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Not impressed with the tranny tunnel carpet

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L

Legal Bill

Jedi Knight
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I've spent several weekends trying to install the tranny tunnel carpet from my Heritage kit. Now that it is in, I understand why some people have complained about this piece of the kit. If you try to install it using only the snaps, the result looks very "lumpy". A few weeks back I spoke with the owner of the company and he insisted that the only way to get a high quality, smooth appearance was to glue the carpet to the tunnel. I can now see why he says that. Mine looks very lumpy.

What I don't understand is why they don't make it with a few more relief cuts. After all, this piece has to cover from the the point where the rear toe panel meets the very narrow driveshaft tunnel, all the way up to the front firewall. It seems that two or three more relief cuts are needed to accomodate the V shape of the tranny cover. I sure wish there was a pre-formed version of this piece
 
Hmmm, the Heritage interior is my next/last BIG purchase.

What is your impression on the remainder of the carpet set, and if you're using their interior panels and seat covers, how do you like them?

Do you have any (preferably many) pictures you can share, either publicly or privately?
 
Why not cut the reliefs needed and have them stitched up so you will have a perfect fit? Worst case would be cutting out templates then transfer over then stitch them all together. Its hard to form fit over compound shapes without some unwanted bulges.
 
Maybe, Terry. I'm going to install the console and the armrest and then put the seats in place and then decide how much of the explosed area shows the lumps and bumps.
 
Randy Forbes said:
Hmmm, the Heritage interior is my next/last BIG purchase.

What is your impression on the remainder of the carpet set, and if you're using their interior panels and seat covers, how do you like them?

Do you have any (preferably many) pictures you can share, either publicly or privately?
Click to expand...

Randy, if you don't mind gluing it on, I'm sure it will be fine. I cut my own piece of underlayment for the tranny tunnel as Heritage does not supply one with the kit. I was not going to glue the underlayment to the tranny tunnel and then try to glue the carpet to the underlayment.

The entire kit requires quite a bit of custom cutting. No single part of the kit just goes on without some cutting. Some, like the tranny cover piece, requires a lot of cutting. I am now down to the four floor sections. I laind them in tonight and they all need additional trimming.

As for photos, I have a set that Heritage provided over the internet. I printed out a set. I can no longer find the originals, but I may be able to make a copy of the set I have.

I can also take pictures of what I have done already on my car, if you like.
 
Accoding to the Moss installation video, the original carpets did not fit well over the trans tunnel. There were "lumps." I chose to cover the tunnel with Dynamat, then glue the carpet to the Dynamat. The result is a very smooth look. Maybe not original, but it's what I prefer.
 
Randy,
You don't have a BJ7/8 gearbox cover in your car do you? I have a Heritage carpet in my car (BT7) and using only snaps and some stretching my tunnel carpet fits nicely.
Lin
 
I think the Heritage carpet is thicker than Moss's. Maybe you could use lots of Velcro strips on the tunnel and back of the carpet. Run(glue)the Velcro horizontal on the tunnel and vertical under the carpet so you can move it where ever you want.
 
Lin said:
Randy,
You don't have a BJ7/8 gearbox cover in your car do you? I have a Heritage carpet in my car (BT7) and using only snaps and some stretching my tunnel carpet fits nicely.
Lin
Click to expand...
No, at present, it's a modified sideshift tunnel, made to work with an MGC gearbox. My plan is to put the correct sideshift xmsn back in, with a correct tunnel.

That's kind of why I was asking how Bill liked the rest of his carpet, knowing that our tunnels wouldn't be a direct comparison.

In the earlier cars, there's no console, so I'd have to work something out to get an acceptable fit.

Has anyone tried using a steamer? That allows you to stretch/shrink a carpet (or fabric) to make it conform. Might have to go to a pro-upholstery shop to get it done.
 
