Need to know what some of you experienced folk have to say about screwin with the interior.

My outline at this point is to rip out the carpet, and Rondex bed-line.  Simple enough.

Rip out the moulded door panels and replace with custom fabbed PVC rubber. 

What do you guys have to say to ripping out the headliner? I was thinking about tossing it and "acoustisealing" with a noise dampening rubber.   as well as all the other cheap plastic moulding inside.


Anyone done this? Figured it's good to learn from mistakes collaboratively instead of us all making them.

Cheers.

One of the first thing I did was remove the rear seats and seat belt posts. I then ripped out the carpets and left the center plastic shifter console out. It was a relief. under the carpet at your feet there is this  hard tar layer that you have to scrape off before you rhino line it. there are small posts at the fire wall that the carpet retainer screws go on. they will stick out a half inch or so. you could grind them off or pull them out with vice grips. this will leave a hole through the fire wall but easily filled with rivets. If you don`t rhino line right away then rust will form where there is bare metal, scratches, chips etc.
Here is a post of a Sammy that has done the interior, but with wood. Not my style but that could be sweet with black stain or rubberized paint.

Tim

http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content/topic,61420.0.html 

    I like that!   thats a little bit unpolished for my likes, but with some bed liner and trimming, i'm sold.  Also gives me somewhere to mount my amp up other then the floor.   

I'm thinking PVC rubber vs wood though.    Anyone else have interior stories they'd like to share?

After the first time I submerged my Tracker, all the carpeting was soaked and smelled like a wet dog. I yanked it all out and Herculined the whole tub. I use acustical sound damper under rubber floor mats I cut from an old rubber truck bed liner ( very thick and tough) and it works pretty well for cleaning and sound damping. I also removed my back seat and all it's belts and mounting crap for more storage room, and made up some 3/4" thick hardwood panels to mount my rear 6x9 speakers. I also used 1/2" sound deadening material in the doors, rear deck and inner fenders, and rear door. Sound is excellent. I just finished replacing the rear door plastic inner cover with a 1/2" marine grade sealed plywood panel, that secures to the door with wellnuts, and remounted my rear storage bins with t-nuts. Much stronger and quieter.

about your amp! I Had mine on the flour until it went for a swim. It came back on after a few hours but since that day i mounted it inside the tailgate and ran the wires through the wire boot and up to the front. It has a pain to do but totally worth it. people can`t find the amp 
tim 

Thats where mine was!  i moved it under the passenger seat when i thought i was going to replace the rear hatch door...my plan is to put it back there after i do the interior.   I thought i was the only clever one to do that

Anyone done anything creative with the headliner?

I've got a 92 sidekick 2-door, and my headliner was falling down when I got it.  I just yanked it out, and used a sanding sponge and the hose to get rid of all the little foamy adhesive bits.   It's not like a regular car where the headliner actually provides insulation, so other than looking way better nothing's changed.

I ripped out my rotten old carpet, too.   That tar underlay stuff is a bastard to get off, but it looks so much better with it all gone, and I don't have to worry about the floors rotting out underneath me again.  I used cheap rubberized rockerguard for the floors, and they turned out great.

I was thinking of trying the thin diamondplate steel to redo the door panels, and paint that black too.