How To: S13 240SX Convertible Carpet Removal and Replacement/Interior Tear Down

[Loki]

Difficulty: 2/5

You'll need:14 MM Socket + RachetTwo or three sizes of Phillips head screwdriverSmall flathead screwdriverNeedle-nose pliers.New carpet (duh)Mat to put parts on (Optional)Serrated knife to modify carpet (Optional)

It'll take:About 2 to 3 hours

NOTE: This is for S13 Convertibles. These instructions will definitely not work perfectly for those silly hard tops.

Alright then! First thing you will want to do is drop the top. The extra head room makes this work much, much easier. Second, you'll want to take out the seats. Stock S13 seats are held in by 3 14mm bolts and one 14mm nut. Make sure to keep everything you take out organized, as you will have a decent pile of parts by the time you take everything out.



Now that you have those out, time to take out the driver's side wanna-be clutch thing:



It is held in by three screws which also have a socket head if you strip one out.

This next part might be unique to 94's; I don't remember seeing one in my 93.



It is held in by a single screw. While you're at it, take off the gas/trunk latch plastic piece. It simply slides forward.



Next thing I took out was the center console. First off, you should remove the center console insert. It's held in by 6 pawls, two at each and and two in the center, so it will simply pop off with gentle use of a flathead screwdriver. There's two screws on each side of the main center console to remove:



And two on a central brace under the center console insert:



Don't just tear the console out! There are several connections you must first disconnect before it is free.



After that, take out this little guy:



Two screws, nothing special.



Now with all that out of the way, we move on to back seats and panels. The bottom seat part is held on by two clasps, which pull forward to release the seat. NOTE: Taking out the rear seats and panels isn't essential, but I think it makes it easier to get the carpet fitted perfectly.



The top part of the seat is held on by two bolts, just above the bolts holding on the seatbelt buckles:



With those out the top part of the seat just lifts right out. Now you can take out the rear quarter panels. These are held in by two screws facing the front of the car:



Two screws facing to the side:



And one clasp-head screw (the ones you use to put on the boot):



NOTE: Each rear quarter panel is ALSO held in by a white plastic screw that may be the spawn of Satan. If you can manage to take the panel out without damaging this, you should start playing the lottery. If not, the panel will stay on just fine without it. Just carefully pull off the panel.

Now then, you should have a pretty bare interior, no? Last thing to tackle is the front kicker panels and the side runners. The kickers are tucked under the runners, so guess which one I did first.



These guys are tricky. What you have to do it unscrew the plastic screws, except you have to apply very nearly NO downward pressure. Just carefully turn it and hope it comes out. If not, carefully weasel the screw up a little with a flathead screwdriver, then take it out with your needle-nose pliers. When the screws are out, the hole thing lifts out fairly easy.



Yay! Now the kickers. Each is held on by another of the tricky plastic screws along with two metal screws (one way towards the front of the car and one pointing sideways near the bottom).





The passenger side also has a light, so after you have taken off the panel make sure to disconnect it.

Next, it help to pop this little piece of weather stripping up for future fitment.



Now then, everything in your way should be gone. Carefully remove the old carpet. Should come straight out now.

And now the old carpet is gone! Go grab a beer or something. Also, check around for any stray objects that may have fallen under the carpet. I found two nuts, a clip retainer, a quarter and a key!



Now for the hard part. Toss the new and hopefully fitted/molded carpet in and tuck what you can under the lower part of the dash and line it up with the holes for the seats. If you do that little piece from under the accelerator pedal, chances are you will need to cut a hole in the carpet for it (I did). BE VERY PRECISE WHEN INSTALLING THIS! Depending on how you install this or the other piece it will determine how the whole driver's side carpet fits. If it is off then the holes for the seat will be off.

After you have those parts in, install the kicker panels again, remembering to connect the light on the passenger side. Then install those tricky little plastic screws in the runners. The clips that the screws go in to the rectangular holes , so the whole piece will have some sideways play until you pop the screws in. After that I tucked the carpet under the rear quarter panels and screwed them back in. I found it easiest to screw in the boot clip screw first. Then I tossed the seats back in to give me a place to sit to tackle the rest of the interior.

When the panels are back on, hopefully still connected to the inserts (one of mine fell out ) you can put the seats back on, starting with the top seat portion.

