Foot well carpet and bits

Number plate lamp

Sorted the number plate light today. The bolt was not holding the chrome trim properly. I drilled out the supposedly threaded hole and fixed a rivnut. This sorted it out.

Rear number plate light fitting with rivnut

Fog light wiring

For some reason I had not connected the three wires to the loom. Straight forward.

Foot well carpet securing tags

These tags are to stop the carpet moving. This is especially important on the driver's side. The fittings are made up of a press stud for the floor and two rings for the carpet.

The three parts to each fitting

One of the rings had three prongs (upper), the other has holes for the prongs to go through (under carpet). First I fixed the press stud parts to the floor using self tappers. I made sure that the studs were under the carpet and not the rubber heel pad.

Press stud on floor

Chalk was applied to the top of the press studs and transferred to the back of the carpet. The ring with the holes was placed on the underside of the carpet, over the chalk mark of the press stud. The ring with the prongs on the top side was lined up with the holes and the three prongs pushed through the carpet. The prongs were then tapped over the lower ring, trapping the carpet.

Ring on underside of carpet

Top pronged ring can be seen here - rubbing the carpet makes the ring almost disappear

So the foot well carpets are now fixed down with the press studs.

Passenger foot well carpet fixed

Door card

I had never been happy with the passenger door card fitting. So I took the opportunity to refit it in the right location. It was only a few millimeters out, but I could see it.

Carpets - the final fit

Final fitting of carpets

This is a job where you need patience and time.

At the transmission tunnel side, the lower and upper sections of the extension were trimmed with off cuts of the carpet. These small sections of carpet were fixed in place using contact adhesive to make a tidy job.

Small sections of carpet added to horizontal surfaces

Again on the transmission tunnel side, the carpet was cut along the top and bottom of the foot well extension - I cut all the way along towards the bulkhead. The carpet was then pushed in to the foot well extension. The carpet was then marked with chalk on the back and cut to the bulkhead/extent of the extension. A 'v' was cut in to the carpet in the extension to get rid of the ruck. The carpet was then glued in place, using spray adhesive.

Transmission tunnel foot well extension with carpet fitted

Next the off side foot well extension was rubbed down, sprayed satin black and then the cut out carpet was stuck in to the recess (this needed a small amount of trimming).

Carpet stuck in to off side extension

Then the off side piece of carpet was glued down.

Side carpet glued in place

Now I just need the escutcheon that Mark Turnbull is making to finish off the surround.

Floor carpets

The bulkhead carpet was laid and cut to the peddle box. This was stuck with contact adhesive. 

The floor section of the carpet was next. This needed the fixings supplied by Gardner Douglas securing to stop the carpet 'creeping' under my feet. This will be done once I locate the fixings! So for now it is just a loose fit.

Off side foot well almost finished

After this the passenger side was straight forward. The nearside bulkhead carpet, followed by the floor carpet were fixed in the same way as the drivers side. Then I added a 'map' pocket to the transmission tunnel side.

Near side foot well almost complete

Carpets, handbrake cable and belt mounts

Carpets

The transmission tunnel was cleaned with acetone, then the loom was taped over using racing tape. The carpet was then fed under the cross brace and the screws inserted through the feet on the cross brace to screw into the rivnuts that I had fitted earlier. At this stage I did not tighten down or fit the packing washers. A small cut was then made to allow the gear selector stub to poke through.

Andy at GD had advised me to use spray adhesive, as it would be easier to remove the carpets if they became wet. I did not tell him that Cobra owners did not take their cars out in the rain! However, noting his advice I sprayed the section of the tunnel top from the cross brace to the gear lever and the corresponding part of the carpet with adhesive. Then after a few minutes I carefully brought the two together, making sure they were lined up. The rest of the tunnel top and carpet were then sprayed and after a while, brought together. The carpet below the dash was not glued.

Next the carpet at the sides of the tunnel and the sides of the tunnel itself were sprayed with the adhesive in sections and brought together, smoothing down as I went. The body bolts were not glued over, so that I had access if I need it at a later date (hopefully I won't need this!). The excess carpet down the sides of the transmission tunnel near the rear bulkhead was trimmed off. At this stage, the drivers footwell area was not stuck down (I need to trim around the footwell extension). The gear lever hole was cut out of the carpet using the edge of the gear shift hole as a guide.

Carpet glued to transmission tunnel

The floor carpets were loose laid and the vertical carpet (side and rear bulkhead) was trimmed (ran onto the floor of the car).

Handbrake (park brake)

A 20 mm hole was drilled behind the drivers seat in the rear bulkhead, near to the wheel arch at floor level for the handbrake cable. The hole was slightly larger than really required for the cable, but was made to take the grommet that I used. The GRP around the hole required thinning a little to allow the grommet to be fitted.

Brake cable fed through grommet

The grommet was pushed over the cable, then the cable was fed through the hole in to the cockpit area. The grommet will be sealed in place with silicone at a later date.

More carpet

Now the rear bulkhead carpet was ready to fix. The same technique was used to stick this carpet down. I laid out the carpet and applied adhesive to the centre area of the bulkhead and to one of the outer sides only and to the same area of the carpet. After allowing it to go tacky, this was fixed in place, making sure that the outer pieces lay in the correct places.

Finally the other outer part of the bulkhead carpet was glued in place after it was cut around the handbrake cable.

