23 replies to this topic

[Sub78]

Just thought I would post what the interior of a 78 Subaru Wagon 4WD looks like ripped up. Bought this with ok seats but the carpet was jacked and there was a leak somewhere in the door weatherstripping that was leaking and soaking the carpet. It had been sitting for about 10 years under cover so luckily she was spared from years of rain. I however do not have cover and this is how I found out. Because I ran into some gas tank problems which I am still waiting for the funding to fix I figured I would give her a thorough interior cleaning. This led to the idea "eh, well since I've got not much else to do I may as well pull the seats". So I pulled the seats. The next obvious step would be to pull the carpet right? Done. The carpet was pretty much junk so I was looking at options. I've decided to completely strip the floor pan and primer it and then try a few coats of Raptor LIner DIY. It looks pretty solid on most of the jeeps I've seen on the forums. Obviously this isn't going to be stock but I don't much care about that. I like the idea of the clean floor pan and the lack of moisture buildup possibilities plus it ads a great rust inhibitor to the whole bottom of the truck. Obviously this is Arizona so rust isn't too much of an issue but I am definitely not planning on being too long and it will eventually end up somewhere cold. My main concerns will be road noise and possible heat coming through the floor boards but I'll try to limit that with some aftermarket carpet / rubber floor mats. Worse comes to worse I can get carpet put over it in the future if it really is that bad. Most of the folks who have done it though are happy with the results. Long term it seems to hold up well. 

 

Here is the start of in depth interior work. Took a hammer and cold chisel to the floors to remove the sound proofing material and am in the process of using xylene to finish removing the tar. This will take probably another 4-5 hours of prep. Afterwards It will be sanded and one corner of rust patched then primed. I'll be doing the liner on the whole floor pan along with the side walls and up and over the rear wheel wells. 

Here are a few pics of the progress so far and a pic of what the raptor liner looks like in a jeep. 

 

Thought I'd start a thread on interior spaces and see if and what folks have done to their soobs.

 

The third photo is of the trunk space, it shows post Xylene work. Cleaned up really well. The trunk looked just like the front parts of the floor. That xylene is awesome. Also thew in a pic of the whole care... damn near rust free. 

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[moosens]

Leaks are common from the windshield and under the cowl going into the firewall. Forget stock interior. Too much effort to make perfect and for what? Only a handful of us care about stock vintage anymore. Ain't gonna happen for most of us. Main gig is keeping the body rolling and enjoying all the looks and smiles you get.

Good luck on it.

[Sub78]

Yeah, too much of a pain to make stock. Not tomention cost. It seems it's already hard enough to keep these on the road. Thanks for the advice on finding the leak. It's supposed to rain today so maybe I can hunt it down.

[moosens]

Best way , and don't be afraid , is to take the dashboard out and the cowl off outside. Park facing the sun and you can see spots (holes) looking from the interior towards the engine bay. Heater core time too. Install fresh lines and consider a flush out adapter inline on the heater return hose.

[Sub78]

I'll have to bust out my Haynes for that one. I am by no means mechanically challenged but this is definitely the first vehicle that I'm really "working on". My only saving grace is that this thing is much easier to work on than most other vehicles out there. The only problem that I feel I'll run into hopefully far, far, far in the future is parts. I've been looking for a good donor car but these wagons seem pretty scarce. Thanks for the advice on the dash and the cowl. I do have to replace a cracked windshield and my wiper arms are junk so perhaps a full overhaul of the dash and heater core would be wise. May as well deal with the nightmare once instead of multiple times in the future. 

[bonvo]

this wagon is almost an exact duplicate of mine lol as for taking the dash out its not to difficult really if you have a mechanical backround like you say it shouldn't be difficult 

[maestro]

I recently pulled a dash from a 1978 brat that was in a junkyard. I'm replacing mine. It wasn't hard at all. I had the dash out in about 10 minutes. I didn't pull the heater box though, just the dash. I have the factory shop manuals. I can post pics of the pages from the manual when I get home tomorrow. I would think the brat and the wagon are the same.

[Sub78]

Yeah that'd be great. I'm a little weary of it but we'll see. I'm not in much of a rush as I'm still laboriously prepping my floor pan. I think when it's all said and done I'll have close to 30 hours on getting this raptor liner in. Should be pretty solid though when it's done and a nice upgrade from the crap carpet that was in there. Plus it gives me something to do while I continue to figure out my gas tank problem.  

[Sub78]

So a little update. The interior is stripped and after looking at a lot of my options I think I am going to go the simple less expensive although much less professional grade application. Looking at 2k primers and whatnot along with the raptor liner I would be looking at over 250$ for a completed diy job. Not really in my price range especially because looks aren't really that important to me as long as she is tough and can withstand some abuse but also ease of touch up and maintenance if something does go wrong. Going to use just some simple rustoleum auto primer on the floor pan, then spray an auto enamel over that to give some protection and in certain areas (rear wagon floor, rear and front mat areas) I'll apply some of the rustoleum truck bed coating. I tested out a patch on an old prepped refrigerator and the outcome seems to be pretty solid especially for the price. Once just utilize some heavy duty floor mats and larger piece of heavy duty rubber / carpet for the rear hatch area. I think for less than 100$ I'll have something that will hold up, keep any elements at bay, and provide a pretty easy DIY job with the ability to touch up as necessary. If at some point in the future I really want to make the interior perfect I can just get some carpet put in custom which at this point is much more than I want to spend. The main priority is the gas tank which I've found. I think it should turn out pretty well with a bit of patience and attention to detail even for a cheapo Rustoleum job. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments. 

