71 Duster carpet 4 speed

I just did mine in my '72 Duster last weekend. I picked up a Walnut Hollow hot knife on ebay-it's a glorified soldering iron with screw in #11 xacto blades. Doesn't look like much and I was expecting to be disappointed but on the contrary, I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't want to just cut the carpet with a standard knife as that leaves edges to unravel over time. The hot knife melted those edges and made for nice clean easy cuts.

My carpet had been in place for a few months before I finally cut it to fit and I started with a shell. With the carpet in I fitted all the stuff under the dash so all the carpet was laid up under there and when it came time to cut the only place I had to under the dash was around the column and accelerator pedal-the rest of it tucked up in there nicely including behind the heater box. And with the drivetrain out I was able to get under the car and cut the hole for the shifter perfectly to size with the hole in the sheet metal. And since it's basically a soldering iron it melted right through the holes for the seats, seat belts, dimmer switch, etc. The seats aren't in yet so I left a little extra for the sill plates-easily trimmed later if necessary.

And yes-the boot screws directly down on the sheet metal, then the carpet, then the trim ring.

One on ebay