Warty's 1970 240Z interior project

[Warty]

(I tried to start this from the mobile app, but auto-correct didn't help, and something went wrong with the photos, so starting over with a better thread title). 

I have a 12/70 240Z. Exterior is blue 803. Interior is black. (although, there is a question about what it originally was). The interior has had I think 2 refresh passes at it in the past, with POs. It looks like it maybe first got some brown shag carpet, then later, black carpet. The seats are series 2 seats (I think): they have the lever that allows seat tilt; they do not have the twist mechanism; they have wire, not webbing below. The original stereo is gone of course, there is a Blaupunck that powers up, but isn't connected to an amp or speakers, so no sound. There is an aftermarket radio antenna, but I haven't hooked it up yet to see if it is manually controlled or automatically controlled. There is a partial dashcap. The seat belts are newer, but not retractable, and the shoulder belts are missing. Cargo/luggage belts also missing. Rust-wise, it's surprisingly good, from what I can see. I think it has also not been slaughtered, bodywise. The damage mostly seems to be limited to all the screw holes that the shag carpet installer put in. Sometime in I think the late 80s or 90s, it had an everything-out rotisserie repaint (but not, I think, sand blast to bare metal). And at some point in the past x years, mice were in it. 

My goal: Restore interior to be comfortable, quieter, and more stock than currently. Not for concours, but as a fun weekend driver. 

I've never worked on a car before, so I'm going to ask lots of annoying questions, so apologies in advance. I do try to research online first of course. I also have a couple books, but not a field service manual yet. 

This weekend, I removed the panels, console, seats, ripped out all the carpet and got rid of most of the foam, that helps with the smell quite a lot. Not sure if the seats are salvageable. (the metal sure, but...)

First questions:

1. What did the original tunnel insulation look like? I see it in the line drawings, but what was it? On this car, I see a kind of tar-like layer over the metal, then some brown hairy stuff that reminds me of buffalo hide, then vinyl (almost all removed), then carpet. What is that brown hairy stuff, and is it original? 
2. The panels in this car are black. The current vinyl (only in place in the rear deck) is black. But in removing the old carpet, I found blue vinyl underneath the brown shag in numerous places. mostly just little circles of it, like they cut around it when they removed the shag to put in the black carpet. You can see it especially in the hand brake mechanism, which appears to sit on a bit patch of it. I really can't tell... does that mean this car would have been blue/blue when purchased? If so, in 1970, would the interior panels also have been blue? Or did the blue panels only show up later? 
3. Something like 20 screws were used to hold the shag carpet down. I have removed them all, but that leaves little holes everywhere. This car is very unlikely to ever see a wet road as long as I own it... But do I need to do something about those holes? Fill them? 
4. Is there any way to tell if vinyl is original or replacement? Trying to figure out if the Vinyl in back came with the car or not.

 

[Patcon]

Brown buffalo looking stuff is called "Jute" it is the original padding and is still available from some places.

I would say the piece of blue vinyl behind the parking brake is the original vinyl.

The best way to seal all the little holes would be welding them shut but unless you really strip the car down pretty far (which I don't recommend) you have a risk of starting a fire (don't ask how I know). Probably the best and easiest thing to do would be to use a little silicone (RTV) sealant and close them up

[Warty]

Ah, so the hairy stuff is the famous jute. I've looked around on the web, I can't find anyone selling something that looks like that. Same name, jute, but seems lighter and not really "natural fiber" like from what I can see. It's too bad the carpet had been glued to it, when I removed it, it removed about half the jute on the tunnel. Of course, the jute had been long gone other places already. Hmm. Would be nice to go with something that at least looked original. 

If the tarry stuff under the jute is the original Nissan sound deadener/anti-vibration layer, I think I'll just leave it as is. 

From some photos I found on the web (see from BAT 1970 240Z auction #1), it looks to me like the jute for the rear deck, and passenger/driver floor pans was not glue down at all. Just laying there, and carpet laying on it loose as well. Is that right? 

I don't know what I'm going to install, but if I could avoid glueing the whole thing down, that would be my choice. Just so the next person doesn't have to scrape it all off. Tunnel will need glue though I think. tar>pad>vinyl. 

Sorry to hear about the fire! thanks for the advice. I'll try the RTV thing. There's a little whole in the driver pan, near where your left foot would go. I'll take a pic of that and ask if I need to do something more. It's very small, but all the way through. 

Weird about the blue vinyl. Could the dealer have installed the shag carpet before even selling the car, as a markup? I went through all the records again last night, and I can "see" the main exterior restoration, and the main interior restoration. But nothing that jumps out at me as the shag carpet.