66 dart trunk improvement ideas (or waiting on paint to dry)

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66Dvert

66Dvert

Working on my custom car parts again!
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I had a couple of ideas while I was waiting on the paint on the window regulators to dry and decided to spruce up the trunk area. Dng now I need material, ahhh well here's what I did
pictures tell the story ..
I wonder if anyones got a cnc machine that could route those letters and GT emblem out for me? I have it saved in cambam style and as a DFX file and in a standard NC file . (have not finished my DIY wood only cnc router yet darnit or I would do it.)


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now to decide on the cloth/vinyl/tweed style material. what do ya think about covering the filler tube with a contrasting padded vinyl that'll be in the trunk area. umm the trunk's going to be the same color as the carpet in the car (dark brown) so I'm thinking a light tan color om the filler tube wrap?
 
73AbodEE said:
how are you attaching the panels to the car ?
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the back panel with the 66 gt emblem on it will have 2 small screws that go on the top piece just outside the hinges and will be hidden by the 2 side panels and velcro'd in the center top section right below the trunk gutter.
the side pane;s will be velcro'd in front and rear top side. back trunk lock panel will have 2 plastic (plug that has a center pin in it to lock it in like a removable molly) plugs to hold it in place.
 
What are the boards made of? Is that paneling, 1/4"plywood? I think when I do it I will be using abs since it has a little more flexibility. Looks like a very good start. I watched your led brake light vid on youtube, that is also some very very nice work.
 
66Dvert said:
the back panel with the 66 gt emblem on it will have 2 small screws that go on the top piece just outside the hinges and will be hidden by the 2 side panels and velcro'd in the center top section right below the trunk gutter.
the side pane;s will be velcro'd in front and rear top side. back trunk lock panel will have 2 plastic (plug that has a center pin in it to lock it in like a removable molly) plugs to hold it in place.
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i see. so when the pieces are in their final covering they wont rattle around and make noise. its looking great, cant wait to see it finished.
 
here is mine, '66 Dart Convertible :)

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73AbodEE said:
i see. so when the pieces are in their final covering they wont rattle around and make noise. its looking great, cant wait to see it finished.
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me either on it being finished part.
the side panels are the key part. they'll lock the bottom of the back/front panels in on the sides and the plastic locking pins will hold the centers of the front and back. the sides will have small sewn hand pulls up near the to for easy removal

I am going to add a partial removable floor to the trunk and build it up so it'll be flat when I put in the larger tire (I have not measured how much higher I'll have to go or even if the 14 rally with 205's will fit) if it does fit I'll add a riser and re- floor it with lift out or hinged ply and carpet to match the interior carpet color that way I'll have a couple of inches of storage space that hidden around the tire well and can store tools and repair items in that area without it looking cluttered.
 
mcnoople said:
What are the boards made of? Is that paneling, 1/4"plywood? I think when I do it I will be using abs since it has a little more flexibility. Looks like a very good start. I watched your led brake light vid on youtube, that is also some very very nice work.
Click to expand...

yeah it's 5 layer 1/4 luan. I have some ABS 3/16th sheet but I was saving that for the door panels . I'm trying to clean up the door s so that it looks smooth with hidden door handles(if I can get the idea to work). so everything gets prototyped in cardboard first, luan ply second and abs 3rd. (if everything works out)

plus I can heat the abs and roll it around the filler tube to give it a full look and pad it also.


yeah the led's came out pretty nice, there are some newer (they are smaller 3 will fit where 1 of this style sit's and just as bright) led's out there that I'm going to try out since I can get a WHOLE lot more of them in the housing and there are some power regulation mod's I want to try to help with low idle light fade and to make the complete thing "almost" plug and play with only 2 wires to splice in to make it work on any 66 dart. the cool part is that you can make all 4 work as a tail turn, even with bulbs using my wiring mod. to me that makes the back of the dart look soooo much better and safer using either custom led boards like I did or bulbs since all 4 light up as turn/stop/tail light instead of just the outer 2 stop/turn/tail and the 2 inner light stayed tails only.
 
