Carpet Fitting

Hi

First a warning, If there are any car trimmers reading this then please look away now as I wouldn't want you to lose your dinner.

Well its not that bad as I have really only just started and it probably will get worse.

And it started with a bit of a problem, as most long time Panther owners may know and as I have been learning over the last couple of years is that; No two Panthers are the same. Basically that's because they are hand built but also that they went through a number of design changes during their production lifetime. One of the design changes happened (I asked Terry B) around 1985 when the handbrake was moved two inches forward of the 1984 model, what's the problem you may ask, well a template for the tunnel carpet was taken from an 1984 Kallista and does not fit a 1986 Kallista.

So not much got done yesterday as I was trying to sort out the problem with Ray, the conclusion is that the tunnel carpet is being returned and Ray is very kindly making me a new one of the correct dimensions.

So if anyone is after a new carpet set then please ensure that the correct year is made.

Yesterday was not a whole loss as phil came round for an hour and the indicators where very quickly sorted and the hazard problem was also fixed.

Both front and back working very nicely, the problem was basically a wire mix up, just a matter of swapping them around and they worked. The hazards were just as simple as I had blown that fuse since last testing them, now that most things are wired up there should be no more problems of wires touching. Of course there are still electrical problems and Phil is coming round tonight to find out why I am getting residual current back through the driving lights, no problem just a crossed wire again.

So today was all carpet, Ray very kindly sent me a load of photos on the correct positioning of the pieces so I started with laying everything out in the car to have a look.

Lovely carpet.

I stripped everything out and thought the best place to start was behind the seats on the side panels.

This first panel is a little tricky as there are a number of angles to turn the carpet into.

The second piece goes under the seat belt angled upright and because there is trim on both edges I had to decide which would overlap the other.

I went for the angled being the overlapper and trimmed the first section to suit.

I had bought a roll of carpet tape to use instead of impact adhesive so when I was happy with the fit I covered the area with the tape.

Then carefully stuck the carpet into position.

The vinyl turns around the door frame and the door trim will cover, I shall wait until it is all well stuck before cutting the excess from around the door edge. I could see a bit of a problem in the future and that is fitting the bolt for the hood even though the flap is there to access the bolts it will still be difficult, maybe its to high.

The next piece to get cut was the angled overlap, I don't know why the Panther design is for the trim edging to come only half way down.

So I have cut the stitching on the piece I trimmed of the first section and spent 10 minutes when finished to sew it onto the edge.

Not machine sewn but its behind the seats and no one will ever know.

I shall stick the angled side into position and buy some velcro for the edge as I need to access this area for the seat belt attachment.

Next was the inner footwell section, this piece just needed trimming to size and sticking on as there is no edging to worry about.

The underlay I fitted was a little close to the edge of the door where the vinyl needs to fold and the door trim fitted so I trimmed off the excess all of the way around. I also remembered the wire for the door light and fed that through before sticking the carpet on.

I test fit the sections.

The upright section would be the first to fit as the bottom section has the trim on both edges.

I first had to do a bit of fitting and trimming.

I made a bit of a mess of one of the corner joins but that will be hidden by the trim.

After I had double checked everything I fit the tape.

Then stuck on the first section 

The bottom section went on next.

I found the rubber trim and realised its the same trim used for the windscreen edge so I have been on eBay and ordered another 4m, not much point in using the old stuff with a nice new carpet, so I shall leave the trimming of the edges until that arrives on Saturday or Monday.

Well thats one side mostly complete and I shall attempt the drivers side tomorrow hopefully learning from the mistakes made on this side.

Just have to wait for Phil now and hopefully some good news with the drivers lights.

see ya Paul