Guys

Having had an 'original' 100/6 in the 70's I can say that the original carpet over the transmission tunnel fitted very well without lumps. I can recall some cut outs ( reliefs ) but can not remember how many or if there was some overlapping. I have seen recent adverts for carpets that do show that the tunnel carpeting is availoable with relief cut into it and I will be investigating this item in due course as my existing one is abolutely rubbish and that is putting it mildly.

Bob
 
Randy Forbes said:
...
Has anyone tried using a steamer? That allows you to stretch/shrink a carpet (or fabric) to make it conform. Might have to go to a pro-upholstery shop to get it done.
Click to expand...

My thought was "why hasn't anyone offered a molded carpet for this application?" Maybe some sort of heating of the carpet would help it conform to the shape of the tunnel.
 
I knew first hand of an BJ8 owner who had his car since new and the carpet was original. I can attest to the fact that there was several "cuts" in the carpet and sewn very well to make a smooth fit with no lumps. I distincly remember flipping the carpet over and seeing all of the cuts. It may be possible that very few original pieces exist for patterns for suppliers to use to make correct fitting carpets?
Patrick
 
I bought my carpet from Phoenix, and the owner, Dave Gallagher, used to be the carpet man for Heritage, so I would assume that the carpet sets would be similar. Mine was for a 100-6, but I imagine that the problems would be about the same. I overcame most of my issues by setting a few extra snaps, but there is still a little bulging where the tunnel narrows. I did not glue, and I was fitting over a layer of Dynamat. Also, most of my pieces required moderate trimming. Dave told me beforehand that he would over cut most of them, since no two cars of this age are exactly alike. I did not find the trimming to be difficult, just had to take my time to be precise.

Good luck!

Larry
 
I my Installed a Heritage wilton wool carpet kit in my BT7, but did not have any issues with a lumpy center tunnel and it's only held down with the snaps.

I did the installation on my driveway on a sunny day, maybe a factor for the good fit and finnish.

Roger...
 
Randy Forbes said:
Has anyone tried using a steamer? That allows you to stretch/shrink a carpet (or fabric) to make it conform. Might have to go to a pro-upholstery shop to get it done.
Click to expand...
I used a steamer that produced satisfactory results. You gotta steam for a while to get all the way through the carpet.
 
I used a custom-made wool carpet set that was manufactured in England, bought from someone on the Healeys e-mail list, and also found that there were too many bumps and buckles in the tunnel carpet piece until I installed insulation on the upper side of the fiberglass cover. After that, installation with snaps only produced a much better (and very acceptable) result. The carpets were not form-fitting even when the cars were new and mine now is as good as any I have seen at car shows.
Insulating both sides of the fiberglass cover will also greatly reduce cockpit heat, which is the main reason I did it.
 
Thanks Steve. I guess I should not hope for perfection, but I do hope to remove most of the wrinkles, bumps and lumps from the portions of the carpet that are clearly visable along the sides of the tunnel in front of the seats.
 
GregW said:
Randy Forbes said:
Has anyone tried using a steamer? That allows you to stretch/shrink a carpet (or fabric) to make it conform. Might have to go to a pro-upholstery shop to get it done.
Click to expand...
I used a steamer that produced satisfactory results. You gotta steam for a while to get all the way through the carpet.
Click to expand...
How did you come by the steamer; borrowed/rented from someone in the business, friend or?

There's a Nationwide upholstery supplier (to the trade) that has steamers (and repair parts for same) https://www.keystonbros.com/index.php?task=aG9tZQ== , they even have a Toledo branch. I haven't yet contacted them about buying/renting a steamer (borrowing would be too much to hope for).

Thanks!
 
Randy Forbes said:
How did you come by the steamer; borrowed/rented from someone in the business, friend or?
Click to expand...
I wanted one, and it materialized. Wish everything worked that way. I needed one for work and was planning on buying one. When we got a truck rental for the movie I was working on, I opened one of the jockey boxes and there it was. Similar to this one, but an older model. Jiffy
 
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