More carpets and rear bumper (again!)

Monday evening spannering session! Managed to get to the Bolt Shop, and bought a few bolts I was missing. Got the missing one for the passengers seat, needed to be a little longer due to the extra layer of underlay I had put under the carpets. Popped the passenger seat back in.

 Moving on to the rear section, timmed and glued down the final side piece on the sills on each side, then put the rear treadplates back on. Still an awful fit, but 90% of it will be hidden by the rear seat.

 Next was the old problem of the rear arches. The original stuff is formed into a curve, the repro rubbish is a flat piece of carpet. When I stripped the car the rear arch carpets were in very good condition, but faded from black to a light brown (they all do that Sir,..........!) but, knowing how bad the repro stuff is and not wanting to tear them, I decided to leave them in place and mask them up during the whole process. Now they have been cleaned, they are still as good as I thought. So, a couple of light passes with a spray carpet dye, and we are getting somewhere. Another couple of coats needed but you can see where I have done, and compared to the black carpet next to it, its pretty close after 2 coats.

 Now onto a job I have been putting off for ages. When I put the towbar and rear bumper back on just before the NEC I knew something wasn't right, but couldn't put my finger on what it was. I then realised that the bolts that hold the towbar drop plate to the bar where the wrong size, too small and the bolts allowed the whole assembly to move. Not good as I am going to tow with this. But, getting the rear bumper to fit was a right pain due to the flared rear arches and I wasn't looking foward to taking it all off again. Bradley popped over to help as its really a 2 man job. These are the offending little bolts.

 We whipped the bumper and bar off, changed the bolts and then popped it back on.

 For some reason, this took about 4 hours last time we did this, this time........ 15 minutes flat!!! So much better, no movement, larger diameter bolts that fill the holes now. I am feeling much happier about this now.

 Next problem. As we tighten up the bolt to the quarter bumpers, the leading edge is getting closer and closer to the bodywork. Its all due to the flair of the rear arches and we had to stop before it was tight as it was going to hit. What I need is a couple of small spacers to drop between the body and the bumper bracket to hold the quarter bumper off the bodywork. I am NOT going to remove these bolts again, so I planning on getting some square section zinc plated steel with slots cut in so I can pull the bumper out, slot them over the bolt then tighten them up to hold it secure.

Restoring modified cars,............... sigh.......... one step forward, 3 steps back!!

Carpets Part II

Once again, girls are still with Sam's parents as she is away in London for the day, so I get an evening to myself again! Managed to get home and outside by about 7pm, so I knew it was a few small jobs before it got dark. First off was to fit the newly painted tailgate trim. Looks great!

 Then onto the main carpets. You will remember how I cussed the awful quality and fit of the repro carpets I got from Lincolnshire. Miek Weaver very kindly gave me a NOS main section and I have some NOS footwell carpets in stock so I knew I could make a better job! First of all, with the seats removed, have a look at these quality items........... dreadful!!!

 Ooops, upside down picture........ oh well, you get the idea...... this is the new piece of carpet.

 Fitted in minutes, few minor adjustments. It doesn't fit over the rear tranny tunnel as its now a different shape to the standard car due to the extra room for the Stag silencers. But, far better than before.

 Seats going back in, can't put the passengers back in as I remembered I was a bolt missing. Needs to be quite long so I have measured it and need a trip to the bolt shop!

2 hours well spent I think!

Headlight wiring again!

Once more I manage to find a couple of hours to work on the car this evening. Only problem was, it was persistently chucking it down! Not really suitable weather for taking the car out of the garage and continuing with interior work!

I looked at my "to do" list and found a nice simple job I could do. In my haste to assemble the front end fo the NEC I had managed to route the new wiring loom for the headlights (relays now) in the wrong place, so it hung down rather than being clipped up. So, I thought I would resolve that. 

Needed all the new wiring carefully labelling, snipping, re-routing properly and then reconnecting the wires with proper connectors and heat-shrink tape. Looks much better now and doesn't have wires hanging infront of the radiator!

 I also managed to re-align the main beam headlamp bowels as I have managed to fit them wrong so that the lights were slightly on an angle. The "Halogen" lable now sits properly.

 It has uncovered another problem though. I found this wire on the main loom in the middle of the radiator. What is it for? Looks like original as its in the loom, but I can't seem to find it on the wiring diagram! Any ideas?

EDIT, just found out via the 2000 Register Forum, its a feed for front fogs if fitted. So, I'll blank it off and tuck it away.