Being a little mercenary I contacted another NG Owners Club member, Chris Humphreys, who had recently been subject to a visit by the "Youth of Today" who thought it might be "fun" to spray black paint all over his NG. His insurance covered re-upholstery but he wanted a new set of seats. After a little negotiation he agreed to sell me his old seats which at some stage will need re-covering but for now during the build they are fine. The padding is still quite firm and apart from the seams that Chris couldn't clean up the seats are in very good condition. I had to buy a set of runners for the seats. These were a little tricky to fit to the seats because of the type of bolts required. The mounting screws to the body tub were pre-welded to the runners, although the welds have come lose on two of the screws.
I had to reduce the diameter of some M8 sockets screws in an electric drill against a file to allow the runners to slide. Also the runner track narrowed near the ends where the floor M8 bolts were welded in and these needed opening up. I had some aluminium spacers made to clear the carpet and the seats were then finally fitted to the car. They already look good and will look even better when covered in port coloured vinyl.
I bought the dash edge former from Findhorn as it wasn't worth fiddling around with sheet steel for the price. 5mm Holes were pre-drilled in the dash former which was then positioned around the dash and clamped to the dash and the body tub. The holes were drilled through the body tub and into the dashboard. I removed the former and attached some m5 stainless bolts with plain nuts behind. My friendly neighbour then welded the bolts to the former creating a permanent fixing. This method would not be possible for the side formers because of the curved profile so instead I drilled per the build manual and screwed in self tapping screws from underneath. The tub was then drilled to take the screws. I painted each of the 3 sections with silver hammerite to protect from rust prior to covering with foam and vinyl.
I bought the D-section foam from a local supplier which does the job superbly. Soft enough to bend around the formers but firm enough to act as padding. Where the bolt heads were proud on the dash former I heated up a 1/4" bolt and used it to melt the foam to create a recess. The foam is still firm enough that this did not show through later. I also used this technique to make recesses for the self tapping screws on the side formers. This was glued on with contact adhesive. The vinyl was cut to 3 5/8 strips and glued around the formers. This was a little tricky and I practiced on some off-cuts of foam and vinyl first. The result is very pleasing and later I will have the seats recovered to match this trim.
Seat Belts
The seat belts used for the front seats were standard Securon 514/30 units. These have a three point mounting. The adjustable inertia reel is mounted to the rear part of the chassis into the predrilled and tapped holes, through the body tub. From there the belts goes through the seat guide and down to the floor on the outside of the seat. Again the chassis is pre-drilled and tapped for this mounting. The third point is the stalk that goes on the inside of the seats, again pre-drilled to the chassis. I used some stainless steel spacers 20mm o/d and 10mm thick to ensure the the mounts attach directly to the chassis and that the tub is not sandwiched.
As the seats are second hand the holes had already been cut for the seatbelt guides however this will need re cutting when I have the re-covered.
I spent a lot of time pondering about what to do behind the front seats. I think that the rear bench seat and seat back looks very smart, but as the seats are practically unusable I didn't feel that they were worth the very high cost. One thing that the car lacks is any storage space so I decided that a lockable boot would be the best option. There are a couple of designs on the NG Owners club website under the "Articles" section. I chose to base my design on the one created by Brian McCarthy although I did make some changes. I bolted a piece of 9mm ply to the body tub to extend the floor forward a little. This now overhangs where the seat would go and hides the battery isolation switch. (I may fit some doors to the cavities in the footwell later). I fitted some wood into the lip around the top of the tub and screwed through another piece of ply upwards for the top of the boot. With careful measuring and planing I fixed a sloping piece of ply to join the two previously fixed horizontal pieces. Once fitted and adjusted I cut out for the door. This can be hinged upward or completely removed. I also fitted a nice chrome locking handle. To finish the job I will put a thin piece of foam and cover with the same vinyl used for the seats and the dash surround.
