Glove Box, Cubbys and storage

[Wizbangdoodle]

Hey everyone. I wanted to find out if anyone has done what I am thinking of doing.

I intentionally opted for no glovebox, because I'm installing a heater and wanted the space. I do want some storage options however. I've searched and found several people that have made a cubby between the seats, or even made an entire shelf back there. Watched a video where a guy made a box to fit to the cubby hole. Looked at Breeze's wall for the trunk area. What I would like is an enclosed box with the cubby hole, but be able to put a locking door on it.

Has anyone done this and how did it turn out? How much room is there between the seats? In other words, how wide can the door be?

[Rebostar]

I just made a box and rivited it in. I made a hole that looks about right to me. You could cut a square hole and mount a lockable door to it. If you hinge the bottom, just set the seats in place and see how wide you want the door. easy peasy!!


201787201788201789201790

[Wizbangdoodle]

That's nice. I'd do that and just add a locking door to that. Now to find the perfect door. I wonder if I could find something that is "period correct"? Have you test fit your seats to see if they block that opening at all?

BTW, curious about the ducting. What's that for?

[BUDFIVE]

I am building a cubby box and finding a door I liked and was willing to pay for was a challenge. My build thread entry #43 has some pics.
Here’s a pic and the link.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?47734-BUDFIVE%92s-CenTex-Build-Video-Links-FIRST-START-BoooHah!/page2201791

[Railroad]

I have an open hole to the cubby hole. I use it for a ball cap or other random items.
I do wish I had hinged the back of the cubby hole for access through the trunk.
If I want to access the extremes of the cubby space, I have to resort to contortions.
The seat belt mounts and roll bar bolts are in that area. If the back wall would hinge down, all would be easier.

[65 Cobra Dude]

Good idea Railroad. I'll probably steal it for future builds including my 198 tribute car. I'll give you kudos if asked.

Henry

[Alan_C]

Back in 2012, I plaggerized a design from another builder. I used the Breeze cubby cabin kit as a foundation and then added a pocket style sliding door with lock. The cubby cabin worked great. I also did a 1 inch deep glove box as well. The thinking with the glove box was to have a locked space for key documentation like current registration. Not a lot of room in the glove box, but it served the purpose I was after.

[Rebostar]

That's nice. I'd do that and just add a locking door to that. Now to find the perfect door. I wonder if I could find something that is "period correct"? Have you test fit your seats to see if they block that opening at all?

BTW, curious about the ducting. What's that for?

Yes, I had to make seat mounts. Seats allow ample access from either pax or driver. I have the carbon fiber dash with locking glove box, but wanted extra cockpit storage.
Ducting is for footbox vent blowers. Air comes in the opening to the cubby, blowers direct the air down to a couple of plenums, then forward to each footbox. Check out my build thread under "rebostar" in gaston Or.

Making a smaller box instead of a rear trunk wide divider allows access to the seat belt mounts, roll bar bolts, ect. from the trunk. I also installed a USB port in the cubby.

[Wizbangdoodle]

Thanks BUDFIVE, railroad, Alan_C and Rebostar. These are all great ideas and well fabricated.

BUDFIVE and Rebostar, where did you get the door for the cubby?

[BUDFIVE]

Mine is a R1325 from Penn Elcom—actually