I'm trying to make the trunk look as good as I think the interior will hopefully come out. here's the problem.
1. Early A body (my Favorite convertible)
2. 13 inch tires NOT happenin!
3. Fit the newer 15 inch tire into the trunk well. it does but.... it's a leeettle tall. NO I'm not going to cut the bottom out and add metal to sink it flush., I already thought of that and discovered the gas tanks get's in the way darnit.

4. figure out a way to cover it and still look good


see it fit's
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but it's 4 inched too tall.
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and fills the well completely I had to stuff it in. that tire ain't going to rattle.
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here it comes within 3/4th of an inch of the covering
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and I'm working on a trunk filler tube cover. I've got some leftover lexan that I'll heat up and fold over the filler tube then cover it in contrasting material.
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so I'm thinking that I take the covering and do like this .
covered in vinyl

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I'll make a luan top circle and bend me a circle out of luan to stiffen the sides and the cover it in vinyl. get some carpet and make a hole in it and glue them together so it comes off in 1 piece.

sort of looks like a top hat with a wide brim. (no sombrero's here!)
should work as long as I get it to fit in between the tire and the trunk latch covering.
 
What about a thinner spare like from a fox body mustang? or is it SBP?
 
yeah, donut spare might work. was just thinking about this for my car the other day.
will be keeping an eye on what you come up with for the spare.
 
vitamindart said:
yeah, donut spare might work. was just thinking about this for my car the other day.
will be keeping an eye on what you come up with for the spare.
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I really don't care for a thinner spare, but I might have to go that way if the cover doesn't work. It is a 5 on 4 1.2 pattern I had the axles re-drilled and scarebird fronts done up to 45 on 4 1/2 instead of re-drilling to 5 on 4. It going in a /6 so I'm not too worried about the rear axle re-drill.
 
66Dvert said:
OHH I LIKE that! any hints on how to do that.

I " assume" first layer is the main shape and a layer for the flames and then foam to smooth it out then covered?
that's how I'm going to do my door panels unless I find an easier way for me to do it.
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My brother just bought the car and the guy told us he laid out his design, then trimmed and sanded the foam. Then glue and roll on the vinyl. It looks very nice.

I work in a shop and I never understood why people don't like mini spares. A spare tire is designed to get you to a place to repair your car properly. My thoughts are that if it looks stupid on your car, maybe you'll be more motivated to get the tire fixed more quickly. Hopefully you will never need to use your spare anyway.
 
Mopar to ya said:
My brother just bought the car and the guy told us he laid out his design, then trimmed and sanded the foam. Then glue and roll on the vinyl. It looks very nice.

I work in a shop and I never understood why people don't like mini spares. A spare tire is designed to get you to a place to repair your car properly. My thoughts are that if it looks stupid on your car, maybe you'll be more motivated to get the tire fixed more quickly. Hopefully you will never need to use your spare anyway.
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cool thanks for the info. I'm wanting to do the hood insulation pad with the mopar M logo or the penta star one. I have a doughnut tire available to use but wanted to keep the rallies even if I had a flat.
I'm not to sure the top hat type cover will work and if not it'll be a mini tire in there for sure.
 
In my Triumph Spitfire, I also made trunk panels and carpeted the trunk. The tire sat on top, so I cut a piece of hardboard just a little bigger than the tire, wrapped the tire in carpet, folded tabs over the hardboard, and glued it to the board. Then I cut a round piece of carpet to cover it all. It turned out very nice. Here are some of those pics.

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Mopar to ya said:
In my Triumph Spitfire, I also made trunk panels and carpeted the trunk. The tire sat on top, so I cut a piece of hardboard just a little bigger than the tire, wrapped the tire in carpet, folded tabs over the hardboard, and glued it to the board. Then I cut a round piece of carpet to cover it all. It turned out very nice. Here are some of those pics.

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Wow Nice I like that.
that's what I'll probably have to do if I don't go the mini tire route. I'm cutting the tire top circle out of luan now to test the fit. we'll see if it looks as good as yours does.
 
Here's a few of mine.....
1972 Duster
 

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