Floors to pedal box; a carpet install gone mad!

[shipm_8]

**edit: If you would like to see the pictures related to this post, please contact me. Thank you**

It started simply enough: One day I decided the carpet that came with the car was old, dirty and probably unsanitary. So, I bought a new carpet set, and stuck it in a corner of the home, where my consigliere, navigator and wife Jessie does not usually look ("Secret 02 Parts Cache 4 X-Ray"). I waited for an appropriate time to install the carpet. As the day of our move from San Francisco to San Diego scheduled for last fall approached, I reasoned that installing the carpet would result in one less thing to pack on moving day.

old carpet

The first thing to do was remove the seats and the fire extinguisher bracket, easy. Then I ripped out the old carpet.

Because I was not sure of my ability to install the new set, I laid out the old set and took a picture, in the same way the National Transportation Safety Board would lay out the frame of an old aircraft in a hangar, in order to reconstruct events.

What I discovered next was the sound insulation, and the reason why at one point during the planning for this project, I jotted “dry ice” on my notes. The cardboard-like stuff was easy to remove, and there was no evidence of any live creatures in the crevices; none visible to the naked eye…who knows what microorganisms had homesteaded in there after almost forty years. Getting dry ice was easier than I thought. There is a worldwide directory of dry ice suppliers so, if you happen to find yourself in Tanzania with your 02, and have the urge to do your floors, you can find a supplier in Dar es Salaam by searching this directory http://www.dryicedirectory.com/. I actually found a source two blocks away from home.

you cannot remove this with a brush.

The chemists and physicists in the crowd may have their thoughts on whether pellets are better than blocks, or whether one should cover with plastic and tuck the ice in with a blanket. I have not developed a position on the issue, so I’ll just say that a combination of the above worked for me to get the big chunks of the tar stuff out. About 20 lbs of dry ice is all I needed. After laying down the ice and letting it sit for a while, I used a chisel/prybar to get the chunks of insulations out. Nasty stuff. I wore eye protection, gloves….still, chips ended up everywhere. And I mean, Everywhere. The dry ice only worked for horizontal surfaces, and I found out that a heat gun did wonders to remove the insulation installed on the vertical areas of the rear seat, or humps, like the transmission tunnel. For the remaining insulation, I used De-solv-it, a citrus-based solvent that worked great and did not seem as offensive as other tar removers. I kept the area well-ventilated, just in case, and did not mix methods....heat and de-solv-it? no-no-no!

a lot of scrubbing to get to this point

holes under rear seat

While I was removing insulation, I detected rust on the passenger side. At the sight of this rust, I got out of the car, chisel in hand, stood up, heard my joints creak, dropped down to my knees and cried to the heavens: “Why? Why me?” You had to be there to appreciate the angst, the despair. At that point I came up to the apartment and logged onto the FAQ where I sought solace. I was quickly reassured that my car was not going to disintegrate. I am sure there was a great deal of eyerolling from those who live in areas with that white stuff (snow, is it?), ice, and other types of inclement, un-Californian weather. I do appreciate the kindness of my fellow 02ers. Nobody made fun of me. At least not in public. Thank you.

First sighting of evil rust

I tackled the rust issue by educating myself on the options. I went the POR route. It took me awhile to figure out that POR stands for Paint On Rust, but I never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed. This POR acronym was important to remember because members have reported applying POR only to watch it peel off. When dealing with POR, it is important to RTFM. That is, Read The Full Manual. POR is called POR for a reason, because it has to be applied to rusted areas or properly treated areas. I took this to heart and, after grinding the rust off, I cleaned the area, applied acid treatment, washed it away, dried the area and then applied some POR patch on the seams, and POR to finish it off. I went POR-crazy, really.

after some grinding

These pins went away; no need to install the new carpet the "old way"

There were some mysterious holes on the transmission tunnel, which some speculated may have been caused by welding blowback (whatever that is) when the 5spd was installed. I patched the holes with epoxy. While I was kneading the epoxy in my hand, I noticed a mystery hole on the rear driver side wheel well that I am sure had a story behind it. I covered that too. Areas that were bare metal, I sprayed with Wurth’s Rust Stop Primer. At an academic level, I know that if there is no oxygen, there is no environment for rust. But still…with the level of fondness I have for the car, it is easy to become overprotective.

blowback?

While I was cleaning out the floors, I decided to remove the plugs to ensure there was no rust lurking around. Also the two plugs under the back seat; one of them was inexplicably mangled. I ordered new ones and, as it usually happens with show-stopping parts, they were backordered.

