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Padding under carpet -- necessary?

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drooartz

drooartz

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So what started as a simple job to remove the old, broken seat belts so I could see what I had turned into a slightly larger project. Noticed that the carpet under the passenger seat was wet (not sure from where) so I wound up pulling both seats and the carpet on both sides.

mgbfloors.jpg


The jute (?) padding underneath the carpet under the passenger seat was soaked. I wonder if the shipping truck had a leak? Car's been in my garage since delivery and I've not been in any appreciable rain since I got the car (maybe a 5 minute light spritz). Odd.

At least I know that the floors are in great shape. The paint is peeling off in places and will need to be addressed at some point, but the metal all looks great (the red in the photo is almost all carpet glue and such).

Question: do I need that jute/whatever padding underneath the carpet? Seems like it's a bit of a sponge, that would hold water trapped under there for quite some time.
 
On the new B. Your tearing it apart already?
 
DNK said:
On the new B. Your tearing it apart already?
Click to expand...
I noticed that the carpet under the passenger seat was damp, and the only way to get it out to dry it is to pull the seats. A bit of while-you're-in-there. :smile:

Driver's seat and carpet is already back in, just waiting on the passenger side carpet to dry out before putting it back in. Besides, it was a nice chance to inspect the floors (which are in great shape). Wound up just skipping that under-carpet padding. One less thing to soak up water.
 
drooartz said:
... A bit of while-you're-in-there. :smile:

...
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Had that illness on my 6 14 years ago. It was fatal. Still haven't driven it.
 
When we replaced the floor pans on Her B I used a foil-backed "bubble packing" like material. The extra insulation on the flooring helps cut down on road noise and heat from the exhaust system.

As with all LBC's: If it don't leak, it ain't British... one of the small inconveniences. :wink:

Keeping a good sponge aboard is common here, as a "rainy season bilge pump". If the pans are original, you should have some holes in the rear area with upside-down scuppers on the underside. "self-bailing" y'see. Check to see if they may be plugged.
 
For safety, it's best not to use a combustible material like jute for under the carpets or sound deadening. Jute is combustible, and worse, it will absorb any fluid that touches it. If that fluid is oil or gasoline, well, you've got the potential for a fire under your bum.

Jute may be the correct material for your restoration, but it's not the best choice for safety IMHO. :nonono:
 
DrEntropy said:
When we replaced the floor pans on Her B I used a foil-backed "bubble packing" like material. The extra insulation on the flooring helps cut down on road noise and heat from the exhaust system.

As with all LBC's: If it don't leak, it ain't British... one of the small inconveniences. :wink:

Keeping a good sponge aboard is common here, as a "rainy season bilge pump". If the pans are original, you should have some holes in the rear area with upside-down scuppers on the underside. "self-bailing" y'see. Check to see if they may be plugged.
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I just got done installing Dynamat in my MGB/GT. Great for keeping temperatures and sound levels down inside the cockpit.
 

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DrEntropy said:
Keeping a good sponge aboard is common here, as a "rainy season bilge pump". If the pans are original, you should have some holes in the rear area with upside-down scuppers on the underside. "self-bailing" y'see. Check to see if they may be plugged.
Click to expand...

Pans look like they've been replaced, but I'll check on the passenger side one before I put the carpets back in. For now I'm just going with the carpet as is, but at some point I'll put a weekend aside to repaint the floors (the paint is peeling and I can see bare metal in a couple spots) and do some sort of insulation.

Thanks! Kinda fun to learn about a new model and it's quirks.
 
rick_ingram said:
I just got done installing Dynamat in my MGB/GT. Great for keeping temperatures and sound levels down inside the cockpit.
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Looks really nice Rick. This is SOP for me as it makes a big difference in how solid the car feels and generally makes it a more pleasant place to be.
 
I'll do something like the Dynamat one of these days. For now, I'm happy just driving it. In fact, I think I'll go off and to just that right now. :smile:
 
I used the foil backed padding in my B. I think you will want it especially on the driver's side. The B floors do get hot.
 
drooartz said:
I'll do something like the Dynamat one of these days. For now, I'm happy just driving it. In fact, I think I'll go off and to just that right now. :smile:
Click to expand...

Take your wife for an Ice cream cone
 
You will want some type of padding to reduce heat and noise. As for the water, you could have leaky windscreen washer grommets, or a plugged up fresh air vent drain tube. Either way, water could end up in the car from rain, or even from simply washing it.
 
Good to know, Steve. These are my first experiences with this type of car, so lots of new quirks to learn.
 
When you paint your floorboards,be sure to use a good rust inhibitor paint such as Por15 or Rust Bullet. Well worth extra cost for rust prone areas.
 
I'll third the recommendation for the shiny bubble stuff, you can get a roll at your local big box building suppply/hardware store for $20 bucks or so, I did two cars with one roll.

It provides good sound and heat insulation.
 
If you want to enjoy driving the MG you'll want some type of under carpet heat and sound insulation. There are modern "space age" products around that work better than the jute. If I were down to the floorboards bare metal, I would (and did) paint the floor area withg some POR rust proofing paint. Why not stop the rust now rather than after you weld in the new floorboards.

Wombat
 
The plans call for me to repaint the floors with some POR this year, then put down some padding. Should be a pretty simple weekend project, just need to clean them down and slap on some paint.
 
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