Gaiters, Seats and Carpet

Thankfully I remembered to fit the tunnel carpet before I fit the dash and had even planned it into the fitting of the heater. Once the dash was in, I cut down the gearstick to a level where it didn't feel like I was driving a truck, and it didn't touch the dash in 1st, 3rd, or 5th. The gaiters were easy to fit and looked good with the chrome surround:

The interior side panels needed a fair amount of trimming to fit snugly against the rubber door seal. I decided to fit them so they could be removed to give me access to the door mountings. Except that they needed to be sealed at the rear to prevent any road grime into the cockpit. So I fibre glassed the rear end of them as shown and cut them in half so the front section could be removed. Once the carpet was laid on top it nicely hid all this.

Getting the seats in was easy, but I struggled to get the bolts lined up with holes I drilled. They look great and been able to sit in the car and make brmm brmm noises was a good day!

Inside the boot

This part of the build seemed to take forever for something that doesn't appear that complex. In summary it involved:
 - Trimming and fitting the rear inner arches
 - Board off the fuel tank
 - Fitting the carpet

However, it wasn't that simple. Fitting the inner arches involves many trial fittings and trimming of the fibre glass and then securing them in so they seal in the boot and behind the seat. Learning to fibre glass was a new skill and is actually quite simple once you have the right kit ( thanks ebay!) I decided  that unlike the front wheel arch inners these didn't need to be removable:

I decided to board in the fuel tank away from the boot itself. I wasn't sure if it was an IVA requirement, but the less Mr. IVA can see the better and I felt it was neater to have one flat edge to fit the carpet to. It proved a good decision as during the IVA he opened the boot and took one look and closed the lid saying there wasn't much to see in there :-)

The board is made of 2 pieces of marine ply attached to the bottom and sides of the boot allowing the number plate light wire to appear and up to the boot.

I've lost count of the number of times I have had to remove those panels:
 - After fitting, the fuel pump failed and had to be replaced.
 - After replacing the fuel pump a fuel smell developed in the boot (not good!)
 - After re-fitting and tighening all unions the smell was still there
 - Finally narrowed it down the plastic fuel filter - frustrating as it was only slightly porous, so needed to be felt over night before any smell became evident.

Grills

The grills on the front (4 in total) can be purchased from Pilgrim, but I found it cheaper to purchase the mesh and cut my own from B&Q. Also you can choose the size of mess to allow more air flow into the radiator. I fixed the bottom grill with tiger sealant as it won't ever need to come out again. The middle and 2 side grills were fit with small flathead M4 nuts and bolts so they can be removed. While building I frequently needed access through all 3 of the whole, so good to make the removable.

Door cards

Like the dash I went for simple door cards without the extra pocket. I didn't like the look of the extra pocket on the front and if I find limited storage a problem I can always add them later.

Fitting the vinyl was a lot simpler as stapling was quicker that the glue gun. As you can see the fir tree panel clips have already been fitted with matching holes on the inside of the doors. These are nicely invisible and strong once the door cards are fitted. Thankfully they are not so strong as to be permanent - I recently had to remove a door card and while hard they do pop out.

Job done!

The Real Dashboard

Mocking up the dashboard on a piece of plywood really helped get the wiring right and acted as a good trial run for the real thing. I used the fibre glass dash supplied by Pilgrim as it is the right shape and also has the proper curve at the base to pass IVA. However, I didn't us the two part centre as after messing with it I didn't see the point and preferred an even flat dash. I also skipped the glovebox!

Getting the wiring right is essential as it is an IVA failure that is hard to fix once the dash is fit, unless it is completely enclosed. So, I routed all wiring from 3- or 4 multi-plug sockets around to each dial:

I padded the front and edge of the dash with a 2mm foam (actually it was hardwood flooring underlay :-) ) You can hopefully see the backs of the BigHead screws fixed through the dash which will be used to bolt the whole dash to the body. They will be nicely invisible once the dash is finished:

I then covered the front with black leather (OK, I went for vinyl). I spend hours trying to decide between a cream or black interior, and finally went for black - safe and classic!

Cutting and wrapping the vinyl around the edges of the dash is a delicate job to ensure that the front doesn't crease, and is especially hard around the sharp exterior corners. I found that a glue gun was brilliant and sticking the vinyl (and foam) to the back of the fibreglass. The hot glue solidifies quickly and is strong and flexible.

And here's the finished dash with dials and switches attached. Neat and simple!

MOT Test

An MOT test isn't required before the IVA test, but I decided it was a good trial run and meant I could drive it legally to a test centre and get some initial items checked before IVA including emissions and brakes. I also took the opportunity to check the speedo against a sat nav on the way up to the local garage. With the Sat Nav showing 30mph I knew my speedo needed tweaking as it was showing under 30mph. For IVA the speedo must read more than the true speedo at 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70mph.

The MOT passed once the headlight had been adjusted!

Dashboard dials

I ordered the dashboard dials and sensors from ETB Instrument. I can really recommend them. Great product, arrived on time and packaged brilliantly! I used them on my previous kit car and had no trouble at all.

There latest speedo and rev counters come with built in warning lights (sadly not shown on their website). Not having the extra LEDs makes the dash a lot more tidy. The speedo has handbrake, charge and oil pressure warning lights and the rev counter has the other 3 (left/right indicator and hi-beam)

I've made a temporary dash to help sort the wiring out before I fit the full dash - much easier to take in and out.

Starting to draw up a wiring diagram for it and buy some multi-connector plugs to make it easy to disconnect all the dials - it'll also help with keeping the wiring neat and tidy for Mr. IVA man, as under-dash wiring can get into a real mess :-)