Badwolf

PeteH - Thanks. Mine is a mongrel. MkIV Spitfire with Herald 13/60 engine and overdrive. Always trying to work out what came from where and does it fit?

One of the reasons that I went to so much trouble refurbishing mine was because I knew that it fitted. As for the fittings, that is still ongoing!! The sealing rubber came off fleabay. Double D draft excluder rubber strip...we will see how well it works. The carpet over the tunnel cover is something else. It really needs replacing. It was already repaired with gaffa tape when I took it off. The seams are going and the point where it was cut originally for the footrest is dreadful, but for the amount that will show I will try to repair it by using spray adhesive and backing it with some black denim that I have found in my sewing kit. I don't really need to go to the expense of a complete carpet and all the 'tunnel cover only' carpets that I have seen for sale have been worse than mine. We will see.

The pump on the left looks like 53.5 pence per gallon, or is that for paraffin?

Looks lovely. Shame to get it dirty or hide it away. What about a nice perspex tunnel cover??

Currently using Opera and D D Go. Basic house rule, if it's affiliated to 'Meta', avoid where possible, use a VPN and keep AV software etc up to date. It's a nuisance but I don't get bothered too much...yet!

Big Brother is watching you and this is one of the reasons I don't do Farcebook. Cue thread drift!!

I have even tucked mine behind the doorseals in the past, if I was leaving the hood up for some time.

Thanks Clive, extremely useful info.

Don't worry, on current trends your car will still be there in a couple of months (just like Boris!)

Clive - Yes, when I removed the cover there were more types of sealant there than my local DIY shop. Got rid of most of the solid stuff but the usual problem of pushing the goo around. Found that a wooden lolly stick is useful rather than a metal scraper. White spirit/thinners in a confined space...love it. Will get there in the end. Good job I don't smoke!! Marigolds at the ready along with vapour mask, thinners, lolly sticks and paper towel.

Colin - Not had a problem with leaking diff since replacing the seal so I must have done something right and the back end has spent a lot of time jacked up since it was done.

I found out, when I jacked up the read, that my front diff seals were knackered. Bit of a giveaway, oil all over the floor, but I don't think that this is a normal occurrence!

Well done Phil. Don't mention black gutter sealant...looks like I used this on my tunnel cover, now can't shift it. White spirit/thinners next attempt. I think that you made the right decision with the 3M.

I have grovelled!!! Now don't all shout at once, but I have found another hole in the footwell, about 3" away from the bulk head on the LH side. There is no spire clip and it was bunged up with hammerite. However, there is no corresponding hole on the RH side BUT this could have been filled in when the bodyshell was originally repaired in the 1980s. So off to the shed to look for another keyplate, although I could always use one of those from the bulkhead and just use a self taper and large washer. Update....why do I keep all those useless, used, worn out parts and why is what I'm looking for never there. Next place to look, the spares boxes in the garage..which I can't get to. Such is life!!

Welcome to my world!!!

Thanks Josef, but while I'm doing this and have taken far to long over it, I want to do it as best I can. Unfortunately, as I think I have mentioned, like so many of us, I have no idea what might have been 'upgraded' on the car in the past and am relying on parts diagrams which can be vague, unclear, or just plain wrong, along with the experience of you all. Will have a grovel and report back.

PeteH - Now you have me worried/paranoid. I only have 8 keyplates and only 8 are shown on the various suppliers sites. I only have 3 holes and spires in the floor and 1 at the base of the bulkhead on either side. Will have a scrape around later, just in case there are two more in the floor at the back that have been fillered, painted over etc during the life of the car. As you are all aware, it's not the easiest of places to get into for a close look!!!

