Made Interior Rear Panels

[NuBomb]

I bought the aluminum tread-plate a year ago and for the past couple of weeks I've been working on these. I still have some triming and speakers to worry about, but so far so good. I used 1/8 brown board as a backer to the aluminum. My plan is to polyurethane the brown board, build some 6x9 speaker boxes and attach them, and have the top trim (CST) powdercoated or re-chromed.

[bouncytruck]

Those look great! Make sure to post picks when they are installed.

[NuBomb]

Thanks and will do.

[NuBomb]

Update!!

I got the driverside panel screwed into place. I've still got to cut out for speakers, but so far they are looking like what I had in mind.

[NuBomb]

I've still got to decide what to do about this transition area here. I'm thinking about cutting out some more diamond plate and maybe bend it to meet the rear panel. I'm still thinking on this.

[Bull72]

These look great NuBomb! The PO did the same thing on my blazer and I love them, I always get comments on how good/custom they look. No maintenance and they look really great... although they look more shiny than mine. According to the PO they have been on my truck for around 4 years now. I have removed them once when installing the softtopper and PO just had the holes cut for the speakers.

[swyfor5]

Hey, those look great! Do you have a pattern or dimensions? I want to do the same thing with mine. I have the chrome strips from a cst for the top rails, and figured I could use them to secure the panels at the top. It looks like yours fit perfect, any size dimensions you have would be a big help.

[NuBomb]

I'll take some measurements for you, but I really just had to make a template and trimmed as I went. I used cardboard to make some templates. I used the template to make the panels out of brown-board. I used the brownboard to make final fit before using them as templates to cut the aluminum. I glued the brownboard to the back of the aluminum and still had to trim some. They are not perfect, but I do drive this thing every day.

I had the CST chrome strips blasted and powdercoated. Once the strips were powdercoated, the aluminum would have fit in them perfectly. Unfortunately, I had already glued the brownboard to back so I had to sand the backs until they fit. It has been a learning process for sure. Just liike anything; if I had to make them again, they would fit much better.

[NuBomb]

Bull, did the po used boxes to enclose the speaker backs? I know nothing about building speaker boxes, but I thought it would be necessary to enclose the speakers to protect the sound.

[Bull72]

Originally Posted by swyfor5

Hey, those look great! Do you have a pattern or dimensions? I want to do the same thing with mine. I have the chrome strips from a cst for the top rails, and figured I could use them to secure the panels at the top. It looks like yours fit perfect, any size dimensions you have would be a big help.

swyfor5 the PO mentioned doing the same thing for a custom fit. He simply got a piece of cardboard/posterboard and traced/cutout the exact fit for his truck. Then he took that to hardware store for diamond plating to get big enough pieces. My PO didn't even put any backing on it, it is all diamond plating with holes drilled directly into it.

Originally Posted by NuBomb

Bull, did the po used boxes to enclose the speaker backs? I know nothing about building speaker boxes, but I thought it would be necessary to enclose the speakers to protect the sound.

NuBomb, there are no speaker boxes at all. He simply cut the exact size of his speaker into the diamond plating. It looks like he put some type of rubber lining around the speaker so it is snug with the metal opening. But that could also be the speaker itself. The PO covered the speaker in plastic because he was worried about the elements messing up the electronics (don't do that) because whenever I had my music up too loud you could hear the plastic vibrate =) I will just remove that soon. Haven't got around to it.

[NuBomb]

Well I went ahead and built some speaker boxes for my 6x9's to sit in. I've got polyurethane on the backside of the panels and I should be able to install them in the next day or so. I'll take some pics when it is all done.

[Bull72]

Originally Posted by NuBomb

Well I went ahead and built some speaker boxes for my 6x9's to sit in. I've got polyurethane on the backside of the panels and I should be able to install them in the next day or so. I'll take some pics when it is all done.

Very nice, I bet you with speaker boxes yours should thump/sound much better than mine!!! Can't wait to see your pics and for you to let us know how it sounds.

[NuBomb]

I finally got my interior finished (well almost). The side panels turned out pretty good (imho), but I made the speaker boxes a little too deep and the panel kind of pooch out at the bottom. The sound is fine.

[Bull72]

Turned out great!!! Dude your interior looks great. The passenger/driver side door panels, the chrome cap you have at the end of the bed behind the seats and the seats themselves... Everything came together perfect!

What kind of flooring do you have? Is that rhino lining or some type of mat?

[NuBomb]

It is the rubber mat from ACC I believe. I bought it second hand from a guy on the board. There were some cuts in it, but I figured it would do for a daily driver.

And Thanks.

[fun in dirt]

That looks very good!
I did some diamond plate panels awhile back too & have loved them. Good idea on the speaker boxes!

[PNW_Smoker]

Looks dang good to me.

[tubbedII]

Wow! That's the best looking utility bucket interior I've seen yet!!! I always thought you couldn't fit a console between them. Great job on the whole thing...it looks awesome.

[NuBomb]

Thanks for the great compliments. I am very happy with the buckets. They are covered in marine grade vinyl, so they should be able to withstand the elements.