foam in the hatch

[Logue]

I'm tryin to fix up the back of my hatch while i have some downtime on my engine rebuild.

I sawl someone had foam all where the spare tire goes and sunk a battery relocation box into it. This what i want to do. I want to look pretty much stock with the carpet over top

does anybody know where i can blocks of foam???

JJ

 

[Steber]

sometimes marine shops have foam blocks, i know 84 lumber has foam sheets. I have also seen foam blocks in hobby/craft shops.

Have you concidered using fiberglass instead? That could turn out pretty nice, just an option for you.

Hope that helps.

 

[Logue]

i do have a home depot, marine shop, and a hobby store a couple min. from my house. when you say foam layers at 84 lumber how thick are those sheets.
i thought about fiberglass for a second for a second but it seems a little out of range.
is fiberglass heavy?, becuease i want to keep it light in the rear.

 

[Steber]

no not at all, fiberglass is pretty light. and is pretty easy to work with. for most of my jobs that i do with custom fiberglassing, i make a cardboard structure and tape it all up together, then i'll lay my fiberglass over that. Since it's not a sub enclosure, you will not have to build it up to a thickness that would be heavy. it might take a little longer to make and complete. (sand, bodyfill, repeat) but the finished project if you decide not to carpet it will look nice. also if you want to carpet it and use fiberglass, you will not have to make it 100% smooth, just build up what you need, and lay your carpet over it, no need to sand it smooth that way.

The sheets at 84 lumber are 3inches thick by 4 wide and 8 feet long. If i remember right it was close to $15 per sheet. I'd say you'd need about 2-3 sheets of that to build it up, roughly. and those glue together with a general 3m adhesive spray.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

there is also mix and pour foam you can find at fiberglass and boat dealers. mix it up pour it in and wait. It expands about 30 times it's volume and is easily sandable in about 15 minutes (depending on temp).

 

[Steber]

yes, thats another option. I dont know how good that stuff is to work with. what i mean is i used the spray foam, and it leaves some pockets of air and when its sanded down you have to fill them back in with more foam or something of the type. but it is an option. I'm not sure on the price of that. but it does work good, you just might have some lil holes to fill in.. but again, if you're going to carpet it thats not a concern.

 

[devlish]

another thing to try is Great Stuff. the expanding foam. fill your truck then start cutting & sanding. once that is in place and formed, you could paint over it with some resin, or even lay just one thin layer of fiberglass matting / resin on it to give it some strentgh. then carpet or paint over it, whatever you want.

you could also do the above then finish using a spray-in truck bedliner. you can find that stuff in almost any color, even white, at Walmart (i think it's Plasti Cote) and you could paint it all with that. that would cover up the imperfections from the foam/fiberglass so you wouldn't need to do much finishing sanding. then it would pretty much look flat except for the battery sticking out of the middle. might be another option for you. don't know what look your going for.

1 can wouldn't add much weight at all either and would do pretty much the whole trunk area, at least enough to get under the side panels, or to the sides if no panels are going back in.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Where's your spare going?
On the roof?

 

[devlish]

Where's your spare going?
On the roof?

i'm assuming that the battery relocation has to do with weight distribution / weight loss. spare tire is dead weight / not needed

however, a nice tire rack for the roof WOULD solve that problem!! and look quite snazzy too if i do say so myself

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Maybe on the hood, Range Rover style.
The spare might be dead weight if you are going to trailer your car to events but you will be wishin you had it if you get a flat on the highway.
I say fill your tires with Helium to make up for it.

 

[Logue]

i was thinking about the great stuff expanding foam you think one can will do it.
if i lay down newpaper is that something good to make the mold so i can pull it out of the car and shave it and cut the battery box out. actually i want to go slow with the expanding foam then put the battery box in and fill around it.

i want the rear to look completely stock. The battery wont be visable at all it will be underneath the carpet. There will be no spare(oh well). the battery box will be there and i'll probly take out the windshield bottle also.

thanks for all the input guys....
keep it going

JJ

 

[devlish]

not newspaper, aluminum foil will work the best. you could try wrapping the battery with it too and just setting it in there level.

or do a small thin layer of foam and then shave it level so the batter sits level, then wrap bettery with aluminum foil, set on new level bottom, continue filling. (still have entire wheel well lined with the foil though as well)

that may work huh? never tried it myself, but makes decent sense.

 

[Steber]

Do you think its possible to mold the foam over the tire and put the battery on top?

I know that when i moved mine into the back i had to take my spare out too, but its a diff type of trunk. mine ALMOST did fit tho, so my suggestion is that you can build your whole trunk up with a big layer of the foam from 84 lumber, and lay your carpet over it, that way you can keep your spare if ya want to.. if not, just chuck it in your garage and call it a day.

My orignal plan was to put plexiglass over it with an etched symbol (dodge ram head for my car) and fiberglass underneath and put the battery and a cap in thier.toss some lil neons in thier for show, but i never got around to it yet.


and about getting stuck on the road with a flat.. well thats why i have tripple A.

 

[devlish]

it would probably work yes, but the battery would sit up too high then, and not look like an empty trunk. which seems to be the desired look in this case

 

[Steber]

it would probably work yes, but the battery would sit up too high then, and not look like an empty trunk. which seems to be the desired look in this case

thats why i suggested laying a piece of foam from 84 lumber in the whole entire trunk area to raise the whole trunk, not just the middle. it'd take away about 3 inches of trunk space, depth wise, but you'd be able to keep the spare.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

I am having an idea. There is quite a bit of room under the tire where the washer bottle is. This is what I would probably do. Take out the tire, washer bottle, and cut out the tire mounting bracket. Mount your battery tray to the bottom of the well. You would have to cap off the terminals to make sure you didn't short any thing out in this process. Fill the well with foam untill your tire rests high enough above the battery. Next you could foam around the tire so it can't slide back and forth. There will probably be room to carve out holders for your jack and tools and maybe even your washer bottle (if not you could make a smaller one that will fit otherwise find somewhere under the hood or something.) I dont think this setup would sit any higher than it does now but if it did you could shim your floor up a little.
This way not only do you have your spare but easy access it and you have all your tools. If you have to jump your car you take the spare out, or you may be able to get to the pos terminal through the hole in the wheel.

Next you will want to fiberglass it or do the spray on bed liner or some other strong coating. Remember this when making fited holes or compartments. In fact for the battery you may want to find a batt tray that surrounds the whole battery and foam around that so you don't have to worry about getting a protective coating in there afterwards.