Complete interior change.
 

Thinking of changing my ash grey/smokestone interior to sandstone/beige.
Intend buying something every few weeks until i have complete set ready for change in warmer times. Can't buy it all in one go,poor pensioner. Seen a sand stone carpet for sale,just wondering if the carpet is permanently attached to sponge.

yes foam and carpet all in one, better a 2 person job taking out and fitting new one .:icon_rolleyes:

It's a big job doing the complete swap to sandstone as the pillar trims and headlining is different too.

Yeah, the carpet and sponge come as one and it’s fairly straightforward to remove. Just try to remember where all the screws go!

All the lower interior trim needs to be popped off, or out (carpet sill trims, heater closure panels, driver’s footrest, lower A and B post trims); front seats out; rear seat cushion up; seatbelt lower bolts undone; remove gaiters and surrounds for handbrake and gear lever; stereo and centre console out (there’s a plug to disconnect the electronics of the centre console at the front near the passenger cup holder, once you lift the console up a little - no need to undo the hazard switches etc.); and take out the the gear lever, if auto (pulls straight up and out - be careful not to injure yourself at this, as it comes undone abruptly).

At this stage, you’ll need to wiggle the carpet out from under the dash trim at the bulkhead and then loosen up remaining portions of the carpet (be very careful not to rip the carpet when you’re wooling at it - quite easy to tear, particularly near the gear lever opening in the centre).
Shove the rear air vents (located under the front seats) through their carpet openings and then you’ll be ready to carefully remove the carpet through the driver side rear door (folding driver and passenger sides of the carpet up and together, to let it out).

Think that’s the most of it. I’ve done this twice now, but I would certainly suggest a second pair of hands for the removal part, especially if the carpet is wet (that sponge can hold many gallons of water!).

Good luck,
Karl.

It also helps if you make sure that the wheels are safely chocked beforehand, so that you can leave the handbrake lever in the lowered position (if memory serves me right, this makes removal of the carpet a little easier).

I would say that doing a complete interior change is certainly a big job, in that it’s quite time consuming, but it’s technically quite straightforward, and everything goes back together as it should. Slow and methodical is best :)

Cheers,
Karl.

Had s sandstone interior in my 45 and was lovely when it was new, BUT, it was a mare to keep clean (especially the carpet) and most of all it faded with age, like the red carpets you see in BRM's that have faded to a blotchy red/pink.

Got ash grey/black in my ZT and prefer that, the darker the better for me.

You need new door cards too as they are a different colour. If you were putting in a personal line interior (Deep Sea Green / Aubergine or Neptune Blue) you'd need to take out and change the dashboard top too.

Easy enough to do , just allow plenty of time and keep your hand clean .

Am I right in thinking that the earlier cars had a much higher quality carpet ?

Yes they were far superior quality... the later ones are awful..