We’ll … if this post shows up twice, my apologies … I hit the mouse and lost the original. Oh well …
Jenny and I didn’t feel like going out to the car today, so we thought we’d work on remaking the package tray. Here’s the steps we went through:
1 - laid out a new sheet of 1/4" masonite on the garage floor
2 - took the original (broken in half, one crushed speaker hole, and material that crumbles to dust when touched) and laid it onto the new board. Allign the original straight edge with factory cut edge on the board.
3 - press down on the original as there is typically a bow at the back, and trace the outline of the original onto the new board
4 - put the new board on the saw horses and use a jig saw to cut it out
5 - remove the pad on the underside of the original package tray with a gasket scrapper
6 - match a drill bit to the diameter of the holes in the speaker area.
7 - using the one good side of the original, transfer the hole pattern to the L & R side of the new tray
8 - drill them out (this takes some time as there are alot of stinkin’ holes)
9 - using the original pad, mark the space for the rear window defroster. Yeah, Jenny’s car has one … but we are not likely to use it much.
10 - cut out this marked space
11 - lay the new material (I hate to admit this, but I used faux fur in the 70’s) face down on the table
12 - take the new tray outside and spary the surface with 3M spray adhesive
13 - after making sure the adhesive has some time to dry, straighten you fabric and tack it down tight (tape or thumb tacks work)
14 - lay the sprayed face of your package tray onto the backside of the fabric you are going to use. REMEMBER - leave about an 1.5" to wrap around the edges
15- after it dries, cut the fabric with an 1" - 1.5" overlap
16 - spray the bottom side along the edges and wrap the fabric over the edge, trim the corners accordingly (remember … do not take off too much. I’d rather cut twice than to replace the material)
17 - spray the center of the bottom and re-attach the original pad
Note - when you look at the photos on our photobucket site, you’ll see a sag where the defroster goes. That is intentionally left there as I do not want to cut that hole until the tray is installed and I am putting in the defroster (aka - lame a$$ hair dryer) . That way the cut should be perfect.
In short - a fun two hour job. Give it a try and have some fun.
http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x431/mzqj6r/