At this point I should explain my method for budgeting time when tackling car projects. I have a formula:

I take experienced 02ers’ estimates, usually expressed in hours and multiply that number by two. Then I change the result from hours to days. That gives me an initial approximate figure related to my mechanical competence (the mechanical ability of a manatee, really). To that number, I add a parts acquisition factor. So, this is the formula:

T = [(E x 2) + P] where…

T is the total time to completion, in hours

E is the estimated time reported by experienced 02ers

P is the P-factor (no relation to aerodynamics), just the time it takes to get parts I had not counted on needing

While waiting for the plugs, my peripheral vision homed in on the pedal box, so I broke out the FAQ’s write up as a reference and followed the instructions. Might as well, I reasoned—I was waiting for the UPS guy to deliver the floor plugs. First I did some dry runs, reading the instructions and visualizing step-by-step. Then, I went down to the area, tools in one hand, and Paul’s write up on the other.

The carpet was already off, so I had a clear view of the pedal box

I loosened the bolt that holds the clutch pedal to the master cylinder push rod, popped off the spring and circlip holding the vertical rod and clevis block to the brake pedal, pushed the pin toward the left, and removed the screws securing the box to the floor.

I loosened the screw that holds the pedal box to the brake booster, careful to not loosen it too much, lest I found myself propelled to a state of primal rage during which I would wrestle with pivot arms, hidden circlips and scaring away small garden animals while hurling tools about the yard. Warning in hand, I sought to make the box removal experience as uneventful as possible.

Diving under the car, I loosened the nut holding the arm lever to the pedal rod, while taking pictures to remind myself of how it would all go back together. I removed the pedal rod from inside the car.

Back under the car, I kept in mind the FAQ’s warning regarding clutch lines, and brake fluid dripping over clumsy 02er’s noggins. I carefully cleared the way of lines, speedo cable, and cobwebs. I had my best Explosive Ordnance Disposal disposition, really….steady breathing, deep concentration while removing the clutch master cylinder.

All went well and looked promising until blue brake fluid started dripping over my noggin. I quickly went through The Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle, updated for tinkering 02ers:

1- Shock stage: I froze at the sight of the blue liquid

2- Denial stage: “Maybe it’s not brake fluid”

3- Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of emotion, accompanied by a handful of those exquisite words common to sailors, airplane pilots and stevedores.

4- Bargaining stage: “if you disappear, I will give the car a nice detailing job”

5- Depression stage: Final realization that I couldn’t will the fluid to disappear and I’d best grab a rag and wipe it off before it started eating the paint

6- Consolation-seeking stage: logging onto the FAQ and whining about my problem

7- Acceptance stage: Realizing it was not the end of the world, that I could likely fix the problem.

All of the above grieving, in less than thirty minutes.

This could have been me during the bargaining stage

It turns out that the hose from the brake fluid reservoir to the clutch master cylinder was cracked, so it came loose, dropping the brake fluid. This situation propelled me into learning about the hydraulic system of the car, and I figured this was as good a time as any to become acquainted with brake and clutch bleeding, so I became the new owner of a Motive power bleeder, and an oil can to bleed the clutch, as recommended by Bill Williams on the FAQ. Clearly, owning this Tip Top of mine is a learning adventure, with an ever-expanding curriculum!

I had to find out about this some day!

old pedal box out

Project Pedal Box went on, and I replaced just about all the moving parts, and even the box itself since I had a new one in my parts pile. Jessie was a most graceful host when the pedal box joined us at the dinner table one night. Not missing a beat at the surprise guest, my wife expressed an interest in the inner workings of the box, the bushings, springs, pedals, the ergonomics of it all, the design nuances between years (“does our pedal box have a horse shoe shackle?” “No, sweetie…our clutch pedal is not so old that it requires a horse shoe shackle link thing”). The square opening at the bottom was of special concern to my wife and she heard both sides of the debate on whether to use the original foam covering (less noise inside the cockpit) or weld it shut (less propensity for rust)—she did not take sides, instead deferring the decision to me, Chief of Staff for Pedaling Affairs. I decided to install the rubber pad. Of course that forced me to navigate through options such as how to glue it (Gorilla glue did fine)….and unanticipated problems: the speedo cable I had no longer reached, so I had to get one that was a more appropriate length. P factor again. Other items of dinner table discussion included the options regarding what to use to seal the pedal box against the body, and I explained to my wife that some go the seam sealer route but, after much consideration and field testing, I chose 3M Strip-Calk. I also confessed that, not really being sure on how to pronounce Strip-Calk if I went down to the hardware store, I just mail-ordered it.

Pedal box at the dining table

waiting for the plugs...

The floor plugs eventually came and I again found myself overthinking their installation. Seam sealer seems to be the popular adhesive, but I happened to have a tube of Lord Fusor Metal Bonding Adhesive in my pile of stuff and I thought….why not? I loaded the epoxy gun up and amused myself by uttering Lord Fusor in my best Darth Vader voice, while applying the goop to the plugs. For the plugs under the rear seat, I used some of the leftover POR patch.

