THAT is no feeble, ancient example of Brown's Lane history.
No! But is an Elegant and Experienced Veteran, with Lots of surprises left!
And you'll Know which car you left in the parking lot you drove in!

Well Done, Thomas!
(';')

 

With most of the mechanical work being done and knowing that the car runs, I made a decision today. I could have kept things as-is and taken it to the inaugural 2026 Coffee & Classics tomorrow morning, or I could keep my foot on the gas pedal and keep moving forward. I chose the 2nd option.
I pulled the car outside, pulled out the driver's seat, and removed the rest of the carpet.



I put a knotted wire wheel on my angle grinder and removed the old jute backing, the glue, and roughed up any rusted spots. Tomorrow I'll put down a couple of coats of rust-converting paint to address any surface rust.


Today I got the Vintage Air under-dash AC unit. I settled on the unit with the machine-turned black aluminum face which I think will fit in with the rest of the dash.
Clicking the Buy Now button on this one was difficult because there were some compelling choices in the $200 range and even some acceptable units in the $100 or less range. I originally thought all these units were made in the same factory and just had different names stamped on them but I can tell the plastic on this is different and the unit has more heft to it. It also has relays controlling the fan which is a nice touch. In this case my motto of "buy once, cry once" seems to hold water. Plus it is a very attractive unit.


I also pulled the front kick panels. They looked pretty sad and I was able to save one of them from crumbling into multiple pieces. I can use the good one to make a template and cover it in vinyl.

 

Don,
I had found this place but between the price and the complete lack of a picture for the Mark VII made me decide not to go that route.

I ended up buying automotive carpet and edge roll and will attempt to make my own using the existing carpet as a pattern.

Thomas

 

Today I was able to get two coats of rust converting paint on the floor boards. This is after coat #1.



While that was drying I started working on the kick panels for the front. I traced the one good one I had (it's the one on the bottom) onto a piece of fiber board.


After cutting them out each one got two coats of Thompson's Waterseal. This will protect the fiberwood if they ever get wet.
I thought I was getting the clear version but it was a rust color. No worries - these will be hidden when complete.


I thought I had taken a picture in the middle of covering it but I guess I didn't. But here is the finished product.


Here it is installed in the car. The chrome screws are certainly a statement but when I was out of the black ones. I think I need to order some more.


Lastly, I was able to install the new AC unit. After I took this picture I took it back out of the car; once the carpet is in I will reinstall it but I wanted to get all the drilling done before the carpet goes in.

 

Thorsen
What product did you use for the floor rust converting, please?

 

Hi Thomas,
Vintage Air makes there a/c units in San Antonio Texas. They also make most of their heat exchangers. The 1st & 2nd generation Ford GT HVAC was designed and built by Vintage Air. They also did units for Saleen sport cars.

 

Greg, I learned about this 6 or 7 years back when someone gave my Dad an old Jeep and we needed to do something with the rusty frame rails. It works really well, you just need to make sure you prep and clean the surface. I have found that it works very much like POR-15 at about half the price.

Thomas

 

That's interesting information - thank you for sharing! I don't feel so bad about the price anymore.

 

What a trip. Nice to see the car on the road again, and nice to see you're choosing to make it right the first time! I stumbled onto superfastmatt's Mk. V EV conversion, a shame it appears he never finished the car.

 

Just LOOK at that FLAT expanse of FLOOR!!!!
Hardly a divot in sight! Not even a Dog House for the trans, nor a tunnel!
You could treat/cover that in your Sleep!
(You can do that with a proper frame. Thing has a Truck Frame under it!)

>sigh< the stuff of Dreams!
(';')

 

I know I started recovering the seats last week, but the proper order of operations is carpet first, then seats. So I re-focused my attention to the carpet, starting with the piece that covers the lower part of the rear seat base.
This picture has a confusing perspective but the old piece that I removed from the car is on the top and the new one I made is on the bottom.



Here is the new piece glued in place on the car.


Next up was the piece of carpet that runs from the rear of the passenger compartment to just in front of the front seats. I had to sew binding to the edges to give it a finished look.


Before I put the carpet down, I laid 1/4" thick closed cell foam down on the floor board. This will help with noise and heat and the closed cell foam won't absorb moisture.


Here is everything loosely in place without tucking the edges of the carpet in or gluing anything down. I need to decide if I want to put down some to further help with noise and heat but I also like the idea of being able to pull everything off the floor if I need to dry anything out.

 

Tonight I finished the right side front kick panel. This is the start of wrapping it.


And here it is in position.


Next up was the piece of carpet on the transmission tunnel. I need to sew some binding around the hole for the gear shift lever.


After that it was time to revisit the front passenger seat. I undid my work from last week and made a template to cut the foam.
The space between the two templates has a lip with a piece of plastic cord running through it; when this cord is cinched down to the spring base it gives the seat some shape.
Having an inner and outer piece of foam makes it easier to cinch down the plastic cord.