To continue... It seemed a shame just to chuck the cut out pieces of board, so using some left over adhesive, tt was bonded to the aluminium access plates and rivetted in place. The gearbox access plate then had jack-nuts fitted to accommodate the footrest, making sure that the washers were in good contact with the metal plate and would not spin in use. ..on the left is the gear-box oil filler access plate, on the right is the clutch slave plate as seen from the inside, with the remains of the tunnel cover cut out and rubber sealing strip ... and yes, I did salvage the little corner discs that came out when I cut the 'starting' holes the hole cutter. So, what went wrong? Well the plan was to hold the access panels in place using jack-nuts, a sort of skeletal version of rivnuts. Unfortunately it became apparent very quickly that the jack-nut bodies, when compressed would dig into the tunnel cover board and would probably pull right through, even with the coating of F/Glass. So I put a washer over the nut frame and tightened it up. This spread the load but on tightening the bolt, the whole assembly turned. So a rummage through the spares box brought up split spring washers. That didn't work any better, so the final attempt was using perforated anti shake washers (you know, those things that look like a spoked wheel without the rim). Fitted some, and in puling it up, stupid boy here then held onto the back of the jack-nut to keep it square, not thinking that if the whole assembly were to spin the perforated washer would do damage to the fingers (I know that I should have used pliers) holding the nut and washer assembly....it did and I ended up in search of the first aid box. After 'running repairs', it was obvious that the washers were now doing the same to the fibre board as thy had done to my fingers and cutting through. This was the point where the plan was abandoned and I went back to using good old spire clips (as seen in the previous posting) and self tappers. This did leave a couple of extra holes as the spire clips did not line up with the holes that were originally drilled for the jack-nuts. Not to worry, they would be covered in due course with insulation. The old rubber gaiter and footrest were given the ColinL treatment of boot polish to clean them up a bit... (the gaiter looking like the 'Sorting Hat' from Harry Potter) and then everything was assembled... ...and labelled up You will notice that the footrest can now be removed before fitting the carpet and then added afterwards. This is so that I don't have to cut any new carpet to fit over the footrest which was previously bolted directly onto the cover and couldn't be removed without removing the cover. From the front it now looks like this. and, as I forgot to photograph the inside repairs to the gear lever throat, here it is while I was adding the insulation to the inside. It needed new thicker spire clips to be made to accommodate the thickness of the repairs which was now about 1/4" thick and very strong. ..from the back and underneath. Now already for the arrival of the rubber sealing strips and then fitting. I must at this point thank and acknowledge everyone whose posts have contributed to this job, especially those ideas I have nicked and used. Thank you all. More to come

Welcome Colin. This is the place for all the answers.....may not be to the answers to the right question though!!

envy!!! (Skype)

Isn't it great when something works. Makes the whole thing worthwhile. That's how I felt after I did my ujs after 30 years of them knocking. Took me ages to get used to the er.. quiet.

As mentioned above, I am just waiting for the rubber sealing strips to finish off along with a couple of other bits and pieces, more of which later. As you will remember the worst part of the cover was this.. around the throat which had been damaged over the years, but finally by the garage when they came to refit it after freeing up the clutch. This was repaired with a mixture of cardboard, 2mm hardboard and evo-stik/F/Glass. The whole thing was given several coats of Fibreglass with special attention to the lips on the base that hold the thing to the floor. These had extra holes, other damage and were very 'wibbly, wobbly' due to the keyplates bending the board. These were repaired with F/G matting and then sandwiched between silicone release paper, to stop everything sticking together, aluminium strip and tubular steel (from the adhesive tests!!), all firmly clamped together... to flatten and straighten... The cover was then marked out for the access panels... and cut out... Note the rounded corners as per the advice from Pete BFG. Then a coat of paint to the outside. The right hand side showing the access for the gearbox oil filler... .. and the left hand side for the clutch slave access. You may notice spire clips fitted along with some extra holes, but this was where things started to go wrong.... More later.

Allow me to assist....

Yes, I have noticed. In the time it takes Mathew to rebuild his cars, I can.....change a spark plug!!!!

Well, apart from the rubber sealing strip for the base and the bulkhead face, it's done. You'd better believe it!! I was planning to add some aluminium reinforcing strips along the tops of the bottom fixing flange thingie, but after spending a long time this afternoon looking for them, I have given up. The sealing strips are due this week and I am just sorting the photos out to bore you all rigid with, which should be posted here tomorrow. As Carl (Bordfunker) would say, this is probably how not to repair a tunnel cover, but it's going back on, just the same.