Well, I had been putting it off for some time. I started to race my car and needed to drop a few lbs. Not to mention I was kinda bored with the way my trunk looked. Here is what my trunk looked like. The trunk opened and closed via linear actuators and to be honest was cool at first but slowly became annoying. It took forever to open and close!
BEFORE:
Ok, so first thing I had to do was minimize the system and remove the actuators. Here is what I came up with.
I didn't care how it looked since I had plans to hide everything. I know, I know, It is ugly as a trunk can get but we are getting to the dressing up part.
I replaced the actuators with gas struts so I didn't have to revert back to the torsion bar setup and lose valuable space. I also located a trunk release actuator and button so I could open the trunk from the glove box, or remote control.
Here is a picture of the button location, I like the modifications that I do to my car to appear stock so I chose to hide it in the glove box.
Now that the system was in and the trunk opened, and stayed open via the struts, it was time to create the templates for my trunk paneling.
This is probably the hardest part of all because it will directly reflect how everything looks in the end.
Here is a picture of the trunk paneling in cardboard.
I had plans to create a door on the floor for access to the spare tire well. That is why I only have half of the floor covered.
After all the templates were good to go and everything held itself in place with out the use of screw or velcro, I was ready to cut everything out in a thin particle board.
There is a name for it, but I cant think of it. I basically used "pegboard" material minus the holes with the exception of the back piece. I used a piece with holes to let a little bass through.
Here are the panels all cut and installed.
The back piece had to be hinged on the ends to fit in the trunk opening since I used up all of the available space.
So far it was looking promising. I made the floor without the door and had planned on cutting it out after I wrapped it in material for better fitment.
Well here it is...Kinda
I didn't like the way everything looked flat... I especially disliked the way the floor material looked in the sun. I picked a lighter gray to give it some dimension but it was a big fail on my part. Here is a pic of it in the sun.
I hated it lol.
Finally I decided to ditch the false floor idea and went with the same color through out and came up with this.
Ahh yes, there we go! I really liked the way the material hugged the floor giving it some texture and letting the design of the floorpan shine through!
This gave me more options and all that was left was to fab up a door or put something in the hole.
Since I wasn't sure on what was going in there, and I already had the wood and material out. I decided to make a panel that covered the hole.
This is my finished product and I really like the way it came out!
Let me know what y'all think, or if you have any questions.
Thanks!
AFTER:
BEFORE:
Ok, so first thing I had to do was minimize the system and remove the actuators. Here is what I came up with.
I didn't care how it looked since I had plans to hide everything. I know, I know, It is ugly as a trunk can get but we are getting to the dressing up part.
I replaced the actuators with gas struts so I didn't have to revert back to the torsion bar setup and lose valuable space. I also located a trunk release actuator and button so I could open the trunk from the glove box, or remote control.
Here is a picture of the button location, I like the modifications that I do to my car to appear stock so I chose to hide it in the glove box.
Now that the system was in and the trunk opened, and stayed open via the struts, it was time to create the templates for my trunk paneling.
This is probably the hardest part of all because it will directly reflect how everything looks in the end.
Here is a picture of the trunk paneling in cardboard.
I had plans to create a door on the floor for access to the spare tire well. That is why I only have half of the floor covered.
After all the templates were good to go and everything held itself in place with out the use of screw or velcro, I was ready to cut everything out in a thin particle board.
There is a name for it, but I cant think of it. I basically used "pegboard" material minus the holes with the exception of the back piece. I used a piece with holes to let a little bass through.
Here are the panels all cut and installed.
The back piece had to be hinged on the ends to fit in the trunk opening since I used up all of the available space.
So far it was looking promising. I made the floor without the door and had planned on cutting it out after I wrapped it in material for better fitment.
Well here it is...Kinda
I didn't like the way everything looked flat... I especially disliked the way the floor material looked in the sun. I picked a lighter gray to give it some dimension but it was a big fail on my part. Here is a pic of it in the sun.
I hated it lol.
Finally I decided to ditch the false floor idea and went with the same color through out and came up with this.
Ahh yes, there we go! I really liked the way the material hugged the floor giving it some texture and letting the design of the floorpan shine through!
This gave me more options and all that was left was to fab up a door or put something in the hole.
Since I wasn't sure on what was going in there, and I already had the wood and material out. I decided to make a panel that covered the hole.
This is my finished product and I really like the way it came out!
Let me know what y'all think, or if you have any questions.
Thanks!
AFTER:
