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Not impressed with the tranny tunnel carpet

Greg, you must be living right :wink:

That's exactly the type I envisioned (having once seen one when doing some electrical work in an upholstery shop), so I'm glad to learn that they aren't too expensive.
 
This original thread concerned the "lumpy" fit of Heritage carpets on the centre shift gearbox cover. Others are now piping in with their results having installed carpet on the side shift models. Owners of side shift gearboxes throwing their 2 cents into this discussion only confuses the centre shift carpet subject.
Please keep in mind that the side shift gearbox covers are vastly different with very simple surfaces and only a couple darts sewn into their carpet allows the fit to be smooth and virtually perfect.
Not so with the centre shift covers. They have tapers, undulations, lumps, hollows, everything to cause carpet to lump, wrinkle and distort.
At most customers' insistance (including mine) Heritage has tried to duplicate the original darts and seams that the factory trimmers did, and the original stuff was lumpy too. True, over the years the original stuff finally more or less followed most of the contours after being exposed to moisture, baking in the hot sun, etc. But it was never a really good fit like the early side shift carpets had been.
So here we are today with some of us insisting on true to originality and ending up with some lumpy carpet, while others choose to try other non original tricks to help improve the situation.
 
Right on Rich. I also have a side shift and no problems getting a good fit with snaps over dynamat with the Heritage Karvel carpet kit. Yes it all had to be cut down to fit, but I'm very happy with it. I have nothing to offer the BJ8 folks with their problems.
 
richch said:
This original thread concerned the "lumpy" fit of Heritage carpets on the centre shift gearbox cover. Others are now piping in with their results having installed carpet on the side shift models. <span style="font-weight: bold">Owners of side shift gearboxes throwing their 2 cents into this discussion only confuses the centre shift carpet subject.</span>
Please keep in mind that the side shift gearbox covers are vastly different with very simple surfaces and only a couple darts sewn into their carpet allows the fit to be smooth and virtually perfect.
Not so with the centre shift covers. They have tapers, undulations, lumps, hollows, everything to cause carpet to lump, wrinkle and distort.
At most customers' insistance (including mine) Heritage has tried to duplicate the original darts and seams that the factory trimmers did, and the original stuff was lumpy too. True, over the years the original stuff finally more or less followed most of the contours after being exposed to moisture, baking in the hot sun, etc. But it was never a really good fit like the early side shift carpets had been.
So here we are today with some of us insisting on true to originality and ending up with some lumpy carpet, while others choose to try other non original tricks to help improve the situation.
My only question was to ask how the original poster liked the remainder of his carpet set, and then I went on to offer suggestions, like using a professional carpet steamer, so that he might obtain satisfactory results.

I don't see how that, or the two (2) other comments from sideshift tunnel owners is diluting the content of this thread.
 
"Others are now piping in with their results having installed carpet on the side shift models. Owners of side shift gearboxes throwing their 2 cents into this discussion only confuses the centre shift carpet subject."


oops - excuse me.......
I'm outa here.

Larry
 
Bill, I've installed two tunnel covers and have come up with a fair solution to not having to cut the carpet. One of the big problems to overcome is the large seams that create a big lump underneath. To overcome this I glue insulation "around" but not over the seams. This reduces the size of the seam and makes a smoother edge. I also used heat to form the carpet before drilling and installing the fasteners. I also found that by tugging really hard downwards then adding screws helps to form the cover. The screws can be removed after installing the snaps and the carpet should stay there. From the factory they really weren't a form fit but still reasonably nice looking.
Just my opinion of course.
 

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Johnny, that looks great. I might try a heat gun to relax it and then reposition the female circle snaps I installed on the carpet. I found that when I pulled the carpet tight, two things would happen. First, I made the wrinkles worse, second, the snaps would not stay snapped.

The Heritage people told me they do not install underlayment under the tranny tunnel carpet. I'm wondering of the underlayment is causing some of the problems. The male snaps are attached directly to the tranny tunnel. I have cut holes in the underlayment to allow access to the male snaps on the tunnel. So the carpet has to be stretched and pushed in a bit to get the snaps to lock. I wonder if it would be better if I glued the underlayment to the carpet and tried to fasten the female side of the snaps to the underside of the underlayment? That really sounds like a PITA, but it may make a difference.
 
Rich and Tim, I have no problem with others talking about their specific cars, which I understand may be different. I happy to get any suggestions. Maybe the original was a bit lumpy, but mine looks aweful. I wish I could post pictures here. Does one have to be a paid member to post pictures?
 
Legal Bill said:
Does one have to be a paid member to post pictures?
Hi Bill,
No, you don't. As a "non-member", you are limited to one picture attached per post. You can link to more pictures from an outside gallery into a post however. There is also a size limit. I make my attachments about 640 pixels wide.
 
Well, I bought the Moss video, and wouldn't you know it? they show the installation of a two piece tunnel carpet, not a one piece. Booo!
 
Yup. says BJ7 and BJ8 and refers to the two cars throughout the video. They do say the tranny tunnel carpet fit poorly, even when new.
 
Mine must be an earlier version. It only deals with the one piece tunnel carpet. It also says that the carpet was never originally a tight fit.
 
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