The last chapter of the build manual! My kit came with the optional interior trim set, comprising of 2 foam-backed vinyl trim sections, leather gaiters for the gear and handbrake levers and a set of rubber floor mats.
First bit to go on was the trim for the rear bulkhead, behind the seats. The harnesses had to be removed and the trim taped in position. I marked the centre of the harness mounting holes by punching small holes with my test lamp probe. The trim was then removed and the holes were cut out with a small pair of curved scissors. With the top of the trim secured by the harness bolts, an oval-shaped section was removed from the lower central area to fit round the transmission tunnel. As the SVA tester may want to look at the harness mountings, the trim was not stuck to the chassis at this stage.
Next, the transmission tunnel trim. This already had cut-outs for the gear and handbrake levers, but I found that the slot for the handbrake was too short - the trim was catching in the lever ratchet. I carefully separated the vinyl from the foam backing and cut the foam to form a longer slot. The vinyl was then slit radially around the slot, folded under and glued to the foam, as had been done originally by the trim manufacturers.
The gear lever gaiter also didn't want to fit very neatly. Whatever I tried, it still looked rather crumpled and untidy. Luckily, I had kept the rubber inner gaiter from the donor car. This fitted perfectly in the hole in the trim, and looks a lot neater. The standard length Sierra gear lever looks rather ridiculous in the Xtreme, so I decided to shorten it. As I have a tap and die set, I thought it would be a 5-minute job to cut 75mm off and rethread the end to take the gear knob. Unfortunately, the top 30mm or so of the original lever is the required 10mm diameter, but further down the lever, it's about 13mm. This meant reducing the diameter of the shortened lever before I could use the die. I know it doesn't sound too difficult, but as I only had a rather blunt, cheap hand file, this took about 2 hours! Eventually I got there and the shorter lever looks and feels much better. With the lever back in place, 2 holes were marked and cut for the inner lap belt mounts and the trim was stuck to the top and sides of the tunnel with double-sided trim tape.
The rubber floor mats were next. These were supplied already cut to fit the fit the floorplan, with just a bit of trimming required for the driver's footwell mat. The mats that fit under the seats had to have holes cut for the seat mounting bolts to pass through and the one on the driver's side also had to be cut to allow the exhaust mounting bolts through. The rubber was pierced with the test probe to mark the hole centres, but my small scissors wouldn't cut through the rubber, so I placed the mats on a block of wood and used a wood chisel and hammer to make neat square holes.
Before fitting the mats and seats, I slightly enlarged the pre-drilled holes in the floorpan. Fellow Xtreme builder Richard had advised me that his seats were difficult to fit as the holes didn't quite line up with the seat frames and runners. To make the job easier, I drilled the existing 8mm diameter holes out to 10mm.
The non-adjustable passenger seat was simple to fit. 4 bolts are inserted from underneath the car, through the floor, and into captive nuts in the seat frames. 50mm diameter, 5mm thick steel washers are supplied, to ensure that the bolt heads do not pull through the floor in the event of an accident.
Fitting the driver's seat took a bit longer. Firstly, the seat runners were bolted to the seat frames, then the seats are bolted into the car. 20mm high spacers are inserted between the runners and floor to give clearance for the adjustment lever and mechanism. Allen-headed bolts are then inserted from above, through the runners, spacers and floor, with more large washers and nyloc nuts underneath. I managed to fit the two outer bolts and fixings, but couldn't reach the inner pair. Luckily, my friend Greg dropped by, to see how the build was going, so he was immediately enlisted to hold the bolts from above, while I got under the car to fit the washers and nuts.
