Carpet Installation in a BT7, Part Two
By Rich Chrysler
Carpet installation:
1. The first pieces to be installed are the left and right inner sill
covers. These run from the rear edge of the inner sill forward onto the
toe board area. When laid out flat for preliminary inspection it will be
found that the carpet is cut with a slight curve taking it wider for the
front few inches. This angled carpet will be applied to the outboard side
of the sill so its edge will be nicely hidden by the bottom edge of the
front hardboard kick panel. There will need to be a small dart cut out of
the front corners of this sill carpet so the ends can lie flat on the
angled
toe board, and the sill carpet can be glued to the top of the sill and
follow
down the inboard vertical surface, leaving the inboard edge of carpet
making
a tight 90 degree bend onto the flat floor. This sill carpet must be
trial
fitted before any glue is applied to ensure there will be a good fit all
along from front to back. At the very back, the sill carpet should have
darts cut to allow the end to tab and glue to the wheel arch and the rear
vertical panel.
Apply a fresh and good quality contact cement to the sill carpet and to
the entire
top surface and inboard vertical surface of the inner sill.
(Note: Some folks choose a spray on trim glue, but so far I prefer using
Lepages Premium Contact Cement, applied with a brush. Allow plenty of fresh
air where you are working.)
Apply glue also to the areas where the ends will tab onto at the front and
the back. Let the
glue set up for a good 15 minutes then carefully work the carpet into
place
beginning with the outer edge of the sill top, making sure it fits right
to
this outer edge. Keep in mind that the alloy threshold plate will be
fitting
tightly to and covering this edge.
Work slowly and carefully to ensure a good fit, pressing and smoothing
the
carpet as you go. I use my thumb in a teaspoon as a handy means of getting
carpet and vinyl smoothed into corners and along inner edges.
2. The toe board to inner gearbox sidewall carpets go in next. Examine
these carefully. The ones we got from Heritage have fine white chalk lines
indicating where they need to have darts cut to allow the carpets to bend
through the inside 90 degree curve from toe board to side wall. Trial fit
these carpet pieces carefully while dry, ensuring they fit well with their
outboard bottom edge squared cutout aligned and fitted to the inner sill and
the dart fitting exactly into the inner corner. When happy with the fit, apply
glue to the toe board surface only. Fit and press this area into place before
carrying on with gluing the inner vertical sidewall. On the side shift models,
this vertical carpet should extend right to the edge of the metal. Later, when
the "U" shaped bulkhead piece is fitted, a carpet to carpet seal will result.
3. The next pieces to be fitted will be the large carpet section that fits
around the rear seats and the one that extends down the vertical heel board
panel. Originally these pieces were separate, though often the suppliers of
carpet today will make this all one piece. I'll describe them as per original;
separate pieces.
Again fit these sections dry, taking note of any edges or corners that do
not want to fit smoothly, cutting small darts out if required to rectify any
awkward areas. On the outboard edges the carpet surrounding the seat openings
will edge up slightly onto the rear wheel arch. On the outboard edges of the
vertical heel board, a slotted bracket holds the rear quarter trim panel in
place. The carpet must butt right up to this bracket. At the bottom of the
heel board panel, the carpet must bend and extend slightly onto the flat floor
section. The inverted "U" shaped area of the heel board carpet must also be
turned and fitted slightly onto the drive shaft tunnel. This will give the
look of continuity when the floor and tunnel carpets are installed. Also be
sure to have the carpet fit evenly around the openings of the rear occasional
seats, leaving about " perimeter of bare painted metal around these openings.
Lastly, make sure to trim a clean 90-degree cutout where this heel board
carpet will meet the carpet at the back end of the inner sill.
When you are sure this all fits well, apply glue to one half of the carpet
and the car at a time and proceed to install, as before, smoothing and
ensuring there are no wrinkles. The two sections of carpet must butt smoothly
to each other forming a continuous looking piece of carpet. Usually these
butted joints won't actually be seen, with the seat pans overlapping enough
that only a bit in the middle, between the pans may show.
4. There will be three small carpet pieces that will be fitted and glued
into the rear corners of the cockpit area behind where the lift out tonneau
panel fits. One will fit into the acute angled corner on the left side of the
car, butting up to the back edge of the rear wheel arch, and leaving a
vertical edge on the rear sloped panel (where the top folds and stows). The
second one will fit on the opposite side of the car, fitting similarly, and
leaving a vertical edge. The third has three ears all going opposite
directions. This will tuck into the rear right corner, wrapping somewhat
around the sheet metal surrounding the fuel filler neck. It sounds confusing
here, but when sorting out the three pieces and their locations, all will
become apparent.
5. On the side shift models, the gearbox forward bulkhead panel should be
trimmed and fitted next. This will have the aforementioned jute layer glued
directly to the panel, and the carpet should be glued only to the outer
perimeters on the backside only. This will result in the completion of the
carpet-to-carpet seal we spoke of earlier. This panel will be fastened to the
aperture with self-tapping trim screws and cup washers, 3 down each side.
6. The tunnel carpet can be installed next. First ensure that the tunnel
has a good fit to the floor and the forward bulkhead, with good seals and the
rectangular rubber inspection and filler aperture plugs are in good condition
and fit well to the tunnel.
Next make sure that interior trim colour vinyl is fitted around the hand
brake lever mounting area. This vinyl is simply contact cemented to the tunnel
metal in the immediate area of the hand brake mounting screws. It should
extend about 4 inches or so in every direction away from the mounting screws.
The tunnel carpet when fitted will be cut away and bound in this area,
exposing this vinyl trim and allowing the lever and ratchet assembly to
operate freely.