You now have carpet!



After the backseat was back in I put in the metal brace for the center console. Make sure the brace is "pointing" to the front of the car! If you imagine it as two shark fins the shark is swimming towards the trunk.



If you have wires running along here make sure to keep them out of the pinch point of the metal brace. Also tuck some carpet under before you tighten it down in order to keep the carpet nice and snug.

With that on, put the center console back on, remembering to reconnect the wires from earlier. Also, the screws you use for the brace near the shifter are different from the ones you use on the sides. Make sure you separate them.

Your interior should be pretty much all together now after you put the center console insert back in (Don't forget to put the trunk latch back on!). If you have stupidly long legs, you may stop now.



Otherwise, you'll want to stick the seats back in. This was the biggest pain of the whole project for me to be honest. Just be careful not to strip anything and keep working it until the seats are bolted back down.

Congratulations! You are finished. Go cruise with your new carpet.



If I missed anything or you have any questions you can contact me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading!

©Chris Holland 2008

[Eikon]

Chris! Nice Freaking Write-Up!!!

That's like the best post of 2008 so far in the 'vert forum.

Adding to the sticky and article directory on NICO home page.

Well done my friend. Your pictures are excellent, writing is clear and concise.. nice work!!!

[ishkabibble]

Good job, Chrissy.

One thing to add - you should transfer the white plastic things from the side of the old carpet to the new. They hold the carpet in place under the door sill covers. The plastic things are just stapled on.

The wanna-be clutch thing is called a "dead pedal".

[Loki]

What plastics things are you talking about?

And "Chrissy?

[ishkabibble]

They are missing in your pics for some reason... weird. Maybe your carpet was previously replaced.

You should have some white plastic rail things attached to the sides of the carpet in this pic:

[Uncle Buck]

quick question while were on the carpet subject..... does anyone know if the S14 carpet will fit in our cars??? i know the length might be different due to the leg room in the back seat... but how about width??

cus my buddy has a S14 and is ditching his carpet and looks in good condition, i have the typical tear where the hump is on the drivers side and i figured i could just swap it and be just fine

[Silvia_Drift]

Great write up man! Where did you buy your carpet from? It doesn't look like it has the humps for the automatic seat belts.

[Loki]

They are missing in your pics for some reason... weird. Maybe your carpet was previously replaced.

You should have some white plastic rail things attached to the sides of the carpet in this pic

Didn't have anything like that. The carpet was just lightly glued down along the rails and the backseat. This vert's interior has seem some odd times. The backseat was actually spray painted silver and then someone hastily painted em black but missed the sides.

Great write up man! Where did you buy your carpet from? It doesn't look like it has the humps for the automatic seat belts.

I pulled the carpet from my wrecked vert, so I have no idea where it is originally from.

[lestate428]

Nice write up man, you have saved me alot of time, thanks.

[tramp_drift240]

LIVE, THREAD, LIVE!!!!

bringin it back with a couple questions.

i was just outside trying to take out my pignose coupe's carpet to put it in my new 92, but the carpet design between mine and the one you took out of your car is super different.

yours has a big slit right down the center, i dont know if you did that or not, but mine just has like. cut outs for things. its a pain.

BUT, ive got all of it up and like...movable. except for the carpet thats under the dash. like, behind the radio stuff, im pretty sure theres no cut in that either. how am i supposed to take it out with out thrashing the carpet?

mind you, my entire dash is out, all of my center console, radio/HVAC controls, everything.

and btw, that gas pedal stopper is in other cars too, i took the one off of my pignose so i could start pulling the carpet out from under the pedals.

[hbpignosePA]

totally want to know the same thing... how the hell can you take the carpet out and not the dash?

[Loki]

In both my convertibles there was nothing holding the carpet down near the dash. The carpet from my first vert was definitely not factory, and I am fairly sure the new one (grey carpet) was factory. Really the only thing hooking it in are the kicker panels and side runners. Is it possible yours might be glued down?

Also, I do not know the full history of this car, so it is possible a previous owner took out the carpet at one point and didn't reattach it fully near the dash. Can you get some pics of the carpet where it's held up for comparison?

[hbpignosePA]

sure wat im going to do is cut the carpet down the middle under the radio assembly and pull it on each side like two slices of pizza... im lazy and its not like you will be able to see it when i put it back