Not an intentional still life, it's just that the cutting board attracts car parts, thats' all

At that point, it was time to start soundproofing. The topic of soundproofing is one that elicits debate, and some of the discussions regarding the suppression of noise are fascinating. I never intended for my 02 to become a listening room, or a concert hall. I enjoy music…from Mozart to Dire Straits, from John Coltrane to Johnny Cash, Supertramp, Sam Cooke…and, yes…I’ll admit it: I have an ABBA album, alright? I was not pursuing the kind of listening environment that would help me enjoy every bit of Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni….that might be too distracting. Ah, Anne-Sophie Mutter!

Where was I…oh yes, soundproofing. My goals were modest: reduce noise level below what it was with the stock arrangement. The options were varied, but I went the Dynamat/Dynaliner route. This was time consuming and it offered its shares of occupational hazards too: the soundproofing material can be sharp and cuts.

Taking a break from Dynamat-ing the car, I put the pedal box back together. Here are the bits, in formation.

Notice the screws on the lower left, one is black and the other zinc plated? Meant for the clutch pedal. For whatever reason, the one that the parts manual calls for my part was too short, so went for the longer one. Bonus: it is shiny. The big bolt that goes across the pedals…I replaced it. It’s an M10x115. I replaced the nuts, wave washers, flat washer. All along following on the parts diagrams to make sure I was not missing anything. I also installed the bushing for the accelerator rod. Got to have a bushing.

Reinstalling the box involved maneuvering the slots into the Big Bolt on the brake booster, securing the box to the body with the bolts from the inside, and assembly of throttle rod, which required a bit of help: wedged roll of tape inside to allow me to push from under the car.

new pedal box!

with old speedo cable, which wouldn't reach

I had anticipated the installation of The Dreaded Circlip, the one that holds the brake pedal pull rod to the brake booster. I had read about 02ers spending hours trying to get this clip in position, so I had some trepidation. Some people refer to it as a “miserable clip” or “bitch clip” (B17c# Clip?). It is clear that many 02ers have complicated relationships with this particular part. Anyway, I was ready for a confrontation. I even had it on my desk for a few days, so I could glance at it, trying to establish dominance over it. I implemented a Circlip Retention Plan. I started by acquiring more circlips than I needed, anticipating attrition. My first attempt was quick and by that I mean, I tried to install, I blinked, and the clip was gone. I mean gone. The whole thing lasted five seconds. For all I know, it is still on some high ledge on the garage, flipping passersby off. So, I started thinking of an alternate way. I took a piece of wire and used it to expand the clip, and also hold it. Imagine my surprise when I managed to install the clip in a few seconds; clearly I am not the first one who thought of this, but it felt like a burst of brilliance at the time. Original circlip install, with no drama!

The Dreaded Clip

The Circlip Tamer

A few seconds....

I lubricated all the bushings with Wurth HHS2000.

Not sure at what point I decided this was a good time to do a stereo install but I am sure I reasoned “Since I am here and I have the elbow room, I might as well”. I started with the antenna, replacing the ratty old one, which required fixing some ugly drilled holes in the A pillar, and some imagination on how to fish it through and into the car…used a wire hanger to grab. While routing the antenna wire, I remembered that my dip switch had burned out so I reasoned this was a good time to install headlight and fog light relays, and pre-wire a rear fog light to act as a fog light and a brake light using Mike Pugh’s diagram. I’ll get to that later.

The head unit I installed in the glove compartment, with an infrared repeater going from the center console to the inside of the glove compartment so I can control the unit with a remote. It also has ipod connectivity and I can control the songs from the ipod shuffle I keep inside the center console. Nice, clean, “stealth”. The rear speakers are under the parcel shelf, and the parcel shelf panel has two cutouts, and all of it is covered with speaker cloth. You can’t see the speakers, but can certainly hear them. The amplifier is under the rear seat, secured with two L-brackets and speed nuts.

IR repeater extension cable by the latch

and the IR repeater itself tucked away

IR repeater "eye" on center console; can barely see it

fishing the antenna cable through

rear speakers under parcel shelf. Panel will go over them, with cutouts covered with speaker cloth

Tidying up the wires going fore and aft

bracket holding the amp under the rear seat. Didn't want a loose amp!

ground for the amp, the rear seat anchor, before installing the seat belts.

It was time to revisit the brake fluid spill and, figuring that my brakes had not been bled for a year or so, and it being hygroscopic and all, I figured I might as well go the whole nine yards and bleed the brakes, and the clutch. Here is the line up. Made in Gilroy, California, home of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. This was my first time doing this, so used...you got it....the FAQ on brake bleeding. Thank you, Steve!

