DIY Bootfloor with Trapdoor/Latch

Luftfolie

Member
State Event Organiser
Hi guys, thought I would do a quick DIY on the bootfloor to keep the floor from pulling up and being a nightmare and a trap door for the spare! I did this with Slee as well.
This is a pretty budget DIY, for the whole thing including most of the tools cost me about 35 bucks excluding the transportation problems we had.
I have posted this specifically into CE DIY because im not sure what is different with the rest of the series but I believe its roughly equivalent

Tools you will need:
-Power tools (Jigsaw would work a treat, otherwise do what I did, cheap out and get a handsaw)
-If no power tools, any manual saw that can cut wood.
-Measuring tape.
-Pen/Sharpie/Pencil (marking/tracing ect)
-Glue! (I used Kwik Grip)
kwik_grip_250ml_new.png

-MDF wood! 6mm thickness will be good enough, can go thicker if you choose too.
- Knife/Multitool/Scissors enough to cut carpet.
-Hinges and screws (Get small hinges, 2 or 3 of them depending on how much you care about weight distribution on the hinges. Ones I got were roughly 10cm or so long)
-Some way of transporting a piece of MDF - trust me it wont fit in your CC/CE or CH/CG - if it does then Slee and I are useless.
- Slee and his magic talent of not doing anything but taking photos! :lol:
Measuring up your boot
1. Open your boot up, take all the stuff out of it such as the interior carpet (Thats probably upside down and crammed into half of the boot because it doesnt stick down), shopping bags, Maccas runs leftovers and the stuff you have accumulated in the car
2. Get a measuring tape and measure the furthest width distance of the boot (I.e before the metal bulge where the strut is/wheel well - or whatever its called). Make sure you measure it on the floor of the boot to insure it fits securely inside the frame of the boot - write down the width
3. Repeat the same step with the length of the car. Preferably from the middle of the cars boot - due to it being generally the longest part.
4. Write down the length
For me it was roughly 1350x940x6mm
Check the hardware store online to see what their sizes of MDF are - at bunnings it is either 1200x900x6mm or 1800x900x6mm (This later on proves to be a problem)

Step two - Getting the MDF without failing
If you are like myself, then you would probably not have spare MDF laying around the house so its a trip to your local hardware store. E.g Bunnings/Mitre 10.
1. BRING A TRAILER OR A UTE OR SOMETHING BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE A BIG PIECE OF MDF, if you dont have access to it you will have some good fun
2. Get the 1800x900x6mm board if the area is larger then 1200x900x6mm (the MDF length wise was about 40mm or so too short, in the long run doesnt matter if you fit the gap at the top toward the rear seats)
3. Get suitable tools and items you don't have - for myself it was a new saw, hinges, screws and Slee.
4. Kwik grip is usually pretty easy to find, I picked it up at Supercheap for about 12 bucks
5. If you have bought the 1800x900x6mm board and only have a CE ect then get the board cut - bunnings give you 2 free cuts - ask for about 1300 or a bit less depending on how safe you want to play it. With the Slee's CH 1300 was pushing the limits of room in the car. I cannot stress this step enough, we ended up buying a brand new socket set, a new socket driver, another socket because it was the wrong one to get the back seats out to put it through the boot but the gap between the boot and back seats is too narrow for the MDF. After spending more money on getting all sockets and the set we discovered we could get it cut for free. Bring a socket set just incase of emergency!
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After getting the board cut, we had to remove the bottom of the rear seat and I had my seat practically right up to the dash just to get the board in.

Step Three: Building it
1. After getting the board successfully home, you will need to get your boot floor carpet out and place it ontop of the MDF.
2. After placing it ontop of the MDF, line the end of the length side (toward where the boot ends) up to the edge of the MDF - making it flush against the end of the boot and the carpet overlapping the rear seat end (due to the 40mm or so length shortness)
3. Get a pencil/sharpie/pen/market and roughly outline the carpet onto the MDF - sticky taping it down or something alike will help with keeping the carpet straight for a better outline
4. Recheck your measurements of the boot to the traced MDF - if they line up fairly well move on - if not - retrace.
5. Make another outline about 5cm or so for you to cut - leaving excess to make sure that you dont stuff the measurement and ensure a tight fit.
6. Cut the MDF to the outline you just made
7. Put it in the boot, if it doesnt clear the sides of the boot that is fine (more about that later on), if it fits roughly or you can see that it fits roughly move on.
8. Keep shaving more and more off until you either hit your outline or it fits snug inside your boot.
9. If you are having trouble placing the board inside the boot due to having no clearance where the tail lights are - measure off the length roughly 15cm or so. This will mean you are able to slide the board in easier - dont worry about the cut off, more about that down the line
10. After making sure it 100% fits, then move on to the the latch phase.

Step Four - Latch
In order to get the spare out without pulling the entire interior board up, we can create a subtle trap door that you can pull the spare out from
1. Measure the distance of the tyre length and width wise (Leave about a 10cm or so extra length and width to make sure you are clearing the spare completely in order to create easy access) measure the width negatively (i.e from the edge of the boot floor to the spare so you dont have to mark a middle point of the MDF to measure out from) MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE WIDTH YOU CUT OFF AS WELL OR YOU WILL STUFF YOUR MEASUREMENT
2. After measuring it - mark the area measured onto the MDF board - I measured from the edge of the MDF board length wise.
3. After marking the area, trace with a ruler or straight piece of cut of MDF and purpousely trace further then the marking to ensure you get a straight square.
4. Remeasure by putting the spare on the MDF and making sure it clears the tyre well.
5. Measure the SAME on the carpet, I used whiteout and made tiny dots where the edges were and cut the carpet the same - I used my Leatherman's knife to cut it, anything like sharp scissors will work to cut it.
6. Cut the trace out - leaving you with 2 pieces of MDF - the trap door and the boot floor.
7. Put the board back together, make sure it lines back up
8. Get your hinges, depending on how many you decided on - make your own judgement of distance from each hinge and mark the area's where you are going to drill/screw in the hinges.
9. Screw the hinges into the desired spot.
This should pull up and drop easy without a problem.
10. Put the carpet ontop of the MDF and ensure it sits and pulls up with the carpet too.
It should look like this - or kind of like this
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Step Five - Carpet!
The whole point of this is to keep the carpet from pulling up, so in order to do that we are going to glue it to the MDF (duh)
Make sure you have cleaned both surfaces so there is no dirt or saw dust.
1. Place the carpet ontop of the MDF and put the extra bits you cut off by the side of it.
2. Get your carpet glue (i.e Kwik Grip) - Read the instructions. For mine i had to place the glue on both contact points and let it dry for about 20 minutes before placing the carpet ontop of the MDF.
3. Ensure you glue the cut off bits to the carpet as well, this will mean you can bend the floors edges into the boot so you don't have a fitment issue with the tail light area.
4. Make sure you start with the edges of the MDF and carpet before you do the middle of the two pieces to ensure you have glued down edges
5. Lift up the latch so you dont glue the edge of the trap door to the edge of the boot floor. Use something to elevate it.
6. Be generous with the glue, make sure you use plenty of it - the 250ml can lasted both the carpet and the MDF.
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7. After allowing it to touch dry for about 20 minutes apply the carpet to the MDF, ensuring you start with an edge and work your way from it, to ensure no gaps or poor edges on the other side of the MDF.
8. Dont drop the carpet ontop of the MDF or you will have a lot of fun trying to pry it off.
9. After gluing the carpet to the MDF - leave it to dry for a little bit to ensure the two bits are glued together properly.
10. Place the new boot floor into the boot and it should look pretty shmick :thumbup:

Hope this was indepth and helpful, I wish i took photos doing it but i kind of didn't, due to not thinking I would do a DIY on it.
Here is the final product.
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Plus the sneaky sub that has been installed and cleaned up nicely. Excuse that.
 
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