Like
any trunk that is used it gets nasty looking over time. Easiest way I found to clean it is to remove carpet,
toss on sidewalk, scrub it good with warm soapy water and scrub brush, then
rinse it good with garden hose. While
carpet is drying in the Georgia
sunshine, will clean remainder of trunk.
After a good scrubbing inside, have a few nicks and scratches so will apply a little DU Blue. When that dries will go ahead and wax the painted areas.
Under
the carpet, adding some lightweight foam type insulation. Is easy to cut with scissors and hold in
place with a few little dabs of contact cement.
The seams won’t show after carpet is installed. Also tacked some behind the battery area,
inside the cavity on the driver’s side, and under panel in rear.
The metal piece in center is a piece of aluminum siding cut to cover the hole for the driver’s side cavity. The extra padding cuts down on noise in the trunk and helps some with exhaust noise and road noise. The best part is that it is free except for a little touch-up paint and some contact cement.
Here
is one square foot of the ½” thick foam used.
Weight is just a hair over one ounce.
If only covering the area under the carpet will need about 6 SF. If doing the remainder of areas mentioned
will need about 9 SF. So we added less
than 10 ounces of weight. The turbo does
not seem to notice it at all!
Rummaged around beside the dumpster at a local carpet store for scraps of padding. Don’t need huge pieces since will have to cut them up to contour inside the trunk. Had my choice of several different types of padding, and thought this was the best choice.
Carpet
is all back in place and the padding is invisible. Will not know it is there unless you rap on
the trunk from underneath or drop something inside and listen for the reduced
noise.
The spare tire cover is just a painted piece of hardboard. Inside is a cut down plastic bucket that I keep my registration and other paperwork inside. The hardboard, jack and handle are painted with Krylon True Blue. Is a very good match for Mariner Blue. Not close enough to use as touch-up paint.
Here
is a handy $8 addition to trunk made by AutoShade. Appears to be made from heavy nylon with
Velcro fasteners for the pocket flaps.
No problems cutting it with scissors and sewing it on sewing
machine. It now contours to the back
liner in trunk. The little push pins
from the rear panel secure it at top and bottom. Attached the supplied fasteners to rear of
taillight housing at each end.
The black one has 12 years of use, still looks good.
This
is a slight amount of added security, but is only $4 at Wal-Mart. Shortened the chain to fit an eye bolt secured
through the trunk floor. Secured a
segment of angle iron inside the back edge of trunk lid with an added extension
to hook the lock.
Trunk only opens about 4”, but is enough to reach hand inside and work this type of levers. With a few practice tries, it only takes a few seconds to open lock by feel. Just use it when you feel like it.
Will not stop any serious attempt to enter trunk but for $4 may slow them down a little.