Austin Vert's Trunk Makeover Project.

[JimNiki]

Excellent work...

I think we can safely say, you have the neatest 123 trunk in the world!

 

[Austin Vert]

Mike,

Yes, it's strange how some threads can slip past you sometimes.

Nevertheless, thank you so much for your kind words of praise. I'm glad you like what i've done to the old trunk.

As i said before, i think what motivated me to really make an effort to dress the trunk up, was 1. Ford cheated the buying public back then by scrimping on doing something decent with the trunk area, and 2. everything i've seen in my travels so far with aftermarket plastic mats and so called floor mats, have really been very average.

So i said stuff it, i'll go to the trouble of designing and making something with a bit of class and style. It amazed me when i discovered that the high spots across the trunk floor are the same height in relation to each other. That enabled me to create an adjustable common level floating floor across the whole trunk floor area.

I too love the finished look, and i think all the planning and hard work i put into it has payed off. What treatment have you given your trunk area yourself, if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks Mike.

Hi Jim,

Thank you also for your kind words on the boot makeover. Your comment about the best boot , i found amusing too. When i was doing the project, i questioned myself as to whether i was going too far with the whole thing, but i've seen some '64-'69 Mustangs with a similar treatment an thought that was a pretty good look. Also, what treatment have you given your boot area yourself?

BTW, Can i complement you in regards your Mustang. From what i see, it's a really sharp, great looking car. The colour really goes well with the black relief work around the car i think. She's a looker for sure!

Cheers Mate,

Greg.

 

[JimNiki]

Greg, the colour's the old vermilion fire which moffat won bathurst in in 71 in the now legendary phase 111 xy gt.

As you know it's an old Aussie favourite...

Cheers and thanks...

I'm in the process of installing a cool knock sensor kit and in a few weeks, a AFR gauge...

I built the motor on a poor mans budget, so at the very least, I'll tune it to squeeze every last ounce of power out of it,..

 

[OLE PONY]

I'm catching up on threads too! The trunk looks amazing. Looks even better than the trunk in the Lincoln Town Car I use to have!

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

As said, the humidity here is rough. We get about 10 inches more annual rainfall than Seattle and have high relative humidity about 6 months a year. Head to East Tennessee and they get nearly 75inches of rain a year!

I've worked with wood in a boat restoration and soaking it in epoxy fiberglass does wonders at stabilizing it. However that is a messy project. there are some composites that are available in sheets of varying thicknesses that can be worked like wood, and they come in a few colors and textures. They aren't super strong but they are flexible and pretty durable.

After seeing your trunk, there is a future project in my head-hopefully I'll remember my car is meant to be light and go fast and that cool details that add weight are not okay!

 

[luxstang]

Mike,

What treatment have you given your trunk area yourself, if you don't mind me asking?

None whatsoever. Not even a mat in there. Reason is that I have a tank in there because my car has been converted to LPG or GPL (I´ve seen both names) in response to our outrageous gas prices. So there is not much trunk left.

 

[Austin Vert]

Greg, the colour's the old vermilion fire which moffat won bathurst in in 71 in the now legendary phase 111 xy gt.

As you know it's an old Aussie favourite...

Cheers and thanks...

I'm in the process of installing a cool knock sensor kit and in a few weeks, a AFR gauge...

I built the motor on a poor mans budget, so at the very least, I'll tune it to squeeze every last ounce of power out of it,..

Yes Jim,

I remember the colour now, and i've shot a few Fords going back many years in that colour, but it would have been in Acrylic Lacquer.

It's one of the great colours indeed.

All the best with the motor too, yes, where does all the money go and will we ever get it back? Anyway, enjoy as they say!

I'm catching up on threads too! The trunk looks amazing. Looks even better than the trunk in the Lincoln Town Car I use to have!

Gee Whiz Mike, i would have thiught the finish in the Town Car would have been really plush. Thanks for your words of praise-glad you like it. Sorry to hear you have not been well lately. I hope it's not too serious.

Take care,

Greg.

As said, the humidity here is rough. We get about 10 inches more annual rainfall than Seattle and have high relative humidity about 6 months a year. Head to East Tennessee and they get nearly 75inches of rain a year!

I've worked with wood in a boat restoration and soaking it in epoxy fiberglass does wonders at stabilizing it. However that is a messy project. there are some composites that are available in sheets of varying thicknesses that can be worked like wood, and they come in a few colors and textures. They aren't super strong but they are flexible and pretty durable.

After seeing your trunk, there is a future project in my head-hopefully I'll remember my car is meant to be light and go fast and that cool details that add weight are not okay!

Jeff,

Wow, you really do have some way out weather over where you are with very high humidity. You would be considering alternative materials for sure. I take your point about weight too, in regards performace. In my case, with the convertible, she's a weekend cruiser, so big power driving is not my objective. I wanted to create more weight in the back of my car to help balance the weight distribution factor from front to back to help with ride characteristics.

