Molded floor mat

[farm1810]

Greetings all, I have contacted Walck's and Kaiser Willys and both are saying that the molded floor mat for the front of the 2A, 3a, 5, etc is not available.  My understanding from Walcks is that the mold was damaged and these may no longer be available.  Anyone know of another source or have one that you will sell me?  Thanks.

[binthere]

FWIW, I suggest not to put anything on the floor except truck box liner!! I bought a brand new CJ6 in 1968 and a new set of indoor outdoor floormats that I installed right away. Guess what happened!! Within 6 months the floor was starting to rust, and that was the end of floor rugs in any of my jeeps!! :

[farm1810]

Considered that.  Thank you

[Mark W.]

I have done the front flat floor in my 2A with Herculiner applied with a stencil brush. I have 2000+ miles on it and so far really like it.

I did it over top of 2 coats of Primer 2+ coats of Epoxy Sealer and 3 heavy coats of Single Stage Urethane.

The new paint was washed down with Prepall then allowed to dry. I then took 220 grit paper and a small square sanding block (like 2" x 2") and carefully scuffed up every bit of where I intended on putting the liner. I had already taped off the walls etc. Before scuffing.

I vacuumed out all the dust then rewashed the area down with Prepall Allowed to dry completely. Then I put the Herculiner on with a 1.5" cheap chip brush I cut the bristles down to about 3/4 long I did not brush the material on so much as dabbed it like doing a stencil. This allowed me to control the texture. I had prestrained the material through some cheese cloth to remove the BIG chunks.

I put on two good coats exactly on the time schedule the instructions give and within 10 min of the second coat being applied I carefully removed the Masking tape as I was told once dried getting the tape off clean would be near impossible

The key is to have full paint protection on the floor before putting the bed liner on. That way if it gets damaged the metal is still protected. And rust can't work under it.

A close up of it under my pedals



Another shot of the drivers floor



An overall view



The shinny black you see is where the floor paint has been masked off to allow the Master Cyl cover and Tranny cover to meet up tight.

[farm1810]

Super nice work!  Thanks for sharing.  R.

[SteveKfl]

Mark's high quality prep and results and "choice of fasteners and more" suggest to me that his Willys wasn't intended for "much outdoor exposure" from the beginning.  Beautiful work!  I'd like to see pics of the rest of it too.

[Mark W.]

Well yes my Willys will have an Aluminum hard top on it should be finished by spring. As to outdoor exposure. We have so far put about 2000 miles on it including a one day 310 mile run that involved almost 80 miles on forest service roads and goat trails. Its been run all weekend long in the rain on the Spring Fling run here in Oregon. Hecks its even towed a 6000lb trailer in the High School Homecoming parade.

CHUG was built to be driven long distances we plan on towing a small offroad capable travel trailer on trips of up to 4000 miles long.

[Rus Curtis]

farm1810,
Back to your question.  I own a front and back floormat (one of them IIRC was from Walck's way back).  I had to wait for the matched set as they, even at the time, were hard to get.  My opinion is they aren't made well.  They're way too flimsy to hold up to regular or even light use.  I think they'd wear out prematurely and I'm not sure how well they'd stay put either.  After close examination, I thought maybe they'd be good as a template but that could be accomplished just as easily with paper or card stock scraps.  Just from looking them over and fitting them across the floor, I personally don't think they're worth anywhere near what they cost - even back then.  Now, they'd just be more expensive.

I do feel like there should be something that could be used.  It could provide some sound muffling qualities and I would also suspect there'd be a little bit of an insulation bonus.  Not much for either but I imagine some.  I'd think the biggest benefit would be, if you had a nice paint job, having a layer of protection from scuffing. 

The liner coating shown would obviously address all of these.  I also think cutting existing mats to fit would work really well (not much scuffing over the hump or cover plates, IMHO). 

Since the biggest driver in aftermarket parts being available is sales, it may be near impossible to see a "Jeep" or "Willys" floor mat specifically molded for CJs any time soon.  I hope a vendor proves me wrong.

[duffer]

Old thread, but you can make your own rubber mats.  I used ribbed material from McMaster-Carr, the 1/8" neoprene for the front mats (6974T71) and the 1/4" thick for the bed mat (6974T4-heavy enough I don't think it will get blown around).  The latter only needs trimmed to length as it fits the bed width perfect.
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/129/2405/6897T511

The only caveat is the price.  I suspect these neoprene mats will outlast the typical Willys vendor type variety many times over.  The one set of those (Omix???) I had started to come apart before a year was out.  I think the rubber mats are better rust wise than indoor-outdoor carpet but you still need to pull them up if things get wet.

Maybe Mark will have good luck with the Herculiner since there will be a hardtop on his Willys.  I used it on the rear bumper of my 3B and it has faded to a dull grey.  It doesn't like UV.