Here is the bottom seat foam cut into the inner and outer sections.


From the top you can see the horse-shoe shape where the plastic cord is sewn to the cover; I will get better pictures when I do the seat back.
I still need to work the cover to the rear and pin it down but we are making progress here.

 

I spent the weekend at my parent's house so I did not get much done on the car, but I was able to check in on Dad's work refinishing the wood.



Dad has been experimenting with applying the wood veneer and it looks like he understands the concepts behind it. I think he's ready to turn up the heat on this part of the project.


Friday morning I made a bracket for the clip that holds the hood prop rod.



Lastly, I think I settled on how I want to handle the shift lever boot. I found this one on Summit Racing and it fits the overall space very well.

 

Lovely, the shift gaiter looks great. And congratulations to your Dad, the wood in the first photo looks wonderful.

 

Thomas, that is Way Beyond Beautamous!
Some of the best Burl I've ever seen!
And I currently live in the Burl capital of the US.
Stunning! Just Stunning!
(';')

 

Tonight I finished up the section of carpet that covers the firewall and the front edge of the transmission hump. Then I threw the original front mats down to see how it all fits.
I need to order some more carpet for the front mats but I am done with all the hard carpet work.



I need to make some decisions on heat/sound insulation for the floorboards and get this part of the project wrapped up.

 

I have not been happy with how the seat backs have been turning out. I have installed and removed the back 3 times now and have been frustrated with how there are major wrinkles at the top corner of the seat backs. I went out to the garage to see how the front driver seat was originally put together.



The front of the seat and the back of the seat are two separate pieces and although there are some minor wrinkles, those are easily hidden by the finishing strip that goes around the top of the seat.


After doing some research, I took a scrap piece of vinyl and practiced getting it to fit. The trick was to use a heat gun to soften the vinyl so it would fit around the corner with minimal wrinkles.
On this piece I did a pretty good job of heating the vinyl and getting it to fit.


The Lseat covers are more difficult to wrap around corners because the vinyl has a think layer of foam glued to it, then it's covered by a tight mesh fabric.
I took my time and heated them gently and got them looking better than I had in the last 3 attempts, but I don't think I am happy yet.


I'm going to take them apart tomorrow and try again. There is an art form to fitting the covers and while I am no artist I think I can do better.

Tonight I also reinstalled the AC evap unit, wired it up, and started working on the hoses between the evap and the firewall. I have a couple more fittings coming tomorrow and I will be able to complete the AC portion. If the weather is nice this weekend I might vacuum the system down and charge it.

 

Sure you'll get it to look great, persistence always pays off eventually.

 

I understand the concept of what I need to do and it works really well on scrap vinyl that I have practiced on, but no matter how much heat I apply I can not get this vinyl to turn pliable. I don't know if it is the type of vinyl or because the vinyl has a foam and mesh back, but whenever I put the heat gun on the vinyl of the seat backs so I can wrap them around the corners, it just gets hot and does not turn workable.
I can do work the scrap vinyl I have practiced on and it's easy, but whatever vinyl they used on the seat covers is pretty tough.

So my 6th and final attempt is below. My wife says it does not look bad and to her credit in person it looks a little better than this picture. But I am frustrated that I can't get it to fit the way I think it should fit. So for now I am going to live with it and keep moving on.



I took advantage of a warm day to push the Jaguar outside and start putting the on top of the floorboard. This should help keep some of the noise out of the car.


After that I put down the 1/4" EPDM closed cell foam which will help with noise and heat, then glued the carpet to that.


I still need to put sound deadening and foam on the firewall, then I need to cut holes for seats and seat belts. The goal is to have the car drivable by the end of this weekend so I can keep testing everything while I work on the other seats.

 

It was a busy day today. I put the sound deadening mat on the firewall, covered it with the EPDM closed cell foam, and put the carpet in place.
The driver and passenger sections are still the originals but I got the pieces needed to make new ones today.
I also decided that I was going to go with a set of Black & Grey Cocomats floormats to protect the carpet.



I also finished plumbing and wiring the AC system tonight. I fit a new receiver/drier and vacuumed down the system; it has been holding for 2 hours now. I'll wait for nicer weather before I charge it.


I also cut holes in the carpet for the bolts that hold the seats and seat belts to pass through. I put a nail in a pair of vice grips, heated it up, then from underneath the car pushed it up through the bolt holes. The hot nail easily melts the foam and carpet and seals the edges to prevent it from unraveling. About 10 years ago I was installing a fire extinguisher in my MGB and was drilling a hole through the carpet to mount it. The drill grabbed the carpet thread and wrapped it around the drill bit, leaving a very noticeable section where the thread was removed. Ever since then I don't drill through carpet.

Lastly, I made the decision the put a power booster on the front brake circuit. This should make the pedal easier to operate and give me the brake feel I want.