Carpets'n'stuff

Following on from my last post, here's a brief clip of (nearly) the first time the Westfield moved under its own power - yes, it automobiles! The actual first time was immediately prior to this and Gavin (the cameraman for this clip) was the first victim.

It was disproportionately exciting for such a small amount of movement - but up until this point the car had been a rather poorly designed wheelbarrow.

Following on from that excitement I've been getting on with the task of completing the interior. This involved modifying the bootbox for where the roll bars pass through to the chassis, and also holes for the harness fixing points. With a bit of rubber trim applied to the edge of the roll bar holes, I think it's a neat enough job.

Rather than bolt the bootbox through the bodywork (which would involve some serious contortions to get to the underside), I've used four rivnuts to attach it which hopefully will stop it moving about. To help it stay in place (and remove another source of squeaking when in motion) there's foam tape under it between the edge and the main body. Its a stonkingly huge bootbox, possibly large enough to accommodate an entire loaf, certainly a half-loaf. It certainly is not a tourer :)

Next step was to start putting in the interior carpet and side panels. Due to the overall lack of storage space, I've added a couple of net pockets onto the interior panels - these will be around the knees of the driver and passenger. It remains to be seen whether they will be irritating or be in the way (the pockets, not the passenger...)

Al.though I've glued the floor carpets down with spray adhesive, the rear bulkhead and tunnel pretty much rely upon Velcro to hold down the carpet. Although the finish may not be quite as tidy as gluing them down, both these may have to come off for maintenance so it is a sensible move - no really.

The side panels had to go in before the carpet (requiring some re-positioning of Velcro) - and these are fixed in with self-tapping screws to the chassis rails and I used snap-caps to cover the heads for tidiness. Where the panels needed securing to the fibreglass body I used plastic scrivets instead coz I suspect that screwing into fibreglass is not an enduring solution.

I had fun trying to work out where some of the smaller squares of carpet went, but by the time I had finished all the side panels inside had been covered except the drivers footrest panel due to it being a funny shape, and the lower half of the drivers footwell bulkhead coz that's where the pedals live.

There were also a couple of smaller internal panels I had to ask Westfield about the positioning - they were revealed to go inside the scuttle above the chassis rail and hide the join between the scuttle and the lower bodywork quite nicely.

A fair amount of modification to the tunnel carpet was necessary; holes for the harness fixings, contouring for the dropped seat pan, footwell chassis rail clearance, upper footwell chassis rail clearance, and some dirty great holes for the handbrake and gearstick. On the whole I was quite pleased with the end result - perhaps the gearstick and handbrake gaiters could be tidier. I may look for collars to finish them off.


Next I can install the harnesses and permanently bolt in the seats and save for a couple of bits of trim that is the interior done!