Razomatic

Doh! I missed that. Sorry! And thank you again. I was also going to ask if your car is RHD given the shape of the tunnel cover, and you answered that too.

Pethier! This is so helpful. I would not have expected an aluminum bar on the underside. Does that bar somehow fix to the top of the tunnel, or is it just held in-place by the carpet?

Does anyone have a car with this elbow rest? I'm curious how it was held in place. This article is from 1988, but I have never seen a car of the era outfitted with such a posh interior.

Thank you Timothy. I think I'd also approach it as removable carpet mats, as on the original. Perhaps using velcro to keep it in-place instead of the snaps that did not survive very well. I agree that retaining the rubber under the heels is important.

Inspirational! Great work @Origin7. It looks terrific. Thank you for sharing photos.

I just got my first quote. It was $3700 which seems too high. He also asked if I wanted "sound dampening padding underneath" which made me realize he didn't understand what he was looking at.

I had not thought of that option, but it does make sense. Great input, thank you. The original mats under the seats didn't even have binding!

Thank you so much. What does your "gut" tell you this should cost? I was thinking $200 for each mat (5 of them) and maybe $800-1000 for the transmission tunnel seemed roughly reasonable. $2000? Am I way off? The original transmission tunnel carpet was not delivered with the car. It had been eaten to shreds by the mice. So that has to be recreated from photos and measurements.

Does anyone have recommendations on upholstery shops in the Los Angeles area to recreate floor mats, transmission tunnel carpet, and boot mat? It's for an imperial, long cockpit, live axle chassis (just in case anyone has a set to sell). The chaps at Redline were able to get me a bulkhead carpet, but the rest are unavailable. Any suggestions or guidance is appreciated. I've never purchased auto upholstery services. If you've paid for this type of work, what should it cost?

FWIW, that world champion badge, while classic, has clumsy type alignment, and will not look great. For a really clean look, use Dreamer's example above with a dome bolt, or copy Dreamer's roundel approach to hide the dent.

Perhaps a Caterham roundel? Or a domed bolt painted with the matching red color?

@11Budlite Beautiful! They look like modern art! It is my experience that Jet-Hot always recommends everyone upgrade to the 2000 coating. No doubt a better product, but I think it's a mandatory up-sell. They made the same recommendation when they quoted me for pipes on my 50cc 2-stroke motorcycle. In your application I fully agree it's justified, but just saying because it's often overkill. Attached are my standard coated headers, collector, and exhaust in their "chrome-ish" finish. I think it looks great.

@rider How did the pipes turn out? Are you happy with the result? Any pics to share?

@pethier You’re probably right. All the way forward with the lower (80’s-90’s) style headrest will probably fit. I don’t think the 90’s-00’s taller headrest will no matter what you do. Good point… thanks for mentioning.

@wddfour are you looking for something more traditional or more racer? That fiberglass seat looks unforgiving, is unpadded, and you better not eat too many bonbons. If you want original seats for your car you can always get from Caterham if it’s a recent year, and possibly Redline if it’s an older model (like mine). I needed new seats so I started watching the Caterham parts-for-sale group and within a few weeks a pair of reasonable used seats appeared. I paid $500 with shipping. Seats are bulky and heavy so shipping is always going to hurt. Using a non-Caterham seat is also a challenge because of the way the seats are mounted to the frame rails, not the floor. Non-standard seats will require fiddling for safety and correct height. Finally, if your old seats are just knackered, you might try bringing them to a reputable auto upholstery shop. A talented shop will be able to remake those seats probably for $400-600 each. But you can choose the color, texture, and even adjust the design a little. Plus you know they’ll fit.

Photo 1 shows you what I started with. Photo 2 shows you the prep work removing all the surface rust. Photo 3 is the result from Jet-Hot.

I did a JetHot on my headers, collector, and muffler. I have not used it long enough to give you a perspective on longevity, but one observation is that it's a more fragile finish than I expected. Be very careful because you can scrape and scratch it if you're not careful. That might impact your color choice. Consider the higher temp coating. I hear it's more durable (and more expensive). If you're applying this coating to a used system, you'll want to spend lots of time on prepping the parts. Jet-Hot does not do that for you. If you have surface rust and want a clean finish, spend the effort to clean it up because although it covers the rust, it doesn't smooth it. The finish is thinner than I expected. I don't know if the underbonnet temps have really improved, but the finish looks very good and there is zero rust or discoloration.

Wddfour, have you tried Redline? https://redlinecomponents.co.uk Chris is an incredible resource and may know how to obtain the seats. The Caterham part number is 77624 for the seat you want. Described as “non-reclining individual seat, leather.” it was also available in Nylon under a different part number. This was an optional seat for all Caterhams until 1990. The headrest was added at some point after 1986 and has part number 77657. Headrests won’t work with the FIA rollbar of the era, if you have that fitted.

Maybe you've found your replacement seats, but FWIW my BDR has the very same seats and they are the same leather seats I've seen fitted to all 7s of the era (mine is 1986) that didn't use a bench. Mine were very worn and I purchased a better used set from another owner (1987) who was moving up to racing seats.