Rear bulkhead carpet

Lower seatbelt fasteners

I am fitting 4 point harnesses to the car, so 50 mm eye bolts were fitted through 11 mm holes in the floor, but these had to be ground down by 15 mm in length (leave two threads showing for the IVA). The top seat belt mounts will be on the roll over hoops. The holes in the carpets were created by running the drill in the reverse direction to avoid twisting the carpet. The bolts, with washers, were fed through the carpet and retained under the car by stress plates with the nuts welded in place. The plates were located with self tapping screws. This type of fixing are ok for the IVA, but if you are using separate nuts fit spring washers to avoid the risk of working loose.

Seat belt eye bolts, with handbrake cable over the carpet

Stress plates for seat belts under the car

Preparing for the carpet

Sound proofing

Before I fix the carpets in place, I thought that I would apply some "sound proofing" to reduce the chance of resonance from the body. It sounds crazy putting in sound proofing in an open top sports car, but .... These panels were self-adhesive and of a rubber type material, so easy to apply and cut. The panels were applied around the transmission tunnel. Carpet will go over them.

"Sound proofing" material

More under seal

Whilst strictly not necessary, I applied under seal to the sills. This makes the body look, well slimmer!

Sill under sealed

Whilst I was at it, I did the back of the boot bulkhead, as this is not carpeted. My logic is that it is white, whilst the carpet is black and it is better to do it now, rather than after the roll over bars are fitted.

Boot back under sealed

Door seal finishers

Without finishers, the door seal looks, ....... well unfinished! Not a cheap solution, but it does look so much better. The top of the lip was cut off and will be gel coated later. About 30 mm of the curved lip is removed using the Dremel.

Door seal finisher

Carpet part 2

I decided to fit some more of the carpets today and tackled the outside face around the door.

As I am fitting courtesy lights in the footwells, I joined the live wire (purple/white) to the light and then to the switch. The other wire (black) was connected to the other side of the switch. The wires were tucked into the hinge recess and taken up behind the roll of the scuttle. Carpet is then laid over the recess. The wires will be tidied up once the under dash cover is fitted.

Wires for courtesy light being fitted in place

Next I tackled the drivers side carpet. Who put those pedals there? Not much space here. You need to be a contortionist to complete this bit, pushing the carpet into place, then cutting around the pedal box and the accelerator hole before gluing in place!

I applied contact adhesive to the body and carpet ahead of the door up towards the windscreen stanchion. After allowing ten minutes I fixed the carpet in place, making sure that the door area would line up okay. Once I was happy with this I glued the other areas of the carpet and firmed down by hand.

Next I glued the vinyl edging to both sides of the lip and formed this around the door opening by hand. This required a few cuts to avoid it puckering up. The rubber edging strip was then tapped into place (trapping the vinyl edging) around the door opening. The vinyl was then carefully trimmed from the outside, so that it couldn't be seen.

The door closes really nicely now that the rubber seal is in place. At this stage I left the seal a bit long at the hinge end and did not trim the carpet. I will trim this back later. The process was then repeated on the other side of the car.

Carpet fixed in place on the outer side and rubber sealing strip fitted

Carpets part 1

A pile of carpet pieces arrived, with no instructions. At first I thought that I knew where each bit went, but when it came to it I didn't. When I looked at other blogs, I found that they assumed we all knew where to put the bits too.

Boot carpet

So here is my take on where all the pieces go, starting with the boot:

Side panels near lights in boot

Side panels above rear axle area in boot

Main floor piece above rear axle, fuel tank and vertical surfaces of wheel arches in boot

Rear floor area and up under boot lock striker plate

Main boot floor area

So, once I had worked that lot out, it was down to sticking in place what I could. As it turned out not much!

I put the carpet sections in place, then marked the edges in pencil. I realised that at this stage I could only fix the side panels. Contact adhesive was applied to the body in these areas and the carpet, then allowed to dry for around 10 minutes before offering up to its final place. The carpet was firmly pressed against the side, once it was in place.

Side panel above rear axle glued in place

Rear side panel glued in place

This was repeated on the other side.

Transmission tunnel carpet

Whilst this was not glued, it was fixed by the front cross-brace mounting feet. It will not be glued in place until after the body is mounted on the chassis. I had fitted rivnuts into the transmission tunnel below the cross-brace feet. I made sure that the carpet was in its correct position. Then from underneath I poked a thin screw driver through the rivnuts to make holes in the carpet. The holes were enlarged a little with a craft knife and then screws were fitted along with a few washers to pack out the carpet to bracket gap.

Carpet fixed down on transmission tunnel

The central under dash plate was fitted to the cross-braces, using M5 button heads and nyloc nuts.

Central under dash panel fitted

Carpets - couldn't resist

I couldn't resist trying out the carpets. I laid out the transmission tunnel and the outer sides, then added the rear bulkhead and floor. My excuse was to get rid of any creases! I think it should look brilliant against the white of the car..

So here is a quick pre-view! I am still undecided whether to have a black leather tunnel cover and rear section, but plenty of time to decide.

Carpets loose laid

Black leather seats, door cards and dash should set it all off nicely.

Cobra carpets arrived

The carpets arrived today. Wasn't expecting them until the end of the month, but got a call from Meena at GD yesterday to check that I would be in to receive them!

The car is white, so I have decided that I will use black and red to create a contrast. The carpets take on this theme too. Horizontal surfaces such as the floor and transmission tunnel top will be in black, whilst the vertical surfaces such as the sides of the transmission tunnel and sides of the cockpit, will be in a rich red. The boot will be in black.

The carpet colours are black CPBW7401 and rich red CPBW7404 from the Boyriven range. Because I had chosen two colours, there was a premium of £120 to pay, but I think it will be worth it.

So here are the carpet parts laid out, as received from the trimmers. I need to work out where each piece fits, although some are obvious.

Carpet set. Need to work out where all the bits go!