Carpets generally are worn out, and to restore your car you should remove the rug to inspect the floor and dry out the interior.

Types of carpet.
Pre-formed 80/20% Rayon/nylon blend loop carpet for 1970 - 1975 models.
Pre-formed cut pile carpet for 1976- 1981 models.

The carpet is color keyed to the interior trim code.

Starting in 1975, the right hand floor has a bump in it for the catalytic converter. This bump will be molded into the carpet as well. If you try and put a pre-75 rug into a post 75 car, lack of this bump being molded into the carpet will cause the carpet to stretch. Putting a post 75 carpet into a pre-75 car can be done if the bump is slit and the carpet glued down to the floor. This same issue is present with manual transmission carpet, or automatic transmission carpet. The manual transmission has a hump on the driveshaft tunnel, whereas the automatic carpet doesn't.

Jute padding which is glued to the back of the carpet RETAINS WATER. If the rug gets soaked, it's often a smart idea to remove the carpet and let it dry out in the sun. It's not uncommon to see cars with holes in the floor due to water being trapped by the rug.

• Interior shot of rug being installed
• The rear section including seats
• A shot of the console during installation

Rug Installation Tips & Tricks
Installing the rug
Take your new rug out of the box, spread it out and let the sunshine soften the rug up for a couple hours before trying to install it.

As I'm installing the rug, work from the rear, forward. Install the rear section of the carpet 1st. Trim to fit, when the rug is semi-installed, you can begin fitting the plastic and do the final rug fitting. The rug goes down in the approximate position. Step on some areas so the form fitted sections get seated in their general location. Now, YOU MUST MAKE SURE THE RUG WILL BE CENTERED before you begin cutting, just because the rug fits, doesn't mean that's where it needs to be. For example, my pre-stamped rug put the rear seat catch thingies offset, on one side *....

As the rug goes down, fold it over and locate the bolt holes. Cut a slit and fit the bolt. This will pinch down the rug and prevent it from moving around. Work from the center of the driveshaft tunnel, out. This means fit the rug, then pinch down the outter seatbelt bolts. If equipped with a console, cut the console brackets open. Smooth down the sides. Locate the front seatbelt bolt (on the tunnel) and cut this. Fit the belt. Smooth the rug outward, and Trim the edges, fit the side plastic, install the outter seatbelt, then trim along the door sill. Locate and cut the front seat bolt holes. the rear LOWER sail panel goes in first. This slides back and catches the door jamb sheet metal. The upper sail panel has tabs which slide behind the lower sail panel AS the upper sail panel slides backwards to lock into the door jamb sheet metal. This is where the upper molding becomes a problem. Once the upper & lower sail panel are installed, Then the outter seatbelt can be installed. The lower sail panel will be broken if the seatbelt is already installed.

This wi have the rear of the rug installed. Remove the shifter.

Tip: I like to cut as little as possible, so that if there is pressure put on the rug, it won't pull the rug below something that's trying to cover it.

Front of the rug.....

Removing the kick panels - requires having the dashboard out. Left side, take the 2 bolts off, there's 2 bolts that mount the pedal to the firewall.

Sill plates: "Fisher Body" emblem is towards the rear of car.

Carpet underlay/sound deadner
Click here to view how sound deadner/underlay is laid out on floorpan.

RPO B37 Color Keyed floor mats, front & rear
Available from 1970 (for $11.60) to 1981 (for $25.00), vinyl color keyed floor mats were available to compliment your interior and protect your carpet. It was not uncommon for people to forgo this option and obtain economical aftermarket floor mats.

Seat Belts
Three point front seatbelts were mandatory in all second generation Camaros. This consisted of a lap and shoulder belt. Rear seats were equipped with lap belts only. A little ordered option (AS4) would put a 3 point harness in the back seat. It appears this option was dropped for 1972. The rear of the front seat was sufficient to stop your face in the event of an impact.

Seatbelts have a label sewn into them which has the part # and date listed on them making identification somewhat obvious.

Understanding the seat belt label.
The top line is the GM part # (9660408)
Irvin is the manufacturer of the belt
Model # 2358 is Irvins model number.
"1" is the week of manufacture
"A" is the vendor plant assembly line designation
"74" is the calendar year of manufacture.

Irvin made many belts for General Motors. You can also see a Firestone example label too.

AK1 "deluxe seatbelt". - typically this implies the buckle is chromed metal and not plastic along with having color keyed belt webbing. This was optional on any car and not automatically included with a custom interior.

1970 - 1972
From 1970 to 1972 there were 2 separate belts and 2 separate buckles per front seat. The rear buckles are non-retractible.

The anchoring hardware is a grade 8 bolt.

1973
This is a 1 year only deal. The male end is now retractible on the outboard side of the seat. The female end of the lapbelt is redesigned to the "exploding button" style buckle/recepticle. The retractor buckle is designed to retain the shoulder strap as well via a separate slot.
Click here to view a 1973 seatbelt retractor. Notice the slot that will accomodate the shoulder belt.
The shoulder strap is still anchored to the roof with a bolt and is folded alongside the top edge of the window. Now the end of it has a peg which will slide into the buckle. This design eliminated the need for 2 separate inboard buckles. It also allowed for the redesigned console and also took into account the switch from the bow style headliner to the hardboard headliner.

Mid-year through 1973, the "fasten seatbelt" warning feature was added to the Camaro. This required the addition of a pig-tail wire connector into the seatbelt recepticle.

The rear seatbelts are now retractible. The anchoring hardware switches to the torx bit bolt.

1974
Another 1 year only deal - In 1974 the shoulder belt was integrated with the lap belt, with 2 belts being combined at the male end of the buckle. Both ends (roof & floor) are retractable. One end is anchored by a retractor in the roof and the other end is anchored to a retractor bolted to the floor on the outboard side of the seat. The seatbelt receptical is still the exploding button style and 1973/74 belts will fasten together.

In addition to the seat belt, for most of 1974 - all cars got an ignition interlock (required by federal law). This required the seatbelt to be fastened before the car would start.

This is what the 1974 Ignition Interlock module looks like. It's secured underneath the drivers seat and is tied into the seatbelt receptical and the starting circuit of the car. On the right is the Interlock bypass... if your car doesn't start and you have your belt connected - you can get out of the car, open the hood, press the bypass button, get back in your car - and you have 1 shot to start your car wether the belt is fastened or not.
The 1974 wiring diagrams show how this setup is wired.

1975 - 1977
The ignition interlock idea wasn't well recieved by the public, so it was eliminated for 1975. The styling of the belts receptical and buckle changed.

Above left: Standard seatbelt system for 1977 (similar back to 1974). Click here for a close up view of adjuster.
Above center: A depiction of the seatbelt recepticals, 1973/74 style (left), 1975 - 77 style (center), 1980 (right).
Above right: A depiction of the seatbelt retractors (front outboard)... 1974 on the left, 1975 - 77 on the right. Looking at the metal tab on the retractor, you can see the difference between 73/4 & 75+ is more than just cosmetic.

1978 - 1981
In 1978 the seatbelts again get a face-lift and redesign. The seatbelt system begins using a single retractor anchored in the roof and the floor mounted point is no longer retractable. The belt buckle can slide on the belt to offer adjustment. The plastic button/release was restyled and the plastic retainer was redesigned. Sometime in 1979 or 1980, the anchoring bolts go metric.

Reconditioning and other options