about to pull carpet... taking advice

im about to pull the carpet on my 94xj. i lifted it up a little bit where its sperated in the middle and it was a little damp and had some rust. and now it smells like mildew. so im going to pull the back half of the carpet up.

my only other concern other then rust is that my jeep is tan outside and in, do you think black herculiner would look decent with the tan interior? or should i would it be better to put the carpet back in after undercoating.. just asking around. ill post pics in a day or 2.

My advice is to just get it over with. I pulled mine out a lot easier by cutting it into quarters (you'll understand once you pull the center console, seats and door sills). As far as the color I like black and tans :cheers: but you could always get a different color herculiner (more expensive) or use the dupli-color brand stuff. I'm thinking about putting my rear grey carpet in after undercoating.

im thinking of undercoating it and putting the carpet back in it since its a daily driver. but when i go to wheel it later next year ill just yank the carpet back out and be all set. im just going to stick with the black color it should be all set.
i stoped taking the carpet out tonight since its dark and i dont have any torx for the seatbelts. but im going to post some pics up tomarrow of the rust it has or dosent have.

my friend inspired me to do it cuz if i dont do it now it will never get done. and only get worse.

When I did mine I found the carpet comes off and then there are tons of this padding stuff underneath -including a feminine pad looking think under the passenger floor anyone know what that is?-

That was what smelled the worst on mine, the damp padding, you could put carpet back w/o pad, also someone here VERY recently mentioned a company that sells aftermarket XJ carpets including rubber ones in different colors, try searching for this.

I don't know how you carpet is, but mine was unsalvagable. There were holes, bad stains, cig burns, the Jeep smelled really bad after sitting for a day. Have you ever been to a really dumpy bar where the mens room smells like crap, vomit and spilled drinks? Thats what my Jeep smelled like and it was getting so bad I was leaving the windows open at night.

Hemenechi said:

do you think black herculiner would look decent with the tan interior?

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Black goes with just about everything. I think it would look fine. If you're going to be getting it dirty periodically, that's a good idea.

When you replace the kick panels and plastic door sills, be careful of the self taping screws. I've gotten in a rush and tried to push the screws through the cable harness under the sill.
On my last fun truck, I found some floor mat material at Home Depot, that had holes in it. It was about 1/2-9/16" thick and came in squares with interlocking edges (kind of like a jigsaw puzzle). It cut down the noise some and the holes let the moisture evaporate. It was actually better than rubber floor mats, because it breathed.

do you have any gearwrenches? craftsman makes a wrench similar to it. looks like a box end wrench, but it ratchets inside itself. it came in VERY handy for removing the seats. i would have spent much more time with an open ended wrench, resetting it each turn.
i used a power drill with a screwdriver bit in the end to remove all of the moldings up. made things fast.

this is the passanger side pocket thing


this is a small hole that im just going to drill a little bigger to put a cap and make it a "drain hole"


this is the drivers side soft spot. sofar this is really my only hard part. since i dont have a welder or sheet metal. but thats what my friend is for


but over all its not as bad as i would have imagined.


helpful tips would be nice

I've got a set of left cut, right cut and straight sheet metal shears, that make fabricating patches a whole lot easier. Making cardboard patterns simplifies the process. I make a patch for the bottom, pop rivet the corners and use an angle grinder with a coarse wire wheel to remove all the rotten stuff, spot weld the existing material around the hole, then the outer side of the patch. I often use two patches top and bottom and sandwich the rotten area, especially in large open areas.
Cleaning the paint and undercoating well away from the edges to be welded, will save a lot of trouble and a probable headache from the fumes, when welding.
I´ve used the double patch, with a coating of metalic bondo in the middle or a good automotive mastic and pop rivets to patch before, it looks kind of ugly, but works. Getting the right length pop rivet to go through the two layers of sheet steel patch and the exisiting sheet metal is helpfull. I keep a selection of lengths.
Welding one edge of a patch to the existing body and using ball pean hammer to mold the patch as you slowly weld the edges, makes things a whole lot cleaner looking. A sheet metal patch can be worked to fit some fairly large bends and corners, with a hammer, dolly and patience.
If you use a wire wheel on an angle grinder, be prepared to pay the price, I've had to pull the wires out of my cheeks with pliers. I've gotten smart and use a full face shield now.

i have a sandblaster think that would work well? or do you think its to messy?
i might just pop rivit a sheet in over the hole once its cleaned up since im going to be undercoating it anyways it wont look that bad. thanks for the pop rivit idea

If it makes any difference...

Both my XJ's have tan interior (seats, dash, headliner, etc) and they both came from the factory with black vinyl floors.

So that black/tan that you are pondering was a factory option.

Hemenechi said:

i have a sandblaster think that would work well? or do you think its to messy?
i might just pop rivit a sheet in over the hole once its cleaned up since im going to be undercoating it anyways it wont look that bad. thanks for the pop rivit idea

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Be careful of your glass when sand blasting, I sand blasted parts of the cab on my old timer and the paper and masking came loose at the bottom of the windshield. The sand fogged the windshield, even though I was blasting the rear part of the cab, that stuff really bounces and travels and gets inside of everything. I never did get all of it out of my rocker panels and ended up undercoating a lot of sand inside the rocker panel.
I just use a wire wheel, for most rust removal and maybe a coat of Navel Jelly or equivalent sometimes.
If you use a single sheet of metal for the patch and not a sandwich, get the washers for the pop rivets or some may pull through some of the body sheet metal. The sandwich technique with some kind of bonder in the middle is really strong.

ill probobly do the sandwich thing then. if its strong enough. i was just removing my fender flares for me to undercoat the side of the body cuz of rust. im trying to get all the stuff that needs to be herculined all at once. before it snows again.

My roomate had to strip about the same amount of rust off his camaro. We used a wheel I think was made by 3M. I got it at Checker. Just put it on a drill and go to town worked really good alot less messy than sandblasting, tough to get into some spots. Just did the final spots with 80 grit. and a Black and Decker mouse. JD

finally got all the rear carpet out all the way and the plastic pannels out too. but i have work tomarrow so i need to do the front some other day

well i pulled my flares off and i started to get rid of the rust since im doing the inside of the truck might as well do my rotting rockers too.. heres some pics to see what you guys think.









might look like crap cuz of all the pits and stuff. but im planning to put herculiner on the side of the jeep so it looks better and hopfuly protect it better then just paint.