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Randy Pflanzer
Technology Professionals Consortium
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   What's New?
 
  02/01/13 - Reformatted web page.

 

Trunk

I first attached the hinges to the trunk and the hinges to the hinge bar.  As you can see with the burnt powder coating, I had to heat these up to get them to align properly.  I also drilled out the mounting slots in the plates to allow the trunk to slide away from the hinge as far as possible.  I determined I needed to do that after a couple of trial fittings.

I used a piece of threaded rod to guide me during the heating process to get the right alignment.

After a lot of trial and tribulation, I got the trunk reasonably mounted.  I had to heat and bend the hinge points once again to get the hinge away from the body so it wouldn't rub on the back ledge of the trunk.  I've seen other installs where the builder simply cut the trunk out to allow the hinge to clear.  I tried to avoid that.  I also went ahead and gapped the trunk by using my compass and drawing a line around the opening and using my belt sander to trim the trunk lid.

Like the hood, finding the right geometry to get the prop rod mounted took a little trial and error.  The trick is that you can't go too far down the trunk edge because it starts to curve.  I took it down as far as I could and just mounted it there.  I figured I'd make up and movement needed on the bottom mounting.

On the bottom. I made a steel brace because I had to lower the pivot point a coule of inches below the deck.  This bracket is also twisted just slightly to align with the hinges better to avoid binding when it closes.

Here's an overall view of the completed assembly.  Note how the hinges are now away from the body.  No cut outs needed.

What I thought was a simple bolt on was anything but.  Let's see, the light frame was bent during assembly and didn't bolt together properly.  The studs didn't align with the holes in the license bracket.  I couldn't tell from the instructions how you mounted this thing to the trunk, etc....  In short this was a cluster f&@k from the get go.  After re-bending the light frame, I pounded out the bolt studs and mounted bolts inside the trunk lid.  This required me to drill out two holes.  I glassed in two bolts and re-assembled everything.

This is not a very good picture, but it is the inside of the rear trunk lid upside down.  I have two chrome snap rings inserted into the holes so I can remove the light fixture and get to the wires.

I included this picture to show how I welded up the trunk hinge plates.  Right is the "before" and left is the "after".  I cut spacers and welded them into the slots.  Then I ground the surface smooth and re-shaped the mounting plates.  These should look good when they come back from chrome.

To install the trunk handle, I measured up 2 inches and centered the handle in the trunk.  Interestingly, that didn't center it in the inside.

The handle comes in slightly off-center.  Rather than use self-tapping screws to hold the latch plate on, I drilled holes in the cavity and plugged them with chrome caps.

Here is the finished latch from the inside.

Battery

I bought a good Duracell battery at the auto parts store, however, this one pictured was too tall and I couldn't fit it underneath the rear fender.  I exchanged it for a shorter on but this shows the different hold down clamp that I used.  The one in the kit is junk.  Throw it away.  This one was $5 at Autozone and is much sturdier.  I also wired up my Battery Brain unit, which will allow me to remotely disconnect the battery.

Above where the battery will be located, I mounted a ground bus.  This is where all the ground wires for the electrical fixtures in the trunk will terminate.  It will be wired directly to the battery.  I have one of these for the passenger compartment underneath the dash as well.

I bolted the battery tray down per the instructions and installed the battery and associated wiring.

I don't want to leave the battery exposed so I fabricated a cover using fiberglass cut outs from other parts of the body.  I used some nutserts installed in the floor for the three mounting screws.

After a little sanding and filling and priming, this is the final product.  It will eventually get covered in leather as the upholsterer finishes the trunk off.

Next up is the installation of the driveshaft.  That works begins on the next page.