The headlight/foglight relay install was easy, with the bits obtained from Susquehanna (rallylights.com). I went the custom install route, cutting and routing wire to length, and crimping the connectors that go under the relay bases. I fussed over the location of the trio of relays, but I placed them where it seemed to make sense: right next to the horn relay. More fussing went into the installation of fuses for these relays, and I ended up installing a fuse block up front, by the left headlight assembly.

one of the ends of the home-made harness

Every step of the way, checking for continuity and doublechecking, triple-checking that the wiring is making sense

passenger side

driver side

fuse block

End result

Because the dip switch connectors were burnt, I had to either replace the switch (expensive), or the pins/plugs. I replaced the pins and plugs. Crimping under the dash was a challenge and a reminder that, at my age, I should stop being vain and get some reading glasses.

like new

old, burnt connectors, and what happens when you install higher wattage lighting without relays!

Now it was time to install the carpet, which, after all, was the original point of this little excursion. I laid out the parts on our living room, trying to make sense of them, and started from the rear. I used 3m spray adhesive to glue the parts that needed to be glued. First, the back seat base panel, trimming around the rounded center section that goes around the transmission tunnel.

The rocker panels went next and here I had to allow for the hole needed to get the seat adjustment handle through. The original trim for the hole I just could not get in, and it was partially broken so I found a grommet that was just the right size to do the job. I installed the pieces forward of the rocker panels and at the base of the kick panels, transmission tunnel piece….worked wrinkles out as I went along.

While installing the carpet, I had to take an occasional glance at the pedal box...

And eventually installed the pad

This might have been overkill, given that I was replacing so many parts, and lubricating, but I decided to take Mike's advice and install slick tape on the inside of the gas pedal. Never even heard of slick tape before I read the posts.

Rear seat finally going back in. Why do I have those gaps on the sides?

speakers? what speakers?

A few lessons learned for future carpet installs, but proud of my first try!

Grommet for the seat latch, original to the right. After wrestling with it and trying to make it stay, I gave up and just replaced it with the grommet on the left. Does the same thing.

coco mats back on

While buttoning up the center console, I replaced old connectors I had with an amp connector where I concentrated all the gauge-related wires.

And the longer speedo cable, routed properly.

There was only one more thing to do before getting underway. My old MT47 battery was not in the best charge-holding shape, so I decided to spring for an Optima 8020-164 35 RedTop, which fits perfectly. Only thing, the original battery hold down would not hold this battery down, so I had to track a replacement....found it at a rod shop in Hickory NC, and they admitted they don't get too many BMW-driving customers, but they had just what I needed. The clamp came bare, so I painted it black, and installed a thumb screw and washer and, in the spirit of overengineering, some rubber at the bottom.

I learned a lot!

William

[CutteRug]

YOU Sir, are a HERO!

This write-up, with all its hi-res resto-porn pics, was exactly what I needed for some early morning reading...

I'm on this road right now, and will be consulting this post in the future, I guarantee it.

Hey, do you need any apprentices? I can live in the garage and I don't eat much. ;-)

Cheers,

Adam

[M3M3]

lol! classic scope creep! nice work and write up. you and I should combine our carpet install threads into one FAQ.

[zane]

Haha, great (wink) carpet install!

[shipm_8]

Here in the Tip Top Garage, we have more enthusiasm than ability, but happy to share....couldn't do any of the above if it weren't for the multiple of examples already written up. What a great community this forum.

[yert315]

excellent write-up. I enjoyed reading through your entire post!

That darth vader bit cracked me up!

[pureaudio]

This couldn't come at a better time, I am in process of the exact same project. My rust was a tad worse than yours (the entire front floor boards) but I'm now at the point of putting it all back together so your pictures help a lot. I have, of course, forgotten where most everything goes.

[ifayeoh]

Awesome Write UP!!!!! Congrats a on Great Job!!! Certainly make it look like a pro did it!!!

[jhenard]

Shipmate,

Great write up. One quick question - Were you a nuke? It would explain a lot.

--John - ET2 (SS) Reactor Operator

[shipm_8]

Thank you, John; that's a great compliment. Realizing that the Navy offering me a shot at the training at one point was probably due to their confusing me with someone else, I let the winds of career destiny take me on a different path. I do have many nuclear power-trained friends and shipmates, some going back to my early bluejacket days, all of them amazing individuals and a great deal of fun, traits I am sure you share. Thanks again!

[Manuel]

THANK YOU for the write up!

[02again]

Very Very Nicely done!

[FarFromStock]

Thanks William for another well written and humorous post!

[RayC911]

As stated, great write-up. I think i will be doing my carpet and searching out a Sport steering wheel in the near future.

[02tom]

I've never seen a floor that free of rust before! Nice work, very time consuming with your level of attention to detail I'd imagine.

The gaps on the sides of your rear seat are usually covered by a piece of vinyl from what I can remember. Seems like the vinyl was just glued to the sheet metal.