Phillip, if you are serious about this, here is some more detail on my
methodology.
Here is what the car upholsterer (who I bought the carpet from) told me.
All vertical planes are glued with 1" extra along the bottom. This extra
goes along the floor so that the pieces covering the floor overlap it. This
way any movement on the floor pieces will not cause an unsightly gap.
Generally do the vertical pieces first. Cut and install in this order:
the inner rockers,
the vertical edge of the parcel shelf (then the shelf with the rubber lip),
the pieces under the seats (these go from the bottom edge of the parcel
shelf to over the crossmember in front of the seats.),
the vertical pieces in the footwells,
the tranny tunnel,
the last are the removable pieces under your feet.
The most difficult for me were the two pieces under the seats.
A tip from an other lister was to keep newspaper handy. When you are ready
to put down a piece of carpet, place newspaper over the area in the car has
the contact cement on it. This will help prevent the carpet from getting
stuck when and where you don't want it to.
Good luck.
Len
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phillip" <metaz76@earthlink.net>
To: "L&B Lubbers" <lubbers@sympatico.ca>
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2001 11:49 AM
Subject: Re: Carpet/Interior
Thanks for the help! The carpet that I am going to get is not going to
original, I just want it to look nice, since the original carpet is rotting
away. I have a weekend to do the project and hopefully the patience to go
with it. Thanks again for your help!!!
Phillip
At 04:27 PM 2/7/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Phillip
>
>I replaced all the carpet except the tranny tunnel and the rear parcel
>shelf. (They were in excellent shape.) This meant buying closed hoop
>carpet to match. I could not find it reasonably priced with a random hoop
>length exactly the same as the original - but what I have comes really
>close.
>
>Not doing the tranny tunnel meant I was able to nip and tuck the rest to
fit
>the contours. No heat used. Do not try to do under both seats with one
>piece. The armrest on mine covers the seam. I am not sure if this would
>work for early models. Contact cement and careful cutting is required.
Not
>a job for those with little patience.
>
>I agree with Joe's comments on binding the edges - it is required in
certain
>places for originality. And to prevent unravelling as Greg mentioned.
>However, if you do not use hooped carpet, you are not going original
anyway.
>Rather than pay $1.00/ft for binding the exposed edges, I cheated and cut
>the carpet an inch too wide (or long), folded the carpet over with contact
>cement. With tight fitting pieces it is very hard to tell there are two
>separate pieces meeting in a 90 degree corner.
>
>New carpet of course made the dash look very shabby.
>
>Len Lubbers | '79 Spitfire | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
>http://www3.sympatico.ca/lubbers
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Luke Lewis" <lukage@home.com>
>To: "Spitfire List" <spitfires@autox.team.net>; "Phillip"
><metaz76@earthlink.net>
>Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 1:09 AM
>Subject: Re: Carpet/Interior
>
>
>
>I attempted to do just that, and believe me, it's TOUGH to do a good job.
>I've now heard about such tricks as using a hair dryer or heat gun to mold
>the carpet into certain shapes, but let me tell you, it's worth the money
to
>not have to bother!
>
>Luke
>'71 Spit "Fireball" - counting the weeks until it's out of custody
>'85 Voyager "Temporary Transportation" - marching slowly to its doom
>'73 MGB "Furniture" - may actually be driven this summer, but probably not
>'97 Tercel "The Big Car" - still never get to fix it
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Phillip" <metaz76@earthlink.net>
>To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
>Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 9:25 AM
>Subject: Carpet/Interior
>
>
> >
> > Has anyone made a carpet set for their Spitfire? I was at the home
> > improvement store the other day and found some really nice marine grade
> > black carpet with a rubber type backing on it, supposed to stand up UV
> > really well. So I measured up some of the old carpet that I had left
and
> > compared it to the measurements of the car and I think that it would
only
> > cost about $39 for the carpet. The problem is that I am not sure what
to
> > do with the contours of the car and the transmission tunnel cover. Any
> > suggestions would be great since this would be a huge money saver! My
> > father-in-law also had found some seat covers from JC Whitney that will
>fit
> > the Spitfire, so they claim. And then I need to find a place that sells
> > vinyl for the interior. As you can tell I am trying to save as much
>money
> > on the restoration as I can by custom making everything. I have also
been
> > thinking about redoing the door panels out of wood to match the dash
like
> > another list member did. Thanks for any help!
> >
> > Phillip
> > 76' Spitfire 1500
> > 85' Subaru GL
> > Phillip Edwards
> > metaz76@earthlink.net
> > http://home.earthlink.net/~metaz76
Phillip Edwards
metaz76@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~metaz76
|