So, bugger the old passenger footwell. It displeased me because it was at 90 degrees to the floor, making it super uncomfortable for anyone over 4 ft tall.

This displeasure became one impulsive moment with the air-chisel and flap disk and it was out. Of course, the solution is composite.

The specification for the new footwell is to :

• have it angled for comfort,
• gain 75mm travel for feet
• add some kind of surface ridges for strength and grip
• accommodate size 11 trainers
• be lighter than the steel that came out
• be stronger than  the steel that came out
• have superior impact resistance in case of the clutch letting go
• double up as a foot-brace for passengers

ancle cracker

The Original Footwell – here it is, and obviously at 90 degrees to any sane sense of comfort. Furthermore, the Fury footwell is quite short and anyone over 5’8 is going to struggle to be comfortable. You can also see the rust on the left and the carbon/aramid trial floor panel I made.

First Fit of the Footwell. So this is the initial first fit of the footwell. It’s been deliberately designed to have a gap between the chassis members on both sides in case of an impact. As well as this there’s a gap of 1 mm between all aspects of the footwell and the chassis members again to allow for epoxy adhesive. It’s been made from sheets of 3*450 gsm chopped strand mat.

Here it is looking down from the top. You can see how it gets close to the chassis members to give the most leg room and foot room possible. It also has to get close to the starter motor and avoid the bell-housing but has to give enough room to get a spanner in there as well.

Initial Bonding.  I used ISOPON P 40 chopped strand matt body filler compound used to give the initial bonding. It’s very strong and very quick to set; generally it will set in under 20 minutes, rock hard. This is much better than hot-melt glue which leaves a residue that you can’t sand.

Reinforcement. once the ISOPON had set I have then reinforced the joints with expanding foam. This adds nothing to structural integrity but later I will need to cut into the joints in order to put the quadrant beading in place. The expanding foam gives me something to rest the quadrant beading on. In this case I will use body filler to stick the beading to the foam, and what survives of the P40.

And so to bed. he is the part ready for final finishing. You can see lots of gaps which will need to be filled with body filler. I also need to cut all of the 90° corners out and replace them with quadrant beading.  I use quadrant beading to give a large radius because carbon fibre does not like going round sharp corners. If you leave it with sharp corners then there’s a good chance there will be bridging and associated voids and weaknesses.