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Rear interior panels, '89 K5

mr.smartass

mr.smartass

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So I thought about ditching them all together but decided against it... I've got my amp mounted behind them, a 1000 watt power inverter I need to install back there, and 4 more speakers. Trying to do all that without the panels would be a major pain in the ass. Plus I like the finished look.:D

I still have my stock panels, but they're basically cardboard with insulation stuck to the back side... lame. I've done my front trim in diamond plate, but haven't decided if I really want that much diamond back there. Any other suggestions of something to use to make rear panels?

Needs to be water resistant. Thanks!
 
I a trying to find out if some plastic that Home Depot and others carry will work. It is designed as a cheap alternative to tile in a bathroom, and it is heavy plastic so it should provide rigidity and weather resistance. I don't yet know if it is long enough to do these panels, but I will be finding out this weekend. I will let you know.
 
Not to hijack too far..I pulled my rear panels and dropped the tailgate for POR-15 and dynamat so I can't measure...but what do you guys think the max materials thickness would be for making a set? I was thinking 1/4" plywood wrapped in a thin fabric. Or diamond plate, but momma would kick my ass if I showed up with another sheet of 10ga alum. (248$)
 
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I don't think you would want to go any thicker than 1/4". It is going to add weight, and not look as good with the thick material at the top of the bedsides. If you use plywood you will have to find a way to really seal it up, since wood and water don't mix.
 
lectric80 said:
I don't think you would want to go any thicker than 1/4". It is going to add weight, and not look as good with the thick material at the top of the bedsides. If you use plywood you will have to find a way to really seal it up, since wood and water don't mix.
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I've been thinking about making panels for awhile now and going back and forth on various materials. For ease of use I figured 1/4" if it would fit, 1/8" if that would be a more reasonable thickness. I want to incorporate some sunken shelves and lock boxes so it will need to be somewhat strong.

My though was to get a good no-void/marine grade plywood and hit it with some PVA or epoxy resin. Hell, even Thompson's water seal would be better than nothing. Originally I had considered marine carpet as a cover, but marine vinyl would probably be better. Notice the marine theme here...:crazy:

For me, wood would be a lot easier to work with than trying to cut diamond plate or something, not to mention diamond plate wouldn't offer any sort of sound or insulation properties.
 
I have an upholstery guy make me some new ones to look like the factory ones. He is using some kind of water proof interior board. I think they measure about 76" long, I will check Sunday, I have to get the old wooden ones rapped in carpert down that I made years ago to make the patterns for the new ones. Bad thing about the whole deal is I loan the orginal ones to a friend to make some and they never come back, we think they got thrown away by someone else
 
I got full size templates from Brian (Teck) and have them scanned in to (very) large image files. I've been going through and cleaning up the images but haven't had a lot of time lately. Other than that, I still haven't decided on a material for the covering or the core.
 
mr.smartass said:
Bringing this back up, anyone found anything new?:confused:
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If you dig around from last fall you can see what I did. Luan (sp?) panels that I had Rhino Lined when I had my interior done. Had them done front and back and then screwed them in at the factory locations. Looks good, muffles some sound, and shouldn't rot/warp.
 
you can use thin masonite or plywood and just paint them with fiberglass resin to waterproof them like the custom boat builders do.
 
For those that remember: I have a set. I finally pulled them out of storage. After really looking at them, I'm sure I would've ever been able to pull accurate measurements from them since they'd deteriorated so much. :(

What I plan to use is some 1/4" ABS or PVC (don't remember which). My brother can get it in sheets up to 4'x8'. I plan to reinforce the back with strips of leftover scrap material glued up in strategic locations, mainly to minimize flexing and sagging.

It's available with a textured finish on on side, similar to the texture on the face of the dash bezels.
 
Ive been thinking of taking both sides off and making some custom fiberglass subwoofer boxes for each side.Its just like a truck bed behind there right?(never taken them off) Not sure about airspace though, might have to go with some shallow mounts.

Then there is the question of where im going to put my 2 amps:confused: so I was thinking 60/40 bench seat in the front with them under it.
 
I've been thinking about making a bracket and mounting my amp under my passenger side front seat and just running no panels, maybe make some small panels just for speaker mounting back there.:crazy:
 
The panels definitely help with reducing the echo. Then again, mine are Rhino Lined.
 
So I just ripped my side panels out and am going to buy some 1/4 or 3/16 in Masonite/hardboard and use the olds as temlates. Going to cut them the same minus the rear speakers and ash trays. Im going to make speaker pods for 6x9's at the front of the rear panels similar to the bronco setup. Im going to dynamat the whole rear area and then dynaspray it. Im putting 2 15's in the back(bye bye cargo space) so im going to need as much sounded deadening as possible.
 
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