Interior trim installation guide

[moraledagd14]

Hi Everybody, I am sending my bodywork off to the painter next week so thoughts are turning to the re-trim. I have photographed everything as I removed it but would like to know if there are any re-trim guides out there.
My seats are being re-trimmed in the UK and I will pick them up in April, I would hope to get the rest done by that time.
Does anyone know where I can get a new wiring harness and all the rubber connector blocks.

regards Frank

[Martec]

Hi Frank,

Try Auto sparks for the 5 looms, they are finished in the original style brading if you want and they can add in better fusing and alternator wiring if you wish or just original. They are also one of the few places that I've found that can supply the rubber grommets in the body.

As for trimming, people either do it themselves or pay a professional.

Brian
http://www.autosparks.co.uk/finder

[piman]

Hello Frank,

sit down before you ask Autosparks what a new loom costs, they are not cheap.

Alec

[moraledagd14]

Thanks for the replies, I will take some anesthetic and ask Auto Sparks for a price.

I had a feeling that I would have to wing it or get a professional to do the trim, I have taken enough photos and provided I don't have a bad case of amnesia I should be able to do the trim OK having done a few less complicated cars before.

I looked at a few posts regarding cleaning the head cloth, mine is a bit grubby but does not smell of tobacco so it should clean. Has anyone tried dry cleaning? as I would think standard washing would cause shrinkage.

However for the cost involved I am seriously thinking of a new one.

Regards Frank.

[PPV]

Hi, I tried cleaning mine and due to it being a 'suspended' type then I had problems cleaning it effectively so decided to replace it. Just as well as when removed I found that the insulation glued to the roof was in a terrible state so I removed that (very dusty job!) and replaced it with modern stuff from Woolies if I recall. Made quite a difference to the sound levels inside the car. The only difficult areas to do I found were around the front and rear screens.
Regards,

[Martec]

There is nothing stopping you from making your own looms up, I did.

For the main loom (front and engine bay) you will need to measure the length of the wires, size them and get the correct colour codes, not easy if the old cotton insulation has faded or rotted.

Then hang up the old loom and string out the new loom on it, wrap it in the correct tape and terminate all the wires. A big job but not too difficult and there is a saving to be made, plus you can add in modifications that you want, ie 8 way fuse box or more and an alternator loom but this can be added later if you want.

The other 4 looms are simple and easy to make.

There are firms that can supply the wire with colour coded insulation and of the old style soft copper or the new wire if you so desire.

For the interior again materials are available, but the door cards with the bonded stripes will need to be made professionally (I didn't bother with the stripes), but a headlining is so cheap its not worth trying to make your own.

It all bepends on what you what to use the car for and how original and professional you want it to look..............and how much you want to spend.

Brian

[moraledagd14]

Hi Brian

Yes I see where you are coming from, The head lining is an no brain'r the cost is not too bad. the harness I have is in good order apart from the tape binding it together, I have looked on the tinternet to find the correct tape but as yet no joy. I am an electrician to trade so fixing / manufacturing a new harness from my pattern is not beyond me, the only problem is sourcing the loom tape and multiple rubber bullet connections.

The car at the end of the day is for me and not for resale so a good job done with reliability but not necessarily concurs is fine, however spending so much on the refurb and having the car stripped down to such an extent it seems silly not to do the best job I can afford.

regards Frank

[piman]

Hello Frank,

I use these people for all my car electrical supplies :- http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/

You'll find they sell looming tape and also colour coded cable by the metre, terminals and tools etc.

Alec

[Martec]

As Alec says Vehicle wiring products are good, they supplied all the wire, tape, solder bullets, spade connections, fuse blocks and the connecting blocks (which are sheathed in plastic).

I found great difficulty in finding 'rubber' bulkhead grommets and at the time 'Autosparks' were the only company suppling them.

'Woolies' have been good at supplying swatches of vinyl to match the seat leather to cover the door cards and centre console, my wife cut strips of vinyl and used her sewing machine to make the beading.

I had no choice in being pency pinching at the time to get the car on the road and finished from a 'skip' as Lesley described it. Even to the point of welding a friends car in exchange for him to reverneer my woodwork (finished to look like wood and not plastic).

I'm sure Oldtimer will confirm that I am tight.

PS best of luck with the seats, I replaced mine with XJ40 seats before finding that the wrong springs came with our car.

PPS you are probably aware that the old wiring was of imperial size and the newer wire is metric, I found it slightly larger cross-section which suited the extra bits I added or updated to, original parts were not available as they supposedly are now.

Brian

[moraledagd14]

Hi Brian
The seats are being upholstered by Brian Cates in Bournemouth, his work is exceptional. I am fitting new door cards as mine were rotten on the bottom once removed. The doors however were not rusted so luckily no repairs required. Brian is supplying additional materials to finish the trimming.

The woodwork has fared worse and is in need of total TLC. I have seen an advert for newly manufactured wood trim sets LHD/RHD for around 1300 pounds which is what I would have thought a total refurb would cost.
Some off my wood is split and missing the odd edge or two with lots of peeling veneer.

Re- Rubber grommets, Ebay have a full set for around 40 pounds given the difficulties here in Spain to source anything imperial I will go that way. I have a full replacement rubber seal set for the car including front and rear screen.

Do you know where I can get the sound proofing material for the door skins and floor pans?

Regards Frank

[Martec]

try 'Woolies' or 'East Kent trim',

Brian

[PaulHaskey]

Hi
I'm putting my S type back together but would like to know what screws/washers to use on the vinyl side trims for the front, under the dash, and the boot side trims.
cheers, Paul

[PPV]

Hi, my car has chrome woodscrews with the chrome countersunk washers (not flat ones) where the trim fits to the dash and the dash underside panels to the body at the sides and for the top rails etc on the doors. For the boot side panels there appear to be black self tappers to match the colour of the panels. Not sure if the latter is original though.
Regards,