Mats… the wonderful world of mats!

[britlude]

So why do I need 2 sets of mats? Well the quality of the first set were so good I just had to, especially as Paul reported that there was a limited amount of green carpet available, so I thought I’d better get in quick…

However, the ‘why’ there was a limited amount of green carpet was down to one simple comment earlier….


They look nice.
Surprised you didn’t purchase more of the carpet to replace your OE one...


5 metres of carpet disappearing from their facility into my garage might have had some bearing on the stock levels. It’s all Simon’s fault, he made me do it!

Credit to Peter at Autostyle, he did his best to put me off…


We do occasionally sell carpet off the roll, but in this case there might be one or two issues with that.
1. We stock this carpet in rolls of 1 meter wide, this may be too narrow for your purposes.
2. It is produced as mat material. Which means that there are a few layers in the carpet that ‘stiffen’ the carpet, which would make it unsuitable to go over tunnels and up the bulk head etcetera.


If you really want to give it a try, that is fine, but speaking from experience with this kind of carpet, I don’t think there is a reasonable chance that it will work, so I would rather not sell you this on the roll as it will be a very difficult job to get it to fit in the car and the end result will not be satisfactory.


In any case, pricing would be £30 per meter length and shipping is £7 for a roll up to 5 meters, but as above, I would rather not sell you this carpet, to avoid disappointment.


Nothing like a challenge!!! :)


So with the carpet in hand, the seats were taken out,
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3970.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3970.jpg.html)

Everything hoovered and the carpets taken out and put in the loft!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3971.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3971.jpg.html)

And the floor awaiting recovering!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3973.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3973.jpg.html)

[britlude]

A simple paper template was mocked up for the centre section just to give me an idea of carpet required…
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3976.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3976.jpg.html)


The sill side of the OEM carpet has a stiff plastic support which was removed and put in place on the car
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3977.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3977.jpg.html)


The centre tunnel carpet was unpinned from the dashboard and the heater vents and removed too…
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3978.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3978.jpg.html)
A new piece of carpet was cut for the centre tunnel side, a hole made for the heater duct and the carpet fitted, pretty straight forward, and despite the front end being shaped for the heater exit, it all flowed nicely, following the OEM style


http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3980.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3980.jpg.html)

the OEM front sound deadening was re-used...

[britlude]

The outer sill was the next to be trimmed, this I expected to be awkward because as you move forward along the sill it ‘splays’ out at the front. If it was getting wider in just one plane that would not be a problem, but 2 gets more tricky. The OEM plastic support made things a lot easier here, along with a little hotrod ingenuity!


To get the carpet to change direction, it needs to stretch, that’s not going to happen, so a sneaky trim is in order. First I had to make a small aluminium plate….
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3986.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3986.jpg.html)
Which was stapled to the OEM plastic (much like the original carpet was stapled to it!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3987.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3987.jpg.html)


Now the tricky bit, the carpet was glued to the vertical surface, and a scalpel cut in line with the horizontal top bend. The carpet was glued, then pressed over onto the new aluminium plate… here’s one I prepared earlier
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3988.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3988.jpg.html)
The carpet cut is clean and straight, it’s just the pile making it look scruffy!

Then it was just a case of cutting a triangle wedge, and filling the gap! A nice tight fit and the join vanishes!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3990.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3990.jpg.html)


Nice!

[britlude]

The drivers side was much the same….. remove everything, and cut and fit the tunnel side..
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3994.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3994.jpg.html)


I had to do the sides before the centres as the carpet supplied was 1 metre wide. If it was slightly wider I could have trimmed 1 full side at a time, but the sections had to be staggered to fit the width supplied, it was still tight, but doable with a juggle, so the main floor sections were cut last!

Again a aluminium plate was cut. This is the initial, natural bend of the metal
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3995.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3995.jpg.html)


Obviously it bends the wrong way, as would the carpet! So the red area was hit with a hammer, thinning it and stretching the metal until was in the right place!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3996.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3996.jpg.html)


And again stapled to the original plastic support
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3997.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-3997.jpg.html)

[britlude]

The outer sill was trimmed using the same method as before (always easier the second time!)
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4000.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4000.jpg.html)


Then the main section on the passenger side was cut following the basic card template and trimmed to fit (make sure you use a fresh SHARP blade!)
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4002.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4002.jpg.html)


As with all things, it’s the edge detail that make the difference, tight and neat is the order of the day!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4003.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4003.jpg.html)


Seat back in and it all looks neat!
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4008.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4008.jpg.html)

[britlude]

Back to the driver’s side and the same method was used… just be aware the floor template isn’t a simple flip of the passenger side, it’s quite different… Also the footrest and throttle stop plate were a pain to fit! A cycle of trim, fit-up, trim and so on until they were nice and neat


http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4010.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4010.jpg.html)


The back corners were a little challenge in themselves, needing a butt join for the ‘wrap-around’ that is required here! A strip of aluminium was again used with glue to support the join.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4012.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4012.jpg.html)


Because of the stiff/thick nature of the carpet, a bit of a tweak was needed for the sill end trims, the carpet was thinned with a wire brush on my trusty bench grinder/polisher
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4015.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-04-4015.jpg.html)

This removed the backing foam and the next layer too, just leaving a more conventional carpet thickness (I think this took 2mm off the thickness!)
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn41/thisYup/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3982.jpg (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/thisYup/media/nsx%20stuff/nsx%20carpet%20replacement/2013-10-03-3982.jpg.html)


This was stuck onto the sill trim end finishers and fuse box door.

All fitted up, and all sorted! Yet another custom tweak! With easy return to OEM for the purists!


… and they said it couldn’t be done…….

[britlude]

oh, and you know when i had the dash light 'boot open' saga that involved taking loads of the interior apart that i had been fiddling with, tracing wires that turned out to be the broken bonnet catch....

guess what made me have to pull the bonnet catch to get the trim off....

[Senninha]

Simply beautiful work Jonathan ... Nice finish to a busy year of upgrades ...

I'm still not sure about the wheels ... Maybe a green version for 2014 ...

whatever comes next, enjoy your limited edition NSX as always!

rgds Paul

[NSXGB]

Sorry Jonathan!
Looks good though, good work!

[goldtop]

Nice work! :) If you want to hone your skills doing a beige carpet let me know. ;)