Re: Rear Deck solution

[Riley McDowall <mcm@intergate.bc.ca>]

>Rear Deck solution:
>
>I've contemplated getting 1/2" plywood, painting it w/ black latex,
>cutting speaker holes and covering it w/ automotive carpet. And since you
>don't want it cracking in half, it's easy to get ahold of L-shaped
>aluminum bars which would be easy to drill and attach as supports from
>below.

You beat me to it Chris!  My rear cover was all crappy looking and rattled
around when I went over bumps or cranked the sub in my trunk (familiar
story I'm sure).  What I did was buy a sheet of 1/4" MDF, and cut out a
piece using the old cover as a template.  Next, I took the reinforcing bars
off the bottom of the stock cover and mounted them to the new piece the
same way as the factory did.  I did this by ripping the carpet off the OE
board, then prying the tabs of the brackets that hold the bars to the board
up so that I could pull them out from the bottom.  I drilled/cut slots in
the new board, then inserted the metal brackets and bent the tabs back down
on the top.  This will probably only be clear if you  rip the carpet off an
old hatch cover and see how VW did it.

I sprayed the bottom of this new hatch cover with a rubberized coating made
by Pro-Gard (was available at a parts chain).  This coating is very durable
(I also sprayed the foam trunk-side liners with it) and looks very good
IMO.  On top of the hatch cover I created a design from Phoenix Gold
carpet...it's too difficult to describe so you'll have to wait for the pics
I'll have up on Etrik's site in the near future...

End result is a hatch cover that looks twice as good and is twice as heavy
as the OE cover.  No more rattling.  If you're concerned with weight, you
could cut holes in the new cover, then cover them with wire mesh before
carpeting it.

As for the cables, you have several options.  One would be to use some sort
of wire cable with a clear jacket, with a ring terminal attaching it to the
hatch itself and maybe another one bent back at a 90 degree angle where the
cable pulls up on the hatch cover.  You can use a lot of things here,
P-Lifts maybe...
Use your imagination! :)

hth...

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