[Sub78]

Here's a shot of the interior as she sits now. Put down a coat of rusto primer, topped with a gloss enamel, and taped off a section in the "bed" to throw down some rusto truck bed coating. So far it's looking pretty good. By no means a professional job but on a budget and to get some protection down I think it'll do a pretty good job. Heading to the Home Depot today to look at some large pieces of rubber matting to lay down in the back of the bed and bolt straight through the floor pan. So far so good. 

 

 

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[Sub78]

 

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[bonvo]

why not carpet like from the factory? a roll of auto carpet form the parts house or even walmart is only 10 or so bucks and the bed coating was it the stuff out of a spray can? cause from personal experience the spraycan stuff doesnt last long 

Edited by bonvo, 20 March 2013 - 03:28 PM.

[Sub78]

Yeah it was the stuff from the can. I read a lot of reviews and heard that. I thought about more heavy duty stuff but for the price and what I am trying to do couldn't justify the cost vs benefit. Really the only point of doing it this route was for some protection and to clean her up a bit. For what I've spent on it so far I'm happy with the results as opposed to getting into a lot more cash. less than 50$ and I'm happy. As far as auto carpet... I'll check around at wally world. I've seen some heavy duty rubber carpet mats at home depot for a fair price and I think it would offer a bit more protection. With my gas tank in the mail I really just want to get this put back together so I can bolt that bad mamma up and get her on the road. 

[Sub78]

Also, with the price of rusto it's cheap to do touch ups here and there. 

[bonvo]

thats why i spray painted my whole car touch up costs 3 bucks lol over all its looking good i just use as my daily so i like mine to have all the creature comforts ill be watching this 

[Sub78]

Juat picked up the last of the spray psint ill hopefully need. Picked up some cheap rubber backed utility carpet for the trunk space and under the rear bench for some added protection and sound / heat dampening. 20 bucks in all for the carpet and they sldo have a heavy duty rubber mat for 20$ that is pretty damn close to the whole rear hatch dimension (35" x 35"). Hooked up a 1 gallon gas tank to the carb this evening as well just to hear her purr. Ill post some pics and maybe a video tomorrow. Finally coming together.

[moosens]

Good deal !! You're ready for a winter in New England.

 

Seriously , you're in AZ , what you're doing looks fine to me. Of course you could be going all out. But we both know its not worth it.

[Sub78]

Well I'm all too familiar with nasty winters in WI and the NE. Ill tell ya, 70 in February is never a horrible thing. Ill take it any day of the week. Don't worry. You'll see that snow melt in a few months. Ha.

[Sub78]

Quick video of the rig

 

[Sub78]

Have the interior floor pans all painted and ready to go. Looking at a good fairly inexpensive heat shield for the floor pan. After that it's figuring out a good carpet solution. The original plan was for a truck bed liner in the whole car but the cost of a quality liner plus all of the ceramic heat and sound deadener (spray) would cost an arm and a leg. Below are a few shots of the interior as of right now along with the engine running. Got my gas tank in the mail yesterday but need to get her prepped and painted before I put it up. This is just running straight from the fuel filter to a gas can. Works well. Also listed two of the options I've got for heat shielding on the floor pans. I've read as well something called Quick Roof from home depot. Not sure about how well this would work directly on the floor pans due to the heat. I think most folks have used it for sound deadening in the doors and whatnot but not directly on the floor pan. Thoughts and comments always welcome. 

 

http://www.automotiv...HEAT_SHIELD.htm

http://www.lobucrod.com/ (EZ Cool)

 

Also, with the dumping of the truck bed coating I am looking at now putting in carpet over this heat shield stuff because I don't think I can just leave it as that mainly for longevity and life of the heat barrier. Has anyone cut their own carpet or know of a place that has the molded carpet (haha, doubtful). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Sub78, 23 March 2013 - 11:21 PM.

[sjschlag]

Looking good!

[Sub78]

Gas tank showed up last week courtesy of CBASS (http://www.cbass.net/) up in Idaho. A few shots of the before and after. Stripped her with some automotive stripper and used a screwdriver to scrape away 35 years of road gunk and surface rust. The interior of the tank looks brand new. Sanded her down and used Rustoleum auto primer along with about 5 coats of their auto enamel from a rattle can. Will bake it and hopefully that will give here a good bit of hardness to keep her tough enough for my needs. Not too bad for some elbow grease and 15$ in refinishing materials. She should be cured in a day or two and soon will be back where she belongs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Sub78, 27 March 2013 - 01:04 PM.

[Sub78]

Another old Soob on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

Have the bumper... just need to put it back on.

 

 

 

And finally after a year she hits the open road. With the pups and the lady of course. 

 

 

Now to do a bit of suspension work and a new windshield. Regardless she is road worthy and can now be registered for daily driving. 

 

[Dan-AZ]

I've done my heater core. It's work on those 70's wagons. The whole dash has to come out. It was a 2 day job for me on my 79. Good looking car. I think my car found its sister!