Luggage Rack
March 19, 2017

 

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In the summer of 2009, a good friend sent me a spare deck lid for my TR6.  I was looking as I couldn't bring myself to drill holes in the original.

After the total repaint in 2008, I had found an original platform style luggage rack that needed polished, but was in pretty decent condition. 
I recently delivered that to a local shop for restoration and called on Allan and the crew to do the deck lid to match the rest of the car.

Once Allan had the deck lid, he felt it was best to paint the hardtop at the same time, so they're both in great hands.

**** Viewers are warned that if they attempt any mechanical repairs or modifications,
or follow procedures referred to here, they do so at their own risk, and no liability will
attach to either myself or A&E Auto Body, Inc.****

This is what I purchased from eBay.  It's not in too bad of shape, but needs polishing beyond my capability to make it look new again.
Also, another friend from the forum's, Bob Hunt was kind enough to send me some spare slats that he did not use to help take care of
any of mine that had dents that would not straighten or were scratched too deeply.  All in all, mine weren't too bad, but I swapped a few out.

I did get the attaching feet and the plastic clips that actually hold the rack off the deck surface.
I'll post pictures and a link of where to get some spare parts for these as we assemble.

Thanks to a great packaging job by Panda, the deck lid arrived with only one broken support and
minor damage to the corner.  That will be taken care of at A&E very soon.  Thanks again Andy!!

This looks pretty good, with no rust which is huge.  But if you look dead center at the rear of the deck,
you will see what happens when you have a gas filler cap pointing the wrong way and you open a deck lid too far.

It's hard to see, but there is a slight bend in there.  We will fit the lid to the car before painting to
insure that if any straightening is called for, it will be done prior to color and clear coating.

The bottom was easily stripped and epoxy primed.  Nice and clean with no rust makes it easy.

The top has been blasted, dents removed and we begin to place the rack for drilling the mounting holes.

After talking to several owners with these platform racks, the consensus was that the distance from
the rear edge of the deck, to the back of the forward mounting feet was 21 1/2".  This will allow for
plenty of clearance over the gas filler cap and keeps all of the holes hidden under the bottom reinforcements.

Side placement dimensions are between 4.25" and 4.5" based on your actual deck lid and rack.
That's easy enough to measure and center once you have it all together and placed front to back.

I am not a fan of just using sheet metal screws to attach luggage and roof racks of any type. There are
several ways around this and I really liked the 10 X 24 Pop JackNuts.  These close up as drawn tight and provide
a good backing that will securely fit the inside of the deck lid and allow me to get new matching stainless screws.

Deck lid is under epoxy prime and waiting for the Pop JackNuts to arrive.

Pilot holes on the left.

And pilot holes on the right.

Well the Pop Jack Nuts came in the wrong size, so that option is gone.  More on the well nut that I'm using later.

Today's exercise was test fitting the deck lid.  It had some "gas filler" damage and one side was higher than the other,
but Jorge and Joe took care of that and made sure that everything will line up perfectly before it's painted.

Just for reference, here's the proper paint line for the Kammback Satin Black.

Before anything else is done, let's see just how straight this is.

This picture's for BobbyD.  He loves my neatly organized trunk.  That's why I need a luggage rack, for more room in here.

Jorge is fussy and that is fine with me.

The black semi-circle at the filler cap area will get some attention with the dolly, as it is still a bit high.
Once Jorge gets done with it, it will be be perfectly aligned and matched to the rear panel.

This lid stayed at A&E and my original is back on and the car is back under cover in the garage.

 

OPTION #1, WHICH IS MY FAVORITE
 

I got these from Fastenal #0162808, Au-ve-co # 13014.  These are a 10-24 machine thread and a width of .382" which takes a .390 or
25/64's drill.  This provides a nice sealing lip against both side of the metal and allows for the right size machine screws.

Well, after much debate, we went back and forth and decided to go with the Pop Jack Nuts in metal, but with a seal.

A little more detail about these and how they work.

The seals are #11 neoprene seals that should work well under there.

These are the two screw sizes that you will need.  I like the one inch length myself.

Note how the 10 X 24 Oval Screw head fits down into the racks corner clamps.

THIS IS OPTION # 2 AND NOT MY FAVORITE, BUT THESE HAVE BEEN AROUND CARS FOR YEARS

This is what I will use for a substitute.  These are for roof racks and do provide a good seal as well.

The thread stops 1/3 of the way up and the rubber compresses and expands on the inner side of the panel.

This size accommodates a #10-24 Stainless Screw that will fit the trunk rack hold down clamp perfectly.

Good amount of surface to retain and to seal against the painted deck lid.

 

This is all sealed like the hard top and will be ready for sanding today.

The holes will be drilled prior to the sanding and painting, then the jack nuts will be installed.

First two coats of color on this side went on this morning.

This is what the Pop JackNuts look like when collapsed on themselves after being drawn up.
This provides a good anchor for the luggage rack and with the seals on top, they should never leak.

Those two stick up, the other six are hidden.

A close up of the front set compressed and you can see the seal in the inside lip above the threads.

Back of the deck near the gas filler.

All four in place and the paint goes on this side tomorrow.

Well, we have color as of yesterday.

These guys will need tapped out a bit, but that's minor.

One of the old support gaskets in place.

This is actually what holds the rack support bars in place, not the metal clamp on the end.

This guy here is just a cover.  You can see down through the left side.  The other is hidden in the cross brace.

The paint finish is great without being sanded or buffed yet.

That leg sticking up in there supports the bars.  Next week, sand and buff the clear coat.

Now I need Nu-Chrome to get the rack finished.  I do have all new attaching parts.  More on that later.

Today the parts were ready so I picked them up.

First the slats, which were a bit twisted and very dull.

These slats looked terrible prior to being polished.

A pretty nice job on these, considering what they looked like going in.

Stanchions and screws for slats, but a few are missing.

They did a great job with the plating and polishing.

The two larger bars at the rear hold the slats and the front bar is at the rear of the rack to provide support and a back stop.

Replacement screws to be polished to fill in for the missing ones above.

One of my spare racks used for reference.  I've got to start cleaning parts out of my basement.

EDIT: 1/9/13

The mounting parts below that I was lucky enough to get out of Atlanta are no longer available. 

If I hear of a source for these, I will post it as soon as possible.

The plastic parts go in the end of each slat and the pins are in the end of each tubular rod.  These pins
rest on the plastic stand offs and hold the rack of the deck lid and allow the (4) chrome end caps to lock them down.

Allan painted the black on the deck lid after it was installed to be sure that it was matched on both sides.

Even gaps all around the sides and rear.  Deck height matches rear panel perfectly too.

Allan and his guys did a great job with the paint and making sure the deck lid was square and would align perfectly.

Picked up the rest of the parts to complete the job.  All of the screws are polished and ready to go.

The etched number is my job number from plater.  It's how they keep track of the thousands of parts in process there.

This is how they fit into the ends.

I use this cleaner on my kitchen appliances and it works great.

All of the plastic end caps are in and ready to go.

It's best to leave all of the screws about one turn from tight to allow a little twisting when you install the rear bar.

And for the final installation.....

It definitely adds some bling to the back end of the car......

I'm glad that we went with the Pop JackNuts.  Installing the screws to a threaded insert was a lot better
than going with the self tapping wax cover screws into the top of the lid.  These feel very secure and tight.

That's it, already for summer cruising.


 

And as always, another fine paint job completed by Allan and his guys at:

A&E Auto Body

50 Alden Street

Pawtucket, RI  02861

401-722-2204

 

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This site was last updated 03/19/17