Howdy all,
Over my last break, I got snowed in and got very bored. Just so
I'd have something to do, I bought two rolls of black carpet from a
local parts warehouse and went to work carpeting my MGB's trunk. I
figured even if I spent a day on the project, I'd be better off than
if I spent $100 on a kit.
My first step was to create four kick panels out of cardboard.
One was a large square piece that sits on the bottom of the trunk
floor. The only trouble I had with this piece was where the gas
tank filler neck comes through the trunk floor, but with a little
creativity, I got a good fit.
Two kick panels went along the rear of the trunk, with the latch
support post dividing the two. Once again, I had to cut a hole in
the right-hand one where the gas tank filler went through.
The final kick panel went along the rear wall of the trunk. I
simply used a spare rear vinyl-covered panel from an old MGB
interior that I had lying around.
Covering each of these pieces in carpet was pretty simple too.
I sprayed each piece of carpet and cardboard with contact cement,
then held it in place. To give a finished look to each piece, I
rolled the carpet around the edges of the cardboard and used a
staple gun to hold the edges in place. To cut the holes in the
carpet, a very sharp razor knife helps. If at all possible, fold
the edges of the carpet inside the holes and glue them there to
complete the look.
At this point, the only parts left to carpet were the interior
frame rails and the wheel wells. To do the rear frame support that
runs horizontally across the trunk, cut a piece of carpet that is
large enough to cover the entire rail and glue it in place. If you
have extra edges, they will be covered by the kick panels.
The rails that run vertically on either side of the trunk floor
are a little more complicated. I spent quite a bit of time getting
these to fit right. Once again, I cut a piece of carpet that was
large enough to cover the entire rail, but I used double-back tape
to hold this piece in place while I cut it to fit. To get a
matching piece for the other side, simply reverse the cover and use
it as a template.
If you really want to, you can make the previous piece large
enough to cover the 'pans' that sit right behind the wheel well, but
I used an entirely different piece of carpet. I made this piece a
little bigger than needed, made a copy for the other side of the
trunk, then glued the piece into place. After it was in, I used
scissors and a razor knife to trim it to size.
Possibly the hardest part was creating the wheel well covers. I
took a large piece of carpet and played around with it until I got a
good fit. To add something to the mix, there is a little metal
support that holds the wheel well to the top of the trunk. If you
want to make a cutout around this, you can; I chose to slit the
carpet so it would slide over the metal support. I used the
double-back tape again to hold this piece to the wheel well while a
trimmed it for a good fit. Once this is done, you can use this
piece as a template for the other side. Before you glue these
pieces in place, be sure to poke a hole in the carpet for the wires
that run to your trunk light. If you really want, you can glue the
carpet under the wiring harnesses in the trunk, but I chose to cover
them.
Finally, put your kick panels in place. Mine are held in by
friction, but you could glue them in place or use trim screws. Once
this is done, refill your trunk with assorted junk. The spare tire
will tend to push in the one kick panel along the rear of the trunk,
but it wasn't enough to crinkle the cardboard.
The only thing in the trunk that I didn't carpet were the two
panels along the sides of the trunk. I'm not really even able to
see these two panels, so I didn't worry about them.
Hope this helps somebody out. I think I spent about $15 and six
hours of my time to carpet the trunk...If done well, you'd never
know it wasn't a pre-made kit. I'll get some pics up on my website
as soon as possible.
Michael S. Lishego
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3706/
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