Carpets!

Now that the fuel tank is back is snug all tucked in back in it's bed, my attention has come to the scrofulous fleabag carpets that never fitted right in the first place.
 The cost of getting some sent out from Pomgolia is utterly absurd, it's actually more the the cost of the carpet! all for something that probably doesn't fit much better than the rubbish that was in it!
So I went down to the hardware store and got some black marine carpet, that is pretty thin, which is probably going to be easier to from into a shape that something thicker and stiffer.
Now to kick around some ideas on how I might convince this stuff that it's best interest is to become the shape I need.
I'm thinking steam or heat gun to try and obtain a box like shape around a former.......just kicking ideas about at the moment, I don't really have a plan yet but the worst bit will be the foot wells. most the rest will be hidden by the seats and centre console.
I won't matter much if I make a total balls up of the whole thing.....it would still look better than the crappy factory effort that was held in place by various bit of Velcro glued to the floor of the car, a couple of silly plastic trim rivets,  the centre console overlap and the little bit of grip from pinchweld seal around the door opening....of course the glue would've melted in the first 5 minutes of our climate, causing the Velcro to hold absolutely nothing!
A bloody 6yo could do better!

If I can pull this off it will cost @ a 10th of the cost of getting some sent out.

It may be better to do each side in 3 pieces  a strip each side with another panel in the middle overlapping the side bitsas I said I'm still kicking ideas around. I can't sew for shit so that pretty well leaves a cut a sew method out.

The heat gun would have been my first port in your storm, until the other day when I was reforming some polyethylene. I’d laid it over my expertly designed & executed former but instead of an elegant shape I ended up with something resembling the outer leaves of a cabbage 🥬.
The Problem: to small an area heated, so whilst concentrating heat on one area the adjacent part has cooled & taken on some amorphous shape.
I would have thought it would need heating over the entire area, that is providing it will heat form & retain its new shape.
Put it in a bag & bury it in a couple of inches in some excellent Australian sand at the zenith of an Australian day. Seeing as you are coming into your intolerably hot summer those conditions really shouldn’t be hard to recreate.
Attract a suitable Shiela to help & when it’s limp(!) lift it into the car & press into place, (the carpet!).
There might be a spot of tautology there.
M

When I was putting our interior back in I fitted sound deadening material to the floor pans and got some carpet underlay to bulk it out before putting the carpets back in. 
The carpet seems to fit much better now and it doesn't pull away from the sides. 

I am considering doing the floorpan and a sheet inside each door frame.
I wasn't too sure about it in a soft top car but does it work?
Thanks.

Cobber wrote:

It may be better to do each side in 3 pieces  a strip each side with another panel in the middle overlapping the side bitsas I said I'm still kicking ideas around. I can't sew for shit so that pretty well leaves a cut a sew method out.

Try searching for campervan lining 4 way stretch.  that stuff is very similar to carpet.  There may be some that is quite thick...

After doing some roof repairs I had some flash banding, not the older fashioned lead backed stuff (the stuff that worked on roofs) but the alloy backed stuff.
I experimented with this on resonant panels & found, to my surprise, that it was equally as good as some fancy stuff my lad had paid silly money for.
Heat the bitumen side up & slap it on, or as I did, place it carefully.
The doors close with a satisfactory thunk.
I also made new door membranes out of heavy gauge polythene, gaffa taped on along the top & tensioned towards the door bottoms, where gaffa still keeps them in check. I rarely use the wireless but when I do that buzzyzz caused by the original membrane had gone.
I might also be loosing more of my hearing.
M

I fitted the sound deadening to the inner door skin and it makes a huge difference.

Thanks guys!
I actually have a strip of that alloy backed bitumen strip...now I have a use for it!

My roll is now out of the shed and being warmed up in the utility.
Will give it a go tomorrow.
Besides the doors any other suggestions..might as well use it up.

If you don’t have a full complement of screws in the inspection hatch, aim to replace those absent without leave & lay some across that.
If you have the dead dog of felt sound deadening over the cover, consider dispensing with it & replace it with reconstituted foam. In my opinion it is equally as effective, easier to handle & it doesn’t fall to bits.
M

There were 3 bolts missing under the T Bar and replacing those did make a difference.
Yes I have the dead dog felt too...getting this car up to spec is going to be a long drawn out job.
Good job I am smitten with it.