Greg.

Mike,

What treatment have you given your trunk area yourself, if you don't mind me asking?

None whatsoever. Not even a mat in there. Reason is that I have a tank in there because my car has been converted to LPG or GPL (I´ve seen both names) in response to our outrageous gas prices. So there is not much trunk left.

Thanks Mike,

Ahhh, i see what you meen. Yes, it doesn't leave much room left over to do what you want i guess. What's the old saying - you can't have everything in life they tell me. You're country is so beautiful, but what a shame it's so expensive to live there in many ways. Never mind.

Cheers,

Greg.

 

[Boss1Ray]

OK I guess I missed this one too! Apparently many times! Not sure how I did that? ::shrug::

Anyway - this is a great mod to the trunk! Overall - a very clean custom look.

It looks as nice as any new car's trunk.

Ray

 

[Mister 4x4]

Isn't that freakin' awesome? ::thumb::

Can't wait 'til I get to the point of doing cool stuff like this to mine. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[73vertproject]

I, too, missed this one the first time around. It looks great, and gives me an idea about how I can dip my toes into the major interior restoration project ahead of me that I can use as a guinea pig project, if you will. Thanks for the great ideas and awesome look of the finished project!

 

[Austin Vert]

To Ray, Eric and Doc,

Hey guys, sorry you missed my thread i posted a while ago.

I'm really pleased you all like what i've done with the trunk makeover.

Your compliments are much appreciated indeed.

I guess one of the good things about this project is you can do a lot of the work yourself and save money, and end up getting a good looking result.

Thanks again,

Greg.

 

[mudbilly]

Bump.....

I want to do this in my trunk. I have a couple questions

How are the side walls held in place? Are they only attached at the bottom and free at the top ?

You mention a sub but I don't see it. Is it in one of the side walls? How does it sound.

thanks, that is great looking

 

[71_resurrection]

I just did my trunk. I used MDF that is only about a 1/4" thick due to not wanting to put to much weight into the project. This was a royal PITA to make look really good, plus I had a Sub box to work around. The frame is made out of 5/8" MDF cut down to size and cut to fit the contours of the trunk floor. The sides have a frame attached to the MDF floor that they are screwed into. I think it turned out really nice, just have to make a few adjustments to fix a couple of rattles. The floor is covered in aluminum sided sound deadener to help keep the noise level down outside of the car. Hope this helps a little. The sub box is MDF with a fiberglass bottom for a tight fit in its place. I used the formula on Kicker's website to make the size of the sub box as close to correct as i could for two 12" Subs.

 

[Austin Vert]

I just did my trunk. I used MDF that is only about a 1/4" thick due to not wanting to put to much weight into the project. This was a royal PITA to make look really good, plus I had a Sub box to work around. The frame is made out of 5/8" MDF cut down to size and cut to fit the contours of the trunk floor. The sides have a frame attached to the MDF floor that they are screwed into. I think it turned out really nice, just have to make a few adjustments to fix a couple of rattles. The floor is covered in aluminum sided sound deadener to help keep the noise level down outside of the car. Hope this helps a little. The sub box is MDF with a fiberglass bottom for a tight fit in its place. I used the formula on Kicker's website to make the size of the sub box as close to correct as i could for two 12" Subs.

Hey Nik,

That setup is really nice. I love the way and trouble you have gone about customizing your design and layout to achieve the finished setup. It looks really clean, tailored and neat.Your choice of carpeting looks great too.Those two subs sound like they would really kick arse as well.::thumb::

Hi mudbilly,

Thanks, glad you like what i've done. To answer your questions, i used metal right angle brackets,the same size as the ones i used for the pine framework that was attached to the metal floor, and glued them to the underside of the sheet metal quarter panels first using Sikaflex adhesive. This then enabled me to screw and attach the upright side ply panels to these brackets for top support as well as bottom support on the floor.The end result was very strong.

With my sound system, the sub speaker and amp for it were housed in a custom made, black carpeted tray type box design that fits and sits on the floor section just behind the rear seat back up right. (That black carpeted tray, front vertical wall shows in my pics on my opening photos on page one of this thread.) The sub sounds pretty good and helps the overall sound by bringing more bass into the mix so to speak. The sub bass sound is projected mainly into the well liner cavity section, not directly into the trunk like Nik's does. But Nik's sub setup would produce more kick arse bass sound than mine would. I also have the ability to come along later and install another sub speaker that would sit on the right hand side of my sub box tray setup , if i so desire. See my photos. (sub and amp setup appears on pages 2 and 5)

Austin Vert's sound system install photos - -------

http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/gregsladen/library/?view=recent&page=1

Thanks,

Greg.