The next phase of the interior was to cover up the unsightly bulkhead. I cut two slots for the CB bracket to poke through the carpet, and this then ensured that everything would be hidden behind the carpet, including all the cables and any metalwork.



The easiest way to go around the shaped area at the top of the tunnel was to make a series of cuts, which would allow the material to flex more easily, and make it a much easier job for me to get the steamer in there.



The top edges of the carpet were glued in place with spray glue and the CB held the panel in the middle. I only glued the edges to make it easier to remove the carpet should I ever need to do so in the future, and its important to stress that when doing something like this to use proper high temperature "trim" spray and not ordinary carpet adhesive, as that can melt under the heat of the sunshine.



The lower edge also has a thin band of glue, just to keep it neat and tidy.



No point in stopping here though, I thought I might as well go for it and do the sides as well.



And I think you will agree that it looks absolutely transformed, and far too good for my Buggy

Brilliant...panel to panel carpeting 

looks good all in one piece dave 

Next up, was one of those little jobs that took a lot more effort than it should have done.

I wanted to do something with the handbrake, and there are various bolt on goodies about, but none of them ever seem to fit properly, so I thought I would see what I could do. There is no denying that the original rubber hedgehog is very good at what it does, and also prevents the metalwork from coming through it, so I wanted to retain that if I could.

The two side bolts that hold the heater controls were chopped off, meaning that I could get a nice stainless ring over the top and bolted down to the floorpan. A bit of fettling meant the Hedgehog is fitted too, although took a crowbar to get it into place.

The Handbrake aluminium end peice is simply slid into place and held by three grub screws, but rather than messing about screwing it on to the original shaft, I simply have the new ally button pressing against the old plastic button, meaning that the time taken to fit was shorter than writing about it - dead easy.

Finally, I got an old Richbrooke elasticated gaitor from eBay but had to shorten it by an inch or so, as was too long. Whilst doing this, I sewed in a cable tie to the front so that it would attatch firmly to the ally end piece. The elasticated part slips perfectly under the rim of the hedgehog at the back and is held in place very well.



Quite pleased with that one 

With the universal handbrake trim ring, also came a round ring and gaitor for the gearstick, but was designed for a very tall and thin shaft, so needed a bit of work.

I had to cut open the end of the material to get it over the reverse loop, but sewed in another cable tie to hold it all in place. The stainless ring was then bent to fit the tunnel and the whole lot screwed in place making sure that there was enough "give" in the material to allow the stick to move in all directions.

As you know, I am intent on putting in a small sound system, and I`m using Marine equipment because I know how wet its going to get in there. My amplifier of choice for this project is the Clarion XC6410 because the internal circuitry is also water resistant.

The amplifier is positioned between the seat runners, making sure it doesn`t sit too proud and catch any of the mechanisms before it is bolted down into place.



And then wired up with the correct sizes of cable. Its always worth asking about the right sizes of cables when wiring up an amp, as they can pull a lot more current that you think. This one can happily pull up to 50A from the battery, meaning an alternator conversion is also essential.

Not sure how well this idea is going to pan out, and I guess its a pretty questionable one as I am not following the norm here.

Wing beading: Its time to put the bonnet on, and I have been looking at what to do. Because I have altered my bonnet a lot, the shape is far from ideal, but it does mean that when it rains, it leaks like a sieve through the join to the body. I tried fitting the conventional wing beading, but it never sat right and left me with big gaps everywhere.

But I found some of this neoprene rubber section, and thought it might be worth a try, as it is soft enough to compress where it touches and will hopefully bulk out a bit where I have gaps.



To hold it in place, I used a strip of double sided tape, which I know won`t last forever, but as long as it stays there long enough for me to bolt the bonnet down, I don`t mind.



Time will tell on this one I guess. 

The amplifier is positioned between the seat runners, making sure it doesn`t sit too proud and catch any of the mechanisms before it is bolted down into place.

Makes me wonder if anyone has thought about installing under seat subs (apart from Miller  )

The amplifier is positioned between the seat runners, making sure it doesn`t sit too proud and catch any of the mechanisms before it is bolted down into place.

Makes me wonder if anyone has thought about installing under seat subs (apart from Miller  )

Its a amp not a sub

I know that  but you can get subs that fit under your seat (maybe not in a buggy if you want the seat to be low?) but if you wanted some sort of sound system in a buggy with a sub/subs? Like I've seen. And keep some space on the 'back seat' for luggage, sticking a sub under the seat could be a solution?

Those under seat subs you refer to are usually around 165mm drive cones and are pretty useless in anything except a very quiet and airtight car - around 20 years ago, we used to fit a "thumper" unit that was essentially a drive mechanism without a speaker cone, bonded to the floor, and it vibrated the chassis with a heavy "thud". It gave the illusion of extra bass, as the car would vibrate with the music, but haven`t seen them for a long time now.

.

Dave,
great build thread, can i ask a question. i notice you have an aero fuel filler, i want to do the same but i'm struggling to understand how you can fix it and get the bonnet off and also get your hands in to fix it all with the bonnet on. if that makes sense
how did you do yours?

can you explain in idiots speak please

cheers

The picture here is a little deceiving, as the aero cap is in place purely to prevent fuel evapouration at the moment. However, I shall try to explain how it all goes together.

The aero cap funnel is bolted through the bonnet from the top and comes off with the bonnet. There is a small rubber pipe, same diameter as the filler neck with 2 jubilee clips on it. Bottom jubilee clip attatches to the tank and top jubilee clip attatches to the filler neck. If laying upside down in the footwells, I can easily reach the jubillee clip with a screwdriver to loosen or tighten accordingly.



Does that help?

The picture here is a little deceiving, as the aero cap is in place purely to prevent fuel evapouration at the moment. However, I shall try to explain how it all goes together.

The aero cap funnel is bolted through the bonnet from the top and comes off with the bonnet. There is a small rubber pipe, same diameter as the filler neck with 2 jubilee clips on it. Bottom jubilee clip attatches to the tank and top jubilee clip attatches to the filler neck. If laying upside down in the footwells, I can easily reach the jubillee clip with a screwdriver to loosen or tighten accordingly.



Does that help?

yes, massively thank you

so if i'm right, the aero cap and pipe is permanently fixed to bonnet and the its a case of doing up the lower jubilee clip to the tank?

i didn't realise you could reach that lower clip to do up, thats the bit that was confusing me.

Cheers

dav

so if i'm right, the aero cap and pipe is permanently fixed to bonnet and the its a case of doing up the lower jubilee clip to the tank?

Exactly that !!

My filler neck is towards the rear of the tank, and fairly easy to get at - but really depends on how "flexible" you are