Jaguar Repair: My XJ6, seam seal, financial standpoint

Question
Howard,

Michael here from TN. My XJ6 went in for the new floor pans two weeks ago and I saw the progress Friday. Looks great - all new sheet metal welded in, getting seam seal and undercoat this week and may be home by the weekend. I removed all of the carpet and seats before taking it in and am now at a place where I must decide how to proceed. I laundered the carpet to loosen and remove the fiberglass pad, and am considering simply gluing down house hold type carpet pad, then maybe using an aerosol adhesive to re-install the carpets. Any thoughts, or advice on that? Also, should I consider priming the new bare steel inside the car before doing so? As you may imagine, my 25+ year old carpet frayed considerably, and I know my household washing machine may not have been the wisest place to clean my carpets but I trimmed the frayed edges neatly with very sharp shears and it appears from the coloration of the non-exposed edges I should be ok there, or I could use the old pieces as patterns to cut new ones. Any thoughts on that? I may send the seats out to be recovered as well once I know exactly how much this has cost, so perhaps it makes since to replace carpeting as well? I know there is nothing about restoring these old cars that is truly practical and definite from a financial standpoint, just interested in your opinion.

Thanks!
Michael

Answer
I don't like glued down anything any more as I am accident prone and a spilled drink or a window left open for just the few minutes I am away from the car invites a quick rain. Not to mention the common leaking windshield. A wet soaked glued down pad or carpet then stays a mess and there goes the floor boards again. My MG V-8 project car I am building is going to have snaps on every piece of carpet so it can be removed. If the carpet material is ok you can have a trim shop sew a border around the edges of the carpet and make them look good.

It is neat the have leather and in a Jag it sure smells good but it is less practical then vinyl seats. Unless it is a show car the cost alone make leather impractical. I priced a front and back seats recovered in vinyl to look like the original for $600. That was last year.

Howard