. i just want to keep it that way. -it would be a long... long... long... job but should i remove the undercoating or should all the metal behind it be preserved.
If your going through all the trouble of pulling the carpet out, I would just replace the carpet. They make repo-carpet for these cars. No matter how well you steam clean it nothing will look better than new carpet. I just replaced mine and it also brings back the new car smell.
