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Anyone got any unique tips regarding how to fit wood around the contours in the trunk wall? Basically, I'm trying to lay a 1/2" mdf floor in the trunk. At the sides where the trunk walls make so many curves and contours, it's a PITA to get a clean fit. I know to use templets, but I've always found it a trial-and-error PITA. I've used cardboard and foamboard, etc. But I'm just wondering if anyone has a unique approach.

 
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Lay the carpet from the bottom of the trunk on the mdf and trace around it. Perfect fit.

 
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my carpet was not a perfect fit by any means. Yours is? Damnit! Mine was short on one end and bunched a little in the right front. Looked irregular to me at first but I thought, 'well, it's probably what you get with a $15,000 car'. Oh well, any other ideas? I've seen some guys use bondo on tape, like you were fiberglassing kicks and then tracing the contour but thats more of a PITA than trial and error. Another method that has worked for me in the past is to get basic shape, then use extra pieces of wood to fill the gaps and corners. Using one nail, attatch then on top of your wooden templet and pivot until the gaps are filled, then trace the whole structure onto more wood. Again, just looking for all the ideas I can get.

 
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Cardboard the template. Cut out some triangles and squares of different sizes. Attach them with tape overlapping to get your contours, and make a straight run when it's straight. Hard to explain, but pretty much the same thing you described with the wood, but with cardboard. You can get cardboard free. Go out back behind some stores and steal some, or just ask them. Tell them you're moving and need some boxes. Shouldn't be too hard. It's much lighter and easier to carry then the wood templates. My carpet was perfect, so I had no problems, sounds like you got the shaft on that.

 
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Yeah, I definitely got the shaft. It's funny dude, it's not even like its close to a fit that I could just compensate, It's not even friggin' close! LOL. Anyway, have I seen your trunk? What did you do?

 
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I always do the cardboard trick.. works every time

 
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What did I do? Which time? I'm glassing my 4th piece for it right now. I've did the stealth install, false floor, I've did all kinds of stuff. I think my newest one willbe my greatest, though I've already had another idea I really want to try...

 
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i used pegboard to make my templates...i made a 2-piece false floor so that i could remove my full-size spare without having to move my sub box and amp racks, and it's custom fit from front to back, side to side, wall to wall...the pegboard was like $3 for 4'x8' sheet, it was easily cut with a jigsaw, and it was flexible enough to wedge it in and out of trunk during the test fittings etc...check the final pics below...

this is the one that was in my car...it was PERFECT, it was just a little hard to remove b/c of the tight custom fit, and it pissed me off so i just jigsawed the lower right corner off ...

the pics are a few weeks old...both the camera and carpet were dirty...this was taken after they had been sitting in my garage for quite a while, but you get the idea...

 
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What's the notch for at the lower (would be driver's side) corner? That there because your's was raised relatively 2 inches?

 
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I would make it three piece, not two piece. But I will get there when I get there.

first of all, I have always been a fan of the cardboard method. I use it every time, always. I prefer to use a staplegun on a piece of scrap MDF< though, rather than taping them together. I take a box, tear off the fins, whole thing, then cut it into various sized strips from 1-4 inches wide by about a foot or longer. easily staples to a board.

the reason I make mine three pieces is because of the seam. the best installs have no seams, which can be difficult at times, even impossible. the best method to seam your floor, however, is to put your seams as far from view as possible. cushman I think has the best 2 part floor ive ever seen. usually they cut it vertically down th emiddle, rather than horizontally. big fat seam right in the middle of view, terrible! cushmans isnt bad.

What I prefer to do, is to cut it into three pieces. look at cushmans pics, see the top pic? notice like 70% of the piece is the same width (side to side). I make my first piece THAT wide, extending from top to bottom of the trunk. notice cushman cut a hole in the top piece. think of how much space you have to cut your hole in the piece I've described! Not to mention how easy it is to measure, all you have to worry about are the two nibbles in the upper corners (check cushman's upper piece) and the very gentle curve inside all of our trunks located at the plastic piece that covers the trunk latch. (look at the center bottom of cushman's bottom piece. his looks flat, so you should be able to get away with flat here!)

now the two fins. these are where you have to use cardboard heavily, the contour is much more complicated on each side. cushman you see needed to separate his pieces by 1/16th of an inch or even an 8th of an inch to leave space for the carpeting between the top and bottom pieces. dont make space! make it PERFECT. the edges dont have to be absolutely perfect the carpet will fill it lightly, but make sure the edge between all three pieces is nice and clean.

now look at cushman's bottom pic. that piece has four supports made of 2x4's to raise his piece to the level of the others. do the same for your two side fins, I use 3/4" MDF cut 4-6 inches wide. literally a scrap.

now we have a center piece, and two sides that sit as high. we see there are two seams raher than one, but they are off to the sides, away from the eyes, rather than front row center, like people who put one seam vertically oriented in the center.

now we carpet the whole thing. again, check out what cushman did. each piece is carpeted seperately. I am gonna suggest something different. carpet EVERYTHING at once. one big piece of fabric. start with the center piece, lay it and staple the top and bottom. then spray the sides and butt up the sides against the center picee. the carpet becomes your hinge! glue and staple everything, cushmans pieces look great in this fashion.

to put the floor into your car, simply fold the fins so they rest on top of the false floor, insert the floor into the car, then fold down the fins. now smooth out the seams with your hand, and you have a literally SEAMLESS false floor!

happy building!

 
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First of all, thank you very much for taking some time to post that.
Second, when you keep talking about cushman, you sound like that kid in EuroTrip who keeps referring to Frommers.LOL

 
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I think I'm gonna try it first as a 2 piece. Like this:



I'll one piece carpet it though with a slightly thicker than usualy carpet and the seem will be totally invisible. In my 93 Grand Prix, I made a two piece and filled the seem with wood filler once it was in the trunk. Sanded it down and it was seemless again. The JL symbol will be plexi and lit from the spare well by neons.

 
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Since we are talking about carpeting and custom trunks... where can I find the closest match for our stock trunk carpet?

 
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I usually just take a carpet piece to a locla upholstry shop and ask for a fabric that will stretch in 2 dimensions that looks like *this* and point to the piece I bring in.

your stock carpet would do nicely.

 
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if you strip the plastic trim from around the trunk latch, there are 2 metal vertical strips there...the little notches are on both sides, and they allowed me to get that notched edge up as close to the rear of the trunk as possible...

WhiteRabbit: your ideas are great, and thanks for the props on mine...as you can see by the dates, those are the old pics, and that was the first floor i made...i like the idea of the hinged, solid-carpeted floor, but i wanted mine to be removable...

good luck to everyone (with their trunks) :

 
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Yeah, everyone else's stock carpets would be good. Mine is friggin iregular!

 
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J187, that was a recommendation as to what to do to find matching carpet. Even your carpet would make a good piece of scrap cloth to take to a shop to get matched!

whats neat about the hinged idea is that it IS removable! to take out, simply reverse the steps taken to get it in there, and voila! the floor comes right out!

 
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Carpet color that will match yours= GREY 11

 
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reverse the steps, PLUS remove the metric a$$-ton of subs, amps, batteries, etc...haha...so i reckon i'm going to stick with the 2-piece idea and just deal with the little seam!