Installing a Locking Rear Floor Storage Cover
By IROCZDave(iroczdave@aol.com)
The following is my experience with installing one of these locking floor covers on my 88 IROC.
First let me say that I got my parts out of an 85 IROC without the power glass hatch pulldown option, nor did it have a third brake light on the hatch (87-92) which later proved to be a bit of a challenge, but "when challenges arise, we improvise!"
Parts needed
- Storage cover (when you remove this from the supply car forget about the bolts that are part of the body, keep the nuts and plastic oval trim pieces though)
- The rear compartment trim that covers your glass hatch assembly with the intergrated shelf ( if it is the correct one for whatever type of glass hatch mechanism you have, there is a BIG difference between this trim wheather you have the power pull down or the standard latching mechanism.
If you’re installing for the same year you should not have any difficulities, but if you do what I did install from an 85 to an 88 well, I’ll get into that later.
If you’re EXTREMELY LUCKY you will find the key in the lock, but if you’re not that lucky in order for you to use this feature you’ll have to get a key made for it, or have it re-keyed for your exsisting car key ( rounded key). - The lock cacth mounting bracket (spot welded to the car) located behind the rear trim panel, I did not use this on my car so take some measurements of the bracket while it’s still on the supply car so you have have a good idea where to mount this on your car.
Of course you want this to look good in your car, if you’re lucky you got one the same color as your exsisting interior, if not remove the carpet from the storage cover (good luck, GM used some kind of super adhesive on this and it will take a while) I don’t recommend spray painting to a darker color it wont last long just replace the carpet, then use some plastic or vinyl spray paint that matches whatever color interior you have, paint the storage cover edges, hinge assembly and underside (just paint the inside edges of the top lid of the storage cover so you’ll have a good surface to put the glue/carpet on) and finally the oval plastic snap on covers.
Prep the hatch trim piece with the intergraded shelf hopefully this is the same color as your car’s interior if not, paint to match, and the carpet, it’s your call wheather or not to paint or replace.
Prep the lock cacth mounting bracket by drilling a few holes for self tapping screws and easy mounting.
Installation:
Remove your exsisting rear compartment hatch trim panel, then locate the position for the lock cacth mounting bracket and install, and then install the new trim panel with the intergraded shelf.
Take your finished storage cover and set it in place with the hinge and mount pads swung in the down position, if all fits fairly well its time to mount the storage door in place.
Swing the storage cover door all the way over to the foward floor and swing the hinge down to the mounting pad location, try to center the mount holes on the mound pad surface, then drill (2) holes one in each mount pad location this is a temporary mount so you can adjust the fit if you have to.
Swing the storage cover back in place, how’s the fit?
You may have to make some small adjustments, the storage cover has ovals slots where the screws mount so make the appropriate adjustments then go ahead and drill the other 2 holes and finish mounting.
Try the key lock if you decided to use this feature, the bracket has some adjustment to it make whatever adjustment that are necessary.
OK now the part about my having to improvise, first the car I got my setup from was an 85 IROC with gray interior it had a standard manual rear glass latch, my car has the power pull down and theres a BIG difference in width between the two of these rear trim panels, I didnt pay attention to the fact that I also have the third brake light contact panel on my car and the gray replacement (which I was going to paint to match) did not have the hole for that either.
So at this point I said F*** it! I’ll improvise with my exisiting rear panel (Med. Beechwood) I had to also cut out the additional width of my rear trim panel out of the storage cover (this took a bit of doing) and I used some metal "L" strips and mounted them to the rear trim panel with bolts, lock washers and nuts (no self-tapping screws here this had to support weight!) three strips in all,one for the center and one on each other side, then I put a strip of thin rubber self adhesive backed to the "L" strips for rattle control.
The finished job looks great, and if you know me I sweat the details!
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to e-mail me, hopefully I’ll have the answers for ya!