1991 244 Build Thread by Smokeyfan1000

14 minute(s) of a 720 minute read

OK, while I was listening to the 6x9 speakers the other day, I got out & opened the trunk lid, reached in and laid my hand on the bottom of the metal package tray, from inside the trunk.

It was vibrating quite a bit. Especially towards the center between the two speakers. Amazing what you can discover if you think and look a little bit...hmmmm..

Although I did not notice/hear it making a resonance, or vibes I could hear.

I think it might still be "coloring" the music somewhat ,without me being able to really tell it.

Seems to me it has to be taking away from the clarity of the music being played to some degree. Sound is nothing but a sound made by something moving/vibrating ...right?

So.... I got to thinking.(Uh Oh!) Why not brace it up a little bit, with something lightweight?

So tonight I went to Lowes and got a stick of 1" aluminum angle.(L shaped) and some machine screws ,wavy lock washers, and nuts.

Detailed pics to come tomorrow if all goes well...if it makes things worse, I can always remove it. We'll see..................

OK, got a few things figured out & done on bracing the metal package tray panel, besides just the "bridge braces" today. Still not done though. Will come back to that tomorrow.....

Tonight's Volvo Adventure..........................

Luckily, I had enough in/outdoor carpet left to cover the trunk's passenger cardboard side trim panel.

Also enough to cover the backseat's panel as seen from the inside the trunk. I'll have to investigate if it can be covered, due to rear passenger headrest releases are on that panel

I think it can though.I'll wait until I remove rear seat ,when I route spkr wiring, to cover it though.

The extra carpeting should help insulate the cabin area a tad, from the noises transmitted to the trunk area.

It should help with bass response of the package tray mounted 6x9 Kenwoods a tad, as well as keep the music from escaping the trunk as bad, just a tad.

Not a lot, but every little bit helps. [I]Mostly this will help the appearance of the trunk area.

Ok, before starting this mod,I weighed the panel before carpeting it. It weighs in at 1lb & 3.5 oz.

I'll also post weight of the finished, carpeted panel after I cover it. And then do the math..

This to keep up with the total of the weight reduction, from what it was ,with the spkr box set up.....and then how much weight was added back. This carpet is pretty light stuff though.

Saving 12+ lbs of weight in one place, to be able to improve appearance in another ,with only gaining a few ounces of weight back,is OK with me

Pic...



OK, have the carpet trimmed to fit, with a small border left around the circumference for the final trimming.

The three pieces of carpet for this panel,weigh in at 1/4lb (4 oz), BTW.

Now, it's glue time......LET'S GET 'ER DONE.

Pic..



1/16/12

Ok, got 'er done... the uncovered portion at the bottom fits in/rests on some clips on back of 1/4 panel.

This portion needs to remain uncovered & is out of view, below passenger's side butt cheek's trunk floor panel when installed.

BTW, CRC or Gunk Electrical Cleaner & a rag, works very well for cleaning off any glue that you get on unwanted carpet areas, and for cleaning your hands/fingers too.

I'll now place a few car magazines on top of the carpet ,until it drys a bit, to make sure it sticks well. Then I'm going to use some 3M glue, to fix a small "almost tear" on bottom of panel.

Pic of (almost) finished carpeted pass. side 1/4 panel cover panel....Now it's nice, carpeted, & pretty, instead of scuffed & ugly. Or as I like to say... from scruffy to scrumpious.

This , and covering the rear seat's backside, will make the trunk area appear a little more classier/upscale too. A little 260 Bertone essence.



After the top side dried a bit, I made the "corner cuts", and spary glue & folded the edges over. Then held them in place with clams until they dried I have a couple of short places that I'll just trim with scissors/knife towards the top.

I also patched a, not- all- the- way -through crack, and ,a couple of small holes- to -be, with 3M Emblem Adhesive. Now, I just let it dry.



And this is the finished back side, with the edges neatly folded & glued, or trimmed..



And finally....it is now a finished carpeted panel. The panel weighed in at 1 lb and 3.5 oz. before covering it with carpet. After covering it, it now weighs 1 lb & 11 oz.

So I've added 7.5 oz of weight. Very acceptable for the sake of the appearance improvement IMO.



Now I'm going to further brace the underside of the package tray metal panel(from inside the trunk).

I got some aluminum 1" angle today from Lowe's. Some 10-32 x 3/4 machine screws with nuts, some lockwashers & flat washers. And some of those plastic screw end protectors , so one does not get scraped/cut on the mtg screw's ends.

I've already measured & cut two pieces to span the distance in the center of the metal package tray panel between the two 6x9 speakers. One "fore & aft". Might put one in the middle to form a "Z" out of the 3 pieces, if I have enough angle material left over from cutting the two outer end pieces.

Tomorrow ,I'll cut two pieces to place on outside edge of bottom of metal panel that will mount beside the already present "bridge braces" for the spkr mounts .

All four/five of these brackets will serve to further strengthen the panel against unwanted movement/vibration. Sounds complicated.But it's not.It is some uncomfortable work to perform though.

I'll have finished pics of it after tomorrow's Volvo Adventure. Let's just hope it works as intended......

Pic below of tomorrow's needed hardware....get the picture?



OK, got the extra braces made, & trial fitted them today. Whether or not these braces will actually help, or make the present package tray fluttering/vibrations/resonance worse is really unknown at this time.

I think these braces will help some, but it's just something I'm trying to see if it works. Hopefully they do.
I'll remove them and paint them red to blend in better . BTW, for the weight total,all of these aliminum package tray braces together,weigh in at 13oz. .

