Trunk Work |
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| The Bear body has some neat compartments in the
trunk with access panels attached with machine screws
into metal inserts. We will be putting a lot of things
in the trunk - sub, amp, CD player, CD changer, battery,
air ride compressor, air ride tank, valves, and probably
more things that I'm not thinking about. Also, we
won't be carrying a 2x3 hardwood beam to rod runs
to hold up the deck lid - a support will be installed
in the near future. |
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We got all Clarion sound equipment, and it
arrived the day after we
ordered it! (Clarion APX640.4 Amplifier, DCZ625 CD changer, DXZ655MP CD
player, and a PXW1041 Sub). A sealed sub box was bought from an automotive stereo shop. It is
designed to sit behind the seat in a truck, but
I figured it would work great in this application
too. The manual says not to mount anything to the
box, but a friend in the know said it isn't a big
deal. So, because of limited space and the fact
that The Testament on CD and Gordon Lightfoot will
probably be the closest thing to heavy bass my
dad will listen to, I'll be mounting pretty much
everything to the box. I cut a piece of plywood
to the shape of the floor of the space and Vette
Panel Bonded it to the floor. The LizardSkin insulation
had to be removed in the areas I was slopping the
panel bond. I also had to move the wire connection
block from the center of the box to the lower corner
because of the depth of the magnet and because
I was putting the amp on the back of the box.
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Here's the plywood piece I put from the wheel
well to the front of the compartment which holds
the compressor, tank, and valves. Do not put the
panel bond on any outside surface - it will eventually
show through and you'll never be able to get rid
of it.
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An Optima yellow-top battery will
be used. I'm mounting it through the base of the
battery with four bolts into special inserts threaded
into the wood.
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| The CD player and changer will need
to be accessible even when the back panel is installed,
and there is luggage in the trunk. The changer won't
play mp3 files or wma, but the deck will. So, we will
be able to listen to six regular CDs plus one assorted
CD. The box is attached to the wood with the same
inserts as the battery. If you're wondering how we're
going to change tracks and adjust the volume, I'll
tell you. We'll simply pull over under a bridge, open
the trunk, unload the luggage, take out the six machine
screws holding the back panel in place, then turn
the knob or change to the next CD. Simple, eh? I have
a better idea. There will be a hidden "eye"
somewhere in the dash (see if you can find it before
the car is done... it'll be fun!) that will send a
signal along a wire to an LED transmitter that will
be pointed to the CD player. So we will be able to
perform all the functions that we'll need to perform
minus changing sound levels and fade, etc. from a
remote inside the car, without a CD player to look
at all the time. The dash will be nice and clean.
A removable access panel will be added right in front
of the CD player and changer so that we can change
settings and CDs easily. But I'm sure 7 CDs can outlast
a 60 year old bladder. |
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These bulkheads from Air Ride Technologies
will allow us to run the air through the trunk floor,
keeping the lines between the floor and the access
panel.
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| This is looking up at the bulkhead from
under the car. It's a good thing we got that Backyard
Buddy lift - I would have had to actually crawl under
the car to take this picture! |
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| That's all there is to it... run the
lines from the solenoids to the bulkheads, and nobody
will ever know. |
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I've got the solenoids mounted upside-down
on the same piece of wood that the tank and compressor
are on. It would have been wise to have mounted
it before I installed the wood panel, but who doesn't
envy a contortionist once in a while? All six feet
two inches of me that was twisted like a shamois
doesn't. That's Vette Panel Adhesive holding the
wood to the 'glass. That stuff is amazing!
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