Interior DIY

During the Winter of 94-95 I stripped the interior and replaced it. I had parked the car in my Grandmas garage and this allowed me to work throughout the winter on it. My grandma didn't seem to mind much as I always had time for a chat over some tea.

Prior to me purchasing the MGB it had been stored outside for years and the result of having a torn roof, the interior pretty much disintegrated. Not to mention the foul odor. So I set to taking the old carpet, door panels, and seats out of the car.

The seats came out first, and I made sure to take a few pictures of how the seat rails went together. There is a spacer underneath the seat rail that you have to make sure goes in the same way as it came out. I didn't have the cash to redo the seats, I figured that it was leather or nothing. So, I scrubbed the seats as best I could with vinyl cleaner and plenty of elbow grease. Then I took the seat covers off of my 77 Mini 998 and put them on until I could afford leather.

Once the seats were out, the door panels were next. The door panels sit overtop of the carpet in a few places so you need to get the panels out before removing the carpet. The panels come out with a flathead and philips screwdriver. I took out all of the screws in the panels, there are even a couple in the armrests. Then I used the flat screwdriver to pry the door panels off. Once all of the panels were off, I ripped up the carpet.

The amount of effort you will need to use to get the carpets up is directly proportional to the amount of glue used. In my case, sun and rain had pretty much dissolved most of the carpet, not to mention the glue. The carpet came out with the greatest of ease.

I took all the interior bits, except for the seats, and took them directly to the trash bin. The smell immediately improved.

Lucky for me, the floor panels were in pretty good condition. There was very little rust and only surface at that. I scraped them as best I could and vacummed out the dust with a shop vac. A coating of anti rust and some paint and it looked as good as new!

I ordered new carpets and trim kit from the local MG shop. I went with Autumn Leaf for the interior, the original had been pee yellow. The carpet came with some pretty good instructions and I managed the effort on my own. The contact cement was crazy stuff, once it touches there is no getting it apart without tearing the carpet. So make sure you line it up and chalk it before adding the glue. The nice thing about the glue is that it allows you to put the carpet in around curved surfaces, like the rear wheel wells. Try and start at one edge and work your way across the surface, if you get a fold in it there is no way you will get it out.

Once the carpets were in it was time to install the interior trim. Once again the instructions provided with the interior kit were pretty good. Except for one funny horshoe shaped piece, I managed to get them all in. In turns out the horshoe bit goes behind the radio, I elected to leave it out.

Once I had the carpet and interior trim installed I could return the seats. The seat covers really didnt look all that great, especially with my nice new interior, but for now they would have to do. I cleaned and armoralled the interior dash and center console and the car looked fantastic.

Next, a new roof to protect that investment on the interior!