Schnell
14-04-2008, 06:01 PM
Got 18's or 19's and wanna full sized spare in the boot AND want a flat boot flor? Here's what I did on the weekend.
Stuff required:
2 X Clark rubber 23mm 1m square interlocking high density, light weight gym mats ($49 each)
permanent marker pen
jigsaw
25mm wide steel paintscraper
2 X Mitsu plastic engine undertray clips (the 2 large ones which hold the shield to the fore/aft centre brace)
brickies metal hammer
soft cloth
2 hours
What to do.
1/ lift carpet and remove masonite spare cover. Remove screw in metal brackets carrying rear edge of masonite
2/remove boot carpet. Do this SLOWLY by using the paintscraper to get under the strips of black goo which holds it to the rear of the boot floor. Push down on the scraper to make sure you don't tear right through the carpet. BTW, you wanna keep the original boot carpet as it is a nice thick, rubber backed jobbie. I actually bought a spare from Mitsu that I was gunna use but found that it is paper thin. Yuck
3/ use hammer to smooth out the two reinforcing ridges I am pointing to in the pic. Do this by covering one ridge with the soft cloth and then delivering 2 or 3 short sharp wacks to the parts of the metal ridges where they curve up from the floor to the vertical. Once you have done this you will find that you have gained enough space to physically get the diameter of your 18/19 and tyre into the spare well. I run a 245/45/18 which is plus 13mm on std diam wheel/tyre package. If you went 245/40/18 or anything else in an 18/19 which is smaller in diam than the factory wheel/tyre package then you can skip this step as your spare will probably drop straight into the well http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/9852/img2893zs7.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2893zs7.jpg)
4/ take your gym mats and lock them side by side (so you have a 2m wide by 1m deep mat) on a clean tarp and lay the boot carpet over the mats about 300mm from the back edge of the mats
5/ trace around the carpet and cut the mats with the jigsaw
6/ take the cut off "waste" mat parts and lock them into the front of the mat parts you cut them off
7/ trace onto the waste mats the remainder of the shape of the bumper end of the carpet and cut those out with the jigsaw http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1040/img2895qf9.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2895qf9.jpg)
8/ now take the two parts of mat that will butt to the back seat of the car, one at a time lay em in the boot, mark out the spare wheel well opening and cut the mats with the jigsaw http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/606/img2896hr4.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2896hr4.jpg)
9/ take one side of the bumper end mat pieces, interlock it with one of the forward end mat sections and trace the spare wheel opening. Jigsaw cut again. And do same with the other bumper end piece. What you'll have at the end is 4 interlocked mat pieces with a spare wheel well hole cut out of the centre of them
10/ lay the masonite spare cover over the installed mats and drill two 7.5mm holes, one each side to take the engine splash shield clips. Take your splashshield clips.Remove the centre of the clips and push the clips into the holes.
Don't insert the push pins into the clips. The idea is simply to have something that will stop the masonite from sliding around but is easy to remove. End result looks like this http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/986/img2900ht3.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2900ht3.jpg)
11/ refit carpet mat (loose, no glue). Voila. Flat floor hiding 245/45/18 http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7163/img2901xg3.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2901xg3.jpg)
Done
Stuff required:
2 X Clark rubber 23mm 1m square interlocking high density, light weight gym mats ($49 each)
permanent marker pen
jigsaw
25mm wide steel paintscraper
2 X Mitsu plastic engine undertray clips (the 2 large ones which hold the shield to the fore/aft centre brace)
brickies metal hammer
soft cloth
2 hours
What to do.
1/ lift carpet and remove masonite spare cover. Remove screw in metal brackets carrying rear edge of masonite
2/remove boot carpet. Do this SLOWLY by using the paintscraper to get under the strips of black goo which holds it to the rear of the boot floor. Push down on the scraper to make sure you don't tear right through the carpet. BTW, you wanna keep the original boot carpet as it is a nice thick, rubber backed jobbie. I actually bought a spare from Mitsu that I was gunna use but found that it is paper thin. Yuck
3/ use hammer to smooth out the two reinforcing ridges I am pointing to in the pic. Do this by covering one ridge with the soft cloth and then delivering 2 or 3 short sharp wacks to the parts of the metal ridges where they curve up from the floor to the vertical. Once you have done this you will find that you have gained enough space to physically get the diameter of your 18/19 and tyre into the spare well. I run a 245/45/18 which is plus 13mm on std diam wheel/tyre package. If you went 245/40/18 or anything else in an 18/19 which is smaller in diam than the factory wheel/tyre package then you can skip this step as your spare will probably drop straight into the well http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/9852/img2893zs7.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2893zs7.jpg)
4/ take your gym mats and lock them side by side (so you have a 2m wide by 1m deep mat) on a clean tarp and lay the boot carpet over the mats about 300mm from the back edge of the mats
5/ trace around the carpet and cut the mats with the jigsaw
6/ take the cut off "waste" mat parts and lock them into the front of the mat parts you cut them off
7/ trace onto the waste mats the remainder of the shape of the bumper end of the carpet and cut those out with the jigsaw http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1040/img2895qf9.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2895qf9.jpg)
8/ now take the two parts of mat that will butt to the back seat of the car, one at a time lay em in the boot, mark out the spare wheel well opening and cut the mats with the jigsaw http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/606/img2896hr4.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2896hr4.jpg)
9/ take one side of the bumper end mat pieces, interlock it with one of the forward end mat sections and trace the spare wheel opening. Jigsaw cut again. And do same with the other bumper end piece. What you'll have at the end is 4 interlocked mat pieces with a spare wheel well hole cut out of the centre of them
10/ lay the masonite spare cover over the installed mats and drill two 7.5mm holes, one each side to take the engine splash shield clips. Take your splashshield clips.Remove the centre of the clips and push the clips into the holes.
Don't insert the push pins into the clips. The idea is simply to have something that will stop the masonite from sliding around but is easy to remove. End result looks like this http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/986/img2900ht3.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2900ht3.jpg)
11/ refit carpet mat (loose, no glue). Voila. Flat floor hiding 245/45/18 http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7163/img2901xg3.th.jpg (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2901xg3.jpg)
Done