Under dashboard panels

The early cars such as this had two (?) Hardura  (if anyone knows what this stuff is really called please let me know!) under-dash panels to neaten up the appearance in the foot-wells and also deaden sound. My car had only the passenger's side panel and this was detached. I ordered a replacement for the driver's side from Lotusbits.

Under dash panels- pair. LHS driver, RHS passenger front of car DOWN. Note captive U-clip nuts fitted to the driver-side only.

Under dash panels underside Note sound insulation and spigots for attachment of the smaller foot well heater hoses (larger diameter fit into dash side vents). Drivers side RHS, passenger LHS, front of car DOWN. Drivers panel has cutouts to accommodate the pedal box and a curved section for the steering column

When I received this panel there was an obvious difference with the original. The method for fixing these panels isn't described at all in the WSM and not shown clearly in the parts manual; however it clearly involves at least two self tapping screws at the front and for the driver-side at least one more towards the rear.

Looking at the front two screws first- these are used to secure an overlap between the curved return at the bottom of the dashboard itself and the under-dash panel. They are fitted using the normal U-clip captive nuts into which the self tapper can tighten. These clip-on nut fittings are usually found on the second of any two panels to be joined so that the screw penetrates the first panel (which is held under the screw head), and then tightens into this fitting on the second panel drawing the two together. The problem is that the captive bolts are fitted different ways in each panel. Looking at the figure above, the driver's side panel (Lotusbits) has the captive nuts fitted to the under dash panel; whilst on the passenger-side (original to car) they are missing. This difference is also reflected in the car- I found that the captive nut U clips were fitted to the dashboard below the glove box, but none were present on the dash below the instruments.

Bottom of dash above pedals- there are screw holes in the lower margin of the dash but no clips...

The dash below the glove box did have clips...

U clip captive nut fitted below glove-box.

This suggests that the passenger side panel would be fitted under the dashboard exposing its edge and also the fitting clip; whereas that on the right would fit behind the dashboard return hiding both the edge of the panel and the fittings. It didn't seem right that the panels would be fitted in different ways on each side but the parts manual lacked the detail to resolve the issue. Obviously these could have been altered- and as I wanted them to match I decided to go with the neater of the two finishes and remove the clips from the passenger side dash- installing new ones on the under dash panel. This also revealed another reason why these clips shouldn't be installed on the dash itself as they tend to damage the leather unless removed very carefully. I was able to get them off though and clean up the rust stains too!

I fitted new captive clips to the passenger side panel- if you looked carefully there were indications that such clips had once been present here, but they were very faint. Note that there was an additional hole in the side of the panel -not described in the parts manual at all. I fitted another clip here. This will overlap the centre knee panel below the dash.

The rear of the panel also featured an extra hole for a rear fitting (see on) even though this isn't featured in the parts manual either. There was a tell-tale mark here where a captive panel nut had been present in the past ...

So I fixed a new one here using a hot glue gun to secure.

There was a single right-angle clip at the end of the passenger foot-well. This also had a U-clip nut fitted. This suggests that the back of the panel should fit under this clip and be screwed up against it. This would give a neat fit but it seemed asking for trouble to have the panel secured only by a single screw at the rear as its weight, vibration etc would tend to pull this down. I decided therefore to install the panel above the fitting so that its weight would rest on it and moved the clip to the under dash panel so that I could screw upwards, through this clip and into the panel above. The clip itself will not really show being at the bottom of the foot-well.

Rear panel clip as described above. I have fitted the under-dash panel above it and will pull it down to secure with a screw leaving the clip supporting the weight of the panel which rests on it, rather than "hanging" from it on the screw.

Fitting this panel wasn't easy and I can well see why the LBPO might have refitted the panel outside and overlapping the dashboard rather than getting it to fit neatly into the curve below the glove-box. However, overall I was quite pleased with the effect.

Under-dash panel fitted on passenger-side; all fittings and the panel itself now invisible!

There was another problem also not solved by the parts manual- and that is should the panel go above or below the knee panel on the inside of the foot-well. I think it probably looks neater if the panel overlaps this as the raw edge would be hidden where it abuts the knee panel, however, my car had a screw hole in the leather and and extra side hole in the under-dash panel itself (see above). Further the panel looked as though it might once have had a U clip nut but there was no trace of such a clip ever having been present on the knee panel. This suggests that the under-dash panel went above the knee panel and was screwed through from below. This in the end is how I fixed it. I am not completely happy with this arrangement but I have nothing to compare it with. I can always rearrange it later if I find its wrong, but it is at least out of sight (and out of the passenger's way) for the time being.

Driver's side panel fitted

Fitting the driver's side was much more straightforward and rather less of a struggle. I did have to trim the panel slightly to  go round the pedal box but as it wasn't made for this car I think some element of tailoring is appropriate. This panel does have a rear fastening shown in the parts manual. This is a 90 degree bracket fixed to the pedal box. It isn't possible to fit this under the panel it supports but it was easily fixed by screwing from below.

Of course I also hooked up both the heater hoses before fixing the panels firmly back in place. The LHS was simple- the heater hose simply pushed over the spigot. The RHS was a little harder as the hose was too small- another sign I suspect that this wasn't really meant for the car. I solved the problem using a short length of suitably sized silicone hose as an adaptor- fitting inside both spigot and hose.