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.
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