Interior finish

[rv-4mike]

For those of you who built your cars from kits or scratch for street use, what do you typiclly do with interior finish? Carpets and upholstery or do you go with the bare metal to keep the weight down?

 

 

 

I'm just about committed to ordering a WCM Ultralight (thanks for the comments and input on my other thread) and now thinking ahead to how I want it to look.

[slngsht]

I didn't build mine, and I have a 5.7L V8, so not a typical Seven. I have bare aluminum right now, and if I get caught in heavy traffic in a 90+ degree day, it'll melt my right foot.

 

 

 

My plan is to put heat insulation plus carpet at some point, but it's not all that important to me.

[scannon]

My Caterham SV has carpet glued to the tunnel and most of the floor except the front end of the foot box. The sides of the passenger compartment are plastic panels riveted to the frame.

 

 

 

I plan on adding some heat insulation on the outside of the foot boxes.

 

 

 

Skip

[BusaLoco]

Mine is exposed space frame and aly right now.

 

My son is an aircraft structures mechanic and he has some cool ideas about fabing some resin/aly screen matrix panels fir the side panels and carbon fibre for the dash.

 

I'm with him ... I think it will look very cool and it will be very light too!

 

 

[stevet]

After you've burned your legs a few times you'll add carpet or some form of covering to the tunnel. This from experience http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/images/emoticons/mad5.gif

[Al N.]

I have bare aluminum floors with rubber floor mats. My dealer-built car came with heat insulation on the engine side of the footboxes. I occasionally feel the heat in the footwell, but nothing too bad.

 

 

 

Nothing on the tranny tunnel, and that normal black plasticky stuff on the sides.

 

 

 

I happen to like the bare bones look of no carpet and think it matches the Superlight aesthetic well.Al Navarro2006-12-29 07:58:12

[powderbrake]

I used coroplast, which is like corrugated paper box material, but made of polypropylene plastic. It is used by signmakers for temporary yard signs etc. Cheap, about $15 for a 4 X 8 sheet, cuts with a mat knife, is very very light, and comes in lots of colors. It is available from your local plastics store, or try a sign shop.

 

>coroplast website

 

 

 

 

 

I insulated the passenger compartment on the side and front with Cool Mat from JEG's, then cut the coroplast to fit. I also use the coroplast for floormats.they are expendable. I did not insulate the transmission tunnel, as they get pretty warm, but there is a lot of room for you legs, and mine never touch the tunnel walls. Also, since the aluminum is available painted or clear, Brian Anderson, the WCM kit builder, used red painted aluminum to skin the transmission tunnel. I also did not insulate the driver's outside wall, but it is covered in coroplast, which is riveted to the frame bars.

 

 

 

I also insulated the passenger compartment on the engine side with the metallized film with fiberglass backing. The passenger compartment never gets too warm. Here's some pics ( I also made the trunk liner from coroplast)

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061228_091522_IMGP4620_Medium.JPG

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061228_091540_IMGP4622_Medium.JPG

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061228_091603_IMGP4624_Medium.JPG

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061228_091633_IMGP4631_Medium.JPG

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061228_091658_IMGP4656_Medium.JPG

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061228_091720_IMGP4657_Medium.JPG

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061228_091736_IMGP4660_Medium.JPG

[locostv8]

What I plan on doing is having a lite coat of Linex aprayed insied/outside of the tub to eliminate oxidation and add a bit more finished look with out adding to maintenance.

[xflow7]

I've left mine pretty much bare:

 

 

 

http://www.usa7s.com/forum/uploads/20061204_182227_CatPic7.JPG

 

 

 

The red is the normal vinyl coating or whatever that is on Caterham interior panels.

 

 

 

For a period of time I had the carpets in the footwells but ended up removing them because they made it too hard to swiftly maneuver my left foot in and out from under the clutch pedal while cruising (crucial given the lack of dead pedal).

 

 

 

I have no heat insulation on the firewall/footbox but the heat isn't a problem. The tranny tunnel gets fairly warm but has never bothered me. Having said that, my engine (at 135HP) is considerably less powerful (=less waste heat) than many.