If the car is a side shift model there should be a strip of interior
coloured vinyl glued along the front lip of the tunnel, extending back away
from the lip about 1 =". When fitted, the tunnel carpet's leading edge will
stop at this upturned lip, leaving the vinyl-trimmed lip exposed. The flat
flanges of the cover that screw to the floor should also be trimmed in vinyl.
Also to be noted on the side shift gearbox models you should fit the
rubber gear lever boot to the cup surrounding the base of the gear lever. The
rest of the boot should form a cup with only the upper most lip of rubber
fitting to the metal cover.
With the tunnel panel screwed into the floor with 4 sheet metal screws and
washers down each side, make sure the shift lever aperture is well centered on
the base of the lever, and not fighting the rubber shift boot.
Note that there are 4 male carpet snaps fitted down each side of the
tunnel. If they are not still there, you should be able to locate the original
mounting holes and mount new ones. They should be about 2 inches or so up from
the bottom flange.
When satisfied that all is fitting well, fit the tunnel carpet into place,
butting the leading edge as mentioned to the forward tunnel lip, and making
sure the carpet material is equally fitted down each side of the tunnel and
drive shaft tunnel. Pull the carpet evenly out and down to get a smooth fit.
Ensure that the trimmed ring of vinyl binding fits centrally around the gear
lever aperture.
Locate the bump of the male carpet studs beneath the carpet and mark the
exact location on the outer surface with a piece of white chalk. Install the
round ring of the carpet snaps (provided) with the 3 piercing tabs through the
carpet and carefully fit and crimp the tabs over onto the female portion of
the snap on the underside of the carpet. Fit these snaps one at a time and
check each one for carpet position and fit. If you locate one a bit off,
simply uncrimp the tabs and reposition the snap assembly.
Usually there is extra width of carpet allowed here, and any extra beyond
an inch or so can be trimmed away with a sharp knife later. I use an Xacto
knife with a fresh blade for this. You want to be able to make a clean precise
cut with no ragged edges or straggling threads remaining.
Now, with the white chalk, mark the absolute centre of the drive shaft
tunnel. This will be used to locate where the armrest will be sewn on. Remove
the tunnel carpet, and cut a slot down the centre of the line, and two "Y"
shaped cuts, one at each end, so the flaps formed by the cuts can be opened up
to gain inner access to sew the armrest into place.
The recess for the ashtray must be located and the carpet carefully cut
out using the Xacto knife. The chromed ashtray assembly is located and screwed
into place using two #6 flat head Phillips self-tapping screws passing through
the bottom and into the tunnel.
7. The rear floor carpets can be located next. Note that there are clearly
left and right side pieces, determined by the spacing of the carpet vs. seat
track slots, the slight chamfer on the outboard rear corner, and the chamfer
on the inboard front corner to clear the gearbox tunnel.
Temporarily fit the carpet piece into place and make sure there is no
interference in the fit of the outer perimeters to other carpet sections, and
the slotted sections which should be able to clear the seat slides. Each rear
floor carpet piece will be located and held in place using two carpet snaps as
described previously. These two snaps are located toward the rear of the
carpet about 3 =" in from the outer edges and from the rear edge. Again as
with the tunnel carpets, the male snaps will be felt through the carpet, the
chalk mark is made and the ring tabs pierce through the carpet. Finally the
female portion of the snap is locked in place by bending and crimping the 3
tabs out flat. Test fit and adjust as necessary.
8. The forward floor carpets are now fitted in a similar manner. Note that
as of this writing Heritage Trim and Interiors has assured me that they now
prefit and install the two front snaps under the sewn in Austin heel mat on
the driver's side. The two rear snaps will be about 3" in from the back and
outboard edges.
The floor carpet pieces are made a bit larger on purpose to allow for the
slight differences in tunnel and bulkhead positioning. These carpets must be
final trimmed along the inboard edges as necessary to give a smooth and
continuous fit where it meets up with the vertical plane of these areas.
9. The parcel tray carpet piece can simply be set into the tray, assuming
that the tray has been properly trimmed in the appropriate vinyl. Make sure
that the edges all fit smoothly, including the cutout for the windscreen
washer bottle.
10. The rear quarter trim panels can now be refitted to the car and
fastened in place as previously described. The flat steel plateau that rivets
to the panel and is positioned in the car with the self-tapping screws will
now be fitted with carpet. Again ensure the edges fit precisely and butt up to
the inner wall of the panel, and that the clearance holes for the hood frame
socket are trimmed to fit. It will also be noted that there is a 90-degree
notch out of the carpet toward the front edge. This is to clear the little
wood block which is trimmed in vinyl and is screwed in place using a
self-tapping screw passing through the block's counter bored center hole. This
trimmed block will in turn have the polished anodized satin alloy capping
piece fitted using 3 pan head countersunk chromed wood screws. This capping
piece holds and anchors the rearmost edge of door threshold seal to give the
area a completed look.
11. This will now have all the carpets installed. You can now carry on
reinstalling the alloy shut trim plates and threshold plates, both inner and
outer, the door seals, the rear tonneau panel brackets, and so on.
Well, I believe that's about it for the BT7 carpet installation. I hope
I've been able to describe things well enough to get you through the job.
It really became apparent to me while writing this that each series has
its own unique details and steps that must be taken to do the job correctly. I
dare say, there's probably a book's worth of details that could be written on
trimming out Healeys, with at least a chapter on each series. I am no
professional when it comes to trimming these cars, but with the correct
materials, colours, quality workmanship of the components, I think a very
respectable results can be achieved.
This has not attempted to deal with colours, aftermarket heat insulating
tricks, or the subject of fitting armacord boot trim, interior vinyl trimmed
panels, etc., let alone seats, tops, tonneau covers and so on.
Maybe some other time...
Rich Chrysler
