The 2002 interior door panels, rear seat and dash were all in really good condition. All that was letting the interior down was the front seats, (which were deflated and the drivers was torn) and the well worn original carpet. The 1974 came with a one-piece molded carpet, as opposed to the "cut and sewn" multi-piece rugs of earlier cars. Some say the cut and sewn looks better aesthetically, but I decided to order up a replacement one-piece molded carpet to replace the one that was being removed. I wanted a quick and easy install...
I received the one piece carpet from ACC. I had previously installed a molded ACC carpet in my 1974 Ford truck and it fit like a glove! It went in easily and looked fantastic, hugged all the bumps and curves as good as an original carpet. I hadn't had even a second thought about using them again.
Sadly, the carpet for the 2002 was a completely different story. I guess the floor pan is quite a bit more complicated than the old Ford's, because this carpet was a very poor, sloppy fit. There are a lot of nooks and crannies and little protrusions on the BMW 2002 floor that demand close and custom fitting. Yes, the ACC did lay down on the floor, albeit not at all snug, leaving annoying air voids everywhere, and generally requiring custom modifications that were not possible, given the one-piece design.
I didn't want to put forth the effort to make the ACC fit, because I knew I would end up with a very marginal final product. On the advice of a friend, I switch to Esty, a known custom carpet maker for old BMW's. The Esty carpet was less expensive (had I known that, I would have chosen that one first).
The Esty BMW carpet is a better choice as it is individual pieces, cut and sewn like the earlier cars. You can manipulate each piece as you install to attain the best fit possible. And with the sewn edges and original-looking materials, it really is a nicer looking finished product.
I stripped the original carpet, the seat belts, brake lever, console and shifter.
The heater valve was leaking, so I had the heater out. I left it out for carpet install, as it made it much easier to work up against the firewall.
Esty's carpet is not without work. Here is how the rear-most piece had to be trimmed down to in order for a clean fit. Better they give you more than less, but you have to be very very careful when trimming. I spent over an hour on this piece alone, fitting, trimming a little, fitting, trimming, etc...
The tunnel section has pre-cut holes for the shifter and the brake lever, but they are slightly small, as final fitment is up to you and whatever abnormality your floor needs accounted for. You can see my pen, which I used to mark the back side for trimming and the scissors. I also used a carpenter knife with NEW blades.
There is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to carpet with the BMW 2002, as there were floor deviations between the years and different tunnel sizes depending on the transmission fitted. I found the fitment around the main transmission tunnel a little sloppy on my car so I padded it a little to tighten the fit.
To achieve a great fit, I decided to split the tunnel carpet from the shifter-forward. This allowed better material manipulation. It will be covered by the console, so no big deal. I also filled in the gaps later with remnants, just in case.
Next to go in are the side panels along the rockers. Pretty straight-forward. I glued them in as with the other pieces with 3M super 90. I had the seat adjusters removed for carpet fitting, then trimmed the hole and reinstalled the grommets and levers for a very clean factory look. I also snapped the threshold plates back in to hold the pieces in position as the super 90 dried.
Esty's carpet comes with the pads sewn in! The ACC didn't. The pedal positions are already there so no "leap-of-faith" moment with the knife hoping to put them in the right place as would be the case with the ACC, which didn't have any pads sewn in other than a heel pad.
Here is the trimming necessary to fit the drivers mat. I laid it in with the pedal slots as the main reference. I used a sharp knife to cut slits over the accelerator pedal mount nubs as well and the accelerator pedal stop button while in place.
The rear piece drops in. you can see the seat mount bosses remain bare. These are not visible, so not necessary to finish. I think I will hit them with some blue paint, just for good measure.
The passenger foot well has a large void. I filled it with foam so the carpet would lay flat and not have a tendency to get pushed in over time.
Kick panel glued in and console going back together.
close up of kick panel. I trimmed the edging off the rear edge of the kick panel and tucked it under the original factory edge welting for a clean finish.
Brake re installed and seat belts installed. Here's a tip: to find the seat belt anchor holes, use a sharp, small poker or a nail. poke in the area until it finds the hole. Then use an old Philips screw driver or similar, heat the end with a torch, then run the heated end into the hold you found with the nail. move it around a little. You will melt a perfect little hole in the carpet right at the bolt hole and will easily be able to run the bolt in without catching or tearing the surrounding carpet.
Notice the atrocious cut I made atop the transmission tunnel is now just a fading memory with the console back in place.
The carpet install was no walk-in-the-park. I spent probably about 8 hours over two days fitting and trimming and manipulating to get it where I wanted it. The results are worth it, though. I am pleased with the final product and glad I went with Esty. I could have spent 8 hours with the ACC, but I would be constantly irritated at the sloppy fit and finish. Now, if only Esty made low-cost seat covers.......
