The Boot Shelf
The original shelf was a thin black plastic lid that rattled and looked..well cheap, before we had even thought of doing the interior a new boot lid was is planning.
We had set out to make a feature of each area were intending to modify and logical step(albeit and mad one for such a car) was a spoiler, I bought a genuine 5ft carbon fibre spoiler in keeping with other carbon items(fenders, seats etc), my new lid would obviously have to be sturdy enough to accommodate this item whilst allowing access to the space below . I had dabbled with some wire mesh and fibre glass to create a custom moulded boot which housed a storage space below, but this was impractical as it would hinder all access to the fuel tank/ pump and rear electricals, so a 2 dimensional lid was opted for.
A 15mm MDF sheet was marked round using the original lid as a template, the spoiler was going to be bolted to a centre piece which would be secure yet easily removable, the size of which was dictated by the width of the spoiler feet, with this marked, the centre piece was centred and cut.
As the original flimsy lid was not secured in any way, right angle brackets were marked and secured to the chassis for the rear shelf to bolt to, the front is secured by the seat harness points which bolt through it.
All holes were drilled and plugged with raw plugs-to prevent losing them when filling later. To add strength and weather resistance to the shelf it was fibre glassed both sides with mat and resin(available from auto stores), you don't have long to work with this before it sets so its best to have the matting pre-cut and laid onto the wood before mixing the resin. The centre piece was glassed separate to the main shelf to prevent welding the two together!, allow 24hrs for application to dry.
The lid can then be sanded(I used an orbital with aluminium oxide paper)to remove any edges(remember, wear a mask when ever handling-and especially when sanding fibre glass).
Once the two were mated and sanded sufficiently to wedge a slither of thin card(see picture) around the lid to separate the two for the next stage, filling.
Easy sand auto filler was applied and sanded in progressive layers(again, aluminium oxide is better than sand paper for smoothing this-it also lasts for longer!), with the lid free of the shelf it was imperative it was filled on a flat surface to ensure it stayed level.
Once the filling is complete(top only) the lid can be knocked out again and and all edges re sanded, a very fine grit(1500) paper was used to get a very smooth finish.
I originally intended to have the shelf sprayed, but we decided that leather would be more in keeping with the interior-and we could do that ourselves!
To allow for the 2mm thickness of the leather this was sanded off around the lid edge, those handy raw plugs marking my original holes can now be drilled though. The lid was glued taught and tacked on the underside and re-offered to the lid to see if any further sanding was required, when satisfied at the clearance, the shelf was leathered.
The spoiler was then bolted to the lid and flat brackets were fitted to the underside of the shelf to support it, chrome bonnet catches were fitted to the top of the lid to further secure.
We had set out to make a feature of each area were intending to modify and logical step(albeit and mad one for such a car) was a spoiler, I bought a genuine 5ft carbon fibre spoiler in keeping with other carbon items(fenders, seats etc), my new lid would obviously have to be sturdy enough to accommodate this item whilst allowing access to the space below . I had dabbled with some wire mesh and fibre glass to create a custom moulded boot which housed a storage space below, but this was impractical as it would hinder all access to the fuel tank/ pump and rear electricals, so a 2 dimensional lid was opted for.
A 15mm MDF sheet was marked round using the original lid as a template, the spoiler was going to be bolted to a centre piece which would be secure yet easily removable, the size of which was dictated by the width of the spoiler feet, with this marked, the centre piece was centred and cut.
As the original flimsy lid was not secured in any way, right angle brackets were marked and secured to the chassis for the rear shelf to bolt to, the front is secured by the seat harness points which bolt through it.
All holes were drilled and plugged with raw plugs-to prevent losing them when filling later. To add strength and weather resistance to the shelf it was fibre glassed both sides with mat and resin(available from auto stores), you don't have long to work with this before it sets so its best to have the matting pre-cut and laid onto the wood before mixing the resin. The centre piece was glassed separate to the main shelf to prevent welding the two together!, allow 24hrs for application to dry.
The lid can then be sanded(I used an orbital with aluminium oxide paper)to remove any edges(remember, wear a mask when ever handling-and especially when sanding fibre glass).
Once the two were mated and sanded sufficiently to wedge a slither of thin card(see picture) around the lid to separate the two for the next stage, filling.
Easy sand auto filler was applied and sanded in progressive layers(again, aluminium oxide is better than sand paper for smoothing this-it also lasts for longer!), with the lid free of the shelf it was imperative it was filled on a flat surface to ensure it stayed level.
Once the filling is complete(top only) the lid can be knocked out again and and all edges re sanded, a very fine grit(1500) paper was used to get a very smooth finish.
I originally intended to have the shelf sprayed, but we decided that leather would be more in keeping with the interior-and we could do that ourselves!
To allow for the 2mm thickness of the leather this was sanded off around the lid edge, those handy raw plugs marking my original holes can now be drilled though. The lid was glued taught and tacked on the underside and re-offered to the lid to see if any further sanding was required, when satisfied at the clearance, the shelf was leathered.
The spoiler was then bolted to the lid and flat brackets were fitted to the underside of the shelf to support it, chrome bonnet catches were fitted to the top of the lid to further secure.
