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1963 bj7 carpet install and mirrors

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maxwedge5281

maxwedge5281

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i bought a nice...to me...healey several months back with a sbc conversion that was done well. some modification to the driver footwell and a couple other snips here and there. otherwise the car looks close to stock except for the dash and gauges. i just order new carpeting and was wondering if healey used any type of insulation between the body and the carpet. and, if so, what it was or what do you guys recommend! also i have about 6 screw holes from different mirrors on the drivers door. i plan to close these an repaint the door??? what mirrors do you guys recommend. i like the look of the flag mirrors out on the fender...good chance for you to post a pic of you car showing the location of the mirrors. thanks in advance for any help or ideas... the pic is of the interior as i bought it. i have installed the correct healey transmission cover and the Lokar shifter for the four speed automatic is dead center of the healey tunnel opening. the car was bought with a two speed powerglide. the pic has the powerglide shifter on top of the tunnel...yuck!
 

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I know you didn't ask this question but your front wing (fender) flashes are on backwards.

If I were you I'd go over other critical areas of the car and check for things like missing cotter pins in castleated nuts, missing lock washers, loose damper (shock absorber) retaining bolts, worn wheel splines, old (mangled) nuts on hub extensions, leaking fuel connections, hoses, etc. If the PO couldn't get the flashes on right, what else is wrong??

Do a search on "insulation" on this forum and you'll find many discussions about floor insulation. Originally, all that was used was a layer of tar paper (like roofing felt) covered by a layer of jute insulation, the top surface of which had a black coating which looked like undercoating. Both did an excellent job of retaining water to accelerate mold and rust but did little to insulate the interior from heat and noise.
 
With your Chevy motor you'll be putting more heat into the interior than a stock Healey, which already has a bad reputation for cockpit heat. Adding insulation is a good idea. There are a number of products designed to insulate, such as Dynamat and Koolmat. They tend to be on the spendy side, though. I did some low-cost insulation with a material called Reflectix that you can find in the big box home improvement stores. Take a look at my build page to see what I did: https://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,8264 I also insulated between the mufflers and floorpan as well as some home made Lizard Skin. The one area that really needs attention is the firewall, Put a drop light in your engine compartment and look up under the dash. You'll probably see a number of places where the light shines through .... all excellent pathways for that engine heat to come directly into the cockpit. You can use some rope caulk (we always called it "dum dum") to seal the cracks and holes.
 
yes i was aware of the side flashes. im afraid that the paint will have the shadow of current placement and be noticeable. might be able to polish it out.. thanks for the reminder!
 
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