Custom Footwells – Updated 21st Nov 2011

UPDATE – 21st November 2011

I finally got around to finishing the footwells.  The final touch was a new piece of carpet on the passenger wheel well plus a better floorboard mounting point.  I ended up going to a mdel shop and picking up what is effectively a 15mm M6 thread extender.  Ithen use a shallow head M6 bolt to secure it in place.  The pictures don’t really do it justice – it looks very neat.

Finished - new carpets make a difference to overall presentation

Should've taken the phone of the seat!

The thought of customising can often bring a shudder to the purist.  In my case I hope that it’s all done for the betterment of the car.  I had a need to make up a new dead pedal since the whole passenger floorboard setup  had be changed.  After removing the A/C I decided that this was an opportunity to give the passenger some proper legroom.  If you’ve been in an A/C RHD 911SC you’ll know that your knees almost touch your chest – even with the seat right back!

After purchasing the beautiful Rennline non A/C floorboard for passenger plus driver board I decided to back them with vinyl.  I wanted to expose them and liked the hole punched version.  The only drawback was the see through nature, so I vinyl backed them.  The idea is to place then over the carpet and it’s kind of a Singer look.  A bit racer but not hardcore.  I like it, not everyone will.

The dead pedal is made of 1.6mm alumium sheet, light and strong.  It’s covered in the same vinyl as the floorboards and also the console that I recovered.  I think consistency on the finishes is important for a neat and quality look.

I also had new carpets made up.  The passenger is shorter and tucks under the board.  The edging also follows the floorpan a bit better than factory.  The driver carpet is almost the same, only change is the larger vinyl panel so my heels don;t wear the carpet – the idea is it will stay nicer for longer.  I always seem to wear carpet in all my cars!!

Anyway, here’s some pics of the progress.

Aluminium cut and bent into shape.

Vinyl glued on

Test fit - pre vinyl

Test fit - post vinyl

Test fit - with console (took me 2 goes at recovering that thing)

AC Gone

Pics to come but decided to remove the air conditioning.  Took me a long time to come around but the weight savings and cost to make the a/c work properly are the biggest factors in the decision.  I’ll keep all the bits and the next owner (who might be my son) can decide what to do with them.  If it’s too hot then I’m not likely to drive the car anyway.

Pics to come soon plus I’ll also be working on routing fresh air to the centre vents.  I’ll document this process for anyone who might want to tackle it on their project.