Relatively quick job once you have worked out which piece goes where!
As you avid readers will be well aware, I purchased the pre-cut carpet set from GBS which I have to say has been a worthwhile investment and saved alot of grief in cutting carpet to size. Yes there is an element of trimming required but Its minimal.
Sequence for gluing in:
Back of seat panel
Left & right shock tower sides
rear Panel piece (goes round sides as well)
My Wife found some exceptional strong carpet spray adhesive on one her craft shopping trips and it was excellent, in hindsight easier than applying with the brush. Spray both the carpet and the panel area the carpet is being stuck to, leave for a minute and put them together. There is little time for maneuvere as it "grabs" quickly so be sure you are happy with the fit and practiced positioning before opening the glue .
Any over-spray on the chassis, carpet can be removed with some turpentine substitute ("Turps")
The hardest piece is the rear panel piece, as you need to centralise it and work centre round either side so it confirms with the shape of the rear panel.
In hindsight I should have applied the rivnuts (which hold the wheel arches on) after the carpet had gone in but it is not a major issue just provides a less flat surface for the carpet to adhere to the glue.
When it has hardened the rear panel needs to have the fuel filler cap holes re drilled through the carpet, so the filler cap can be fixed back into position
So, back to some carpet laying / fitting...
Now the sides are in position and again focusing on access to the awkward areas of the chassis, I decided to fix some more carpet onto the inner side panel passenger / driver footwells.
4 triangular pieces form this aspect of the interior carpet, all cut to size so a simple case of gluing and fitting. A liberal coating of the carpet adhesive to both the panel surface and the carpet side and apply to the panel, rollering the carpet to ensure even adhesion.
One thing with this task, you will need a ready supply of cheap brushes if you are doing this job piecemeal rather than in one hit since the glue sticks solidly to the bristles and basically the brush cannot be re-used once you have finished applying the glue.
One thing I have learnt in this project is not to jump to far ahead of the game and then regret it further down the line when you come to do another task which is subsequently hindered.
I am constantly thinking of the implications of doing one task over another, working from home in a garage with limited specialist tools, space, time does influence how you approach the build and what order you do things.
this leads nicely onto carpet... why you say is he thinking of carpet so early in the build? well whilst the side panels are off and no scuttle or firewall has been fitted, access into the lower reaches of the footwell has never been better. Once those parts get fitted trying to fit carpet into a confined area will become all the more difficult.
So a trip to GBS was tagged onto a pre-arranged visit to Parents in Chesterfield and first Ice Hockey game of the season at Sheffield Steelers to collect the laser cut carpet set GBS produce for the zero.
First thing which catches the eye is - there are alot of pieces of carpet to fit and in turn a nice jigsaw trying to work out which piece fits where. However I Identified the pieces I specifically needed for this stage and set about getting them glued into position.
GBS do provide the glue for the carpet and a word of warning - ensure you have plenty of ventilation it is extremely whiffy and has a strong vapour. It is also very sticky stuff to apply - an old brush is ideal.
Apply liberally to both surfaces, leave for a few minutes then stick together. You have little chance for maneuvere once both surfaces are stuck together so be confident before sticking as it is messy to peel off.
So the footwell drivers and passenger panels plus the equivalent floor panels in were duly glued in.
I also want to get the centre transmission tunnel piece glued in before the side panels go on as they are large pieces which I anticipate will be quite difficult to glue in position with obstruction in place.
