Haha yea don't pop yourself in the eye.

 

Ah thanks a bunch, which part in all that is spring loaded?

 

Hah I threw the parking brake on, put it in neutral, sat in the back seat, and yanked like hell. Came off pretty good that way.

 

Not really spring loaded. There's a little spring that holds tension on the button but nothing to worry about. The **** is just on there real good and pops off... that's why so many people hurt themselves removing them haha.

 

pull it into a lower gear... I busted my knuckles on the dash

 

Mine pulled off one day "test driving" it after I bought it. T handle is not a great O.S bar

 

I wasn't sure if this should go in the fab forum or here but it's certainly homebrewed so I guess this will work...

I've only had my XJ for a couple months and I've spent most of my time keeping up with stuff that falls off or breaks but she's been behaving so I got bored and decided to clean up all the speaker crap I have filling my cargo area. I'd like to use that space for... well, cargo.



Looks like a basic box but I've removed (and cut) the inside plastic quarter panel and fabbed the back side of the box to take advantage of all that space in the fender well. I've got about 50 hours invested so far. Most of that was creating templates for every piece so that I can replicate it if necessary. For the most part, there's about 1/8th inch clearance on all surfaces except for the very back of the box where I left about an inch between the wood and outer quarter panel skin. Other than a few strategic hardwood reenforcing braces, the whole thing is made out of 3/4" ULMDF and only weighs 11 pounds (not including the sub, of course)



I had to move the sub out a little to get the enclosure volume I needed. I didn't want to bump it out with a boring square so I decided to taper it so that it mimicked the contour lines on the body of the XJ.


You can see some of the speaker I'm trying to get out of the way.

I didn't want it to just be about the speaker so I incorporated a 5" x 6" x 22" (approximate) storage box on the top. It's plenty big enough for a couple heavy tow straps, some chain, tools, gloves, and a ****** block. The rectangular cut-out at the back will house a standard single-gang electrical box and dual 120v outlet from the 1000w inverter I hard-wired last week.



This is a view of the inside of the storage box from the hole where the 120v outlet will eventually go (it's floating around in the fender well right now, LOL)



Just a look at the tolerances where the top wraps around the D-pillar.


Looking in from the outside

I cut the rear-most profile of the storage box lid at an angle to match the angle of the D-pillar/rear window so that when the lid is open it fits inside the D-pillar rather than hitting it. I also notched the leading edge so that it didn't interfere with the rear seatback.

I've still got a lot to do. I have to find spring loaded hinges for the lid that will work with the angles I've got. I bought 18 square feet of black automotive carpet this afternoon and will eventually cover the exterior with that. I may put it in the storage box as well but I'm considering using rattlecan bedliner inside the storage area. Haven't decided yet. I'm also going to create templates for one with more storage rather than a subwoofer and I've still got to build one for the other side. Sigh.

Anyway, if I see that others are interested in the project I'll keep uploading photos as I progress.

 

Nice...

I started using a label maker to print out important information. For example the socket sizes to mount my new Hellas were 13mm and 11/16. So I printed that information out and taped it on the inside of the rear left window, real high....not really a mod, I guess, but a good way not to forget info that you might need again...

 

that is a fantastic sub/storage box. well done. nice lines, looks like it's "one" with the xj. very well thought out.

 

Box looks great, you have used mdf before I take it

 

Haha somebody has to ask.... can I buy one??

 

This speaker box and storage is great. I love the way you have such small tolerances when wrapping around the pillar and seat. Great job.

 

X2! How much?!

 

I've worked with it before but I've never really made something like this.

Hopefully! Based on the time and engineering it took to create the first one, I'd sell them for about one MEEEELLION dollars (each, of course). I'm going to build another one from the templates I created and see how it goes. If I can put them together fairly quickly I would hope to get the price down to the $200 range with the sub enclosure and maybe $150 for one that just serves as a utility box. I'm also planning on incorporating a cargo light in the box since my '89 doesn't have any sort of light in the back, just that pathetic dome light way up front.

Do you think I should have designed it so that the quarter panel plastic has to be cut? I'm a little concerned that a lot of people won't want to do that. My initial thought was that I would have it contour to the plastic but realized it was just such a waste of all that space in the fender well behind the plastic.

Thanks for all the kind words of support. I'll be working on it again this evening and will post more photos.

 

i think that once people see how it fits and looks (completed) and operates, 150 or 200 would be a great price. i would deff incorporate a light and maybe a little more storage and carpet the box but other than that if i didn't have the skills to do this myself i would deff be buying one... some people aren't going to want to cut the panel but i think most don't mind at all. once you've trimmed your fenders your kinda past the stage of not wanting to cut things... you could even sell it as a kit with pre-cut mdf that the customer puts together. but then of course you would have to come down on price.