In pic at bottom of page, from left side corner of trunk to right corner shows the bracing I've done. The actual package tray braces are the aluminum finish ones in these pics. The red ones are the bridge braces that spkr mtg screws fasten to.

I think bracing the entire panel over the unused OEM Volvospeaker holes, should add strength to the metal package tray panel, and stop it from "fluttering" under loud music/heavy bass hits, as it did before. BTW, these kenwood 6 x 9s reach down to 28 hz, so they have excellant bass IMO. We'll soon see how the bracing works out..............pics below...........







Added weight thus far...I've rounded up the weights a tad to reflect the glue's estimated weight

"Speaker Bridge Braces".................................................. ....................16oz.
"Aluminum Package Tray Panel Braces".................................................. 16 oz.
8-10/32-3/4 bolts,16-flat washers,8-lock washers,8-nuts,and 8 screw caps 2 oz.
8-8-32x2" bolts, 8-flat washers,8-nuts,8-nyloc nuts,and 8 screw caps.........2 oz.
Carpet for Passenger Side 1/4 Panel............................................. ..... ..16 oz
Carpet for Pressboard Package Tray Panel ......................................... ...16 oz

That comes to a total of.....4lb & 2oz

12lb 5 oz weight originally removed
- 4lb 2oz weight added thus far

1/17/12

OK, cleaned the trunk's floor in preparation to add grey felt padding, all one piece, as opposed to piecing it together, for noise reduction/absorbtion, and re- installl things after I get the speakers mounting.

I bought some NIB ,better looking,more OEM appearing, earlier style Kenwood speaker grilles, and I'm waiting on them to arrive. I'm hoping that they fit OK.

Meantime, I'm working on cleaning up & insulating the trunk area a little. It's just a tad noisy (over stock)with some of the rear IPD Poly bushes used,adjustable rear suspension parts, Billy HDs, and the 2.5" exhaust/MagnaFlows.

It's nothing terrible, just trying to insulate a little of it out of the cabin area, if possible. I'm hoping the OEM carpet's push pin fasteners are long enough to go through the carpet & the felt padding. Hopefully so.... This one piece covering 1/2 the trunk floor weighs 1 lb & 6 oz.

Dynamat is too heavy for me, and appears to me it would make panels and other things a bear to fit back on properly again.







I may insulate the back side of pass side 1/4 panel's panel too, if I deem it's a good idea. I think it'll get wet & mildew though on the side panel.

What the heck. I just went & got 14 ft of that grey felt padding. I'll cover what I can of the trunk floor, & behind the seat inside the car, if there's room for it.

I'll have a bit left over for future projects too.
Pic.......



I unrolled the insulating /padding. Laid the OEM carpet on top, lined up forward end, and traced carpet with a Sharpie Pen.

Now the fun job of cutting the outline on the felt padding out. Now's a good time to be Edward Scissorhands.LOL.



OK, got it cut out. I also used the OEM little pad as a template and cut it out. Thr center of trunk floor over gas tank is recessed. The new OEM little piece helps fill up the recess, making the floor mre even/smoother. So I'll have both. I hope this matting quietens it down in the cabin a little. When I get the backseat out I'll cut a piece to go behind it too. If it'll fit OK.

Pics below":
The "New OEM piece"...





The full coverage padding goes on top of the "New OEM Piece" for added insulation properites.



Tucks under the upright tailght panel area nicely...



Now with a little luck the carpet will go over all this and it's push pin fasteners might even penetrate both padding & carpet.

1/18/12

OK, just weighed the small "new OEM piece" and the larger "full coverge" padding piece. Both of them weigh a total of 4lb together.

So let's review the last previously recorded weights.
Speaker Bridge Braces".................................................. ....................16oz.
"Aluminum Package Tray Panel Braces".................................................. 16 oz.
8-10/32-3/4 bolts,16-flat washers,8-lock washers,8-nuts,and 8 screw caps 2 oz.
8-8-32x2" bolts, 8-flat washers,8-nuts,8-nyloc nuts,and 8 screw caps.........2 oz.
Carpet for Passenger Side 1/4 Panel............................................. ..... ..16 oz
Carpet for Pressboard Package Tray Panel ......................................... ...16 oz

That comes to a total of.....4lb & 2oz
12lb 5 oz weight originally removed
- 4lb 2oz weight added thus far

OK, I painted the aluminum braces and now have them installed. It did make the metal package tray panel much siffer/resistant to flexing.

I tightened the nuts , and then ran a jam/lock nut up against the 1st nut. Wanted to use blue LocTite too, but could not find the tube of it. Use of red LocTite was decided against, as these may make things worse(don't know yet) and because I may need to remove these some day, although can't think of a reason why at the moment.

I cut the "screw protectors of very short,and placed them on what was left of the threaded ends. There was not many threads left sticking out of the nuts & jam nuts. On one, there was no threads sticking out, so I used a larger red one, I already had.

Pics below:

Two in the center...



Passenger side...







Driver's side...



On the topside, of the metal package tray panel inside the car are the PTP Braces Retaining Screws.

I don't think but 5 of these 7 screws, stick up enough to matter/interfere with the pressboard/carpeted package tray panel. Two of them are "recessed" flush. I just got lucky there. Rare thing for me....

The seven screws in the center are only ones pressboard package tray panel will rest on. The seat belt reel covers, cover the two on the Pass. & Dvr's side ends. We'll soon see how well it fits on top of them.

What it looks like topside, inside the car

Center..



Driver's side, the hole nearest the seat back was already there/OEM Volvo,and the seat belt reel cover hides these two screws...



Passenger side, same here, hole nearest seat was pre-existing/OEM Volvo...