Boot Lid carpet

 November 2021

The inside of my boot lid was pretty unattractive with thick cracked underseal  and various fasteners from the badges, number plate and number plate light showing.

Had previously added some form of sound insulation to cover it up but never totally happy with it. Was a bit floppy and light bits constantly came off it onto the dark green boot mat.

So time for a change.

Decided to add a carpet cover.  Ended up adding a piece of green carvel carpet, from Newton Commercial to the boot lid. Not cheap at £40! Carpet was approx. 5 to 7mm thick. Much thicker and it woudn't have tucked behind the internal lip to hold it in place. 

Disconnected the wiring at the number plate light and then took the boot lid off the car to make it easier.

First, filed down the pins holding the badges to remove excess height and shortened the threads holding the number plate light in place so there was less chance of bulges or snagging caused by them.

Then made a cardboard template of the hole to be filled by the carpet. Added extra 10mm on each edge of template to allow carpet to tuck behind lip. Cut out carpet and fitted in place, just tucked behind the lip, not fastened in any other way.

Refitted lid to car.

Poked hole through the carpet for the number plate wiring and reconnected.

Had enough to make two extra pieces to fit in bottom of boot. See photos. Just put these in place. No glue etc.

Door Handles

 October 2021

Decided to get new chrome exterior door handles as these were the only chrome parts that were not up to par with the rest.

Front handles

For these I purchased a new pair of front door handle assemblies, from Abingdon MG, at a cost of £216..wow! Did manage to sell the old pair for a net £30 on ebay.

Process of removal and replacement was not too bad, just had to undo all the frame fastenings and raise the frame almost out of the door to allow for the handle assembly to be extracted. The two nuts under the quarter light were a bit of a challenge but were not seized and undone easily using a 7/16 box spanner and ratchet ring spanner fitted on the other end of the box spanner. Just  need lots of patience!

Did find a spacer bracket missing from one door. Made a new one and fitted it.

Rear handles

As I could'nt find any new rear handles for a 4 door I removed the old ones. Removal was much easier than the front, just had to remove the locking mechanism screws (2 off), the escutcheon plate (1 screw) and the 3 screws holding the door handle assemblies. Then moved the lock out of the way to allow the handle assemblies to be removed.

Disassembled each handle from the assembly and had them re chromed at Chromefix, Birmingham, at a cost of £70 the pair.

Replaced the return springs in each before fitting back to the door. 

Overall probably added little value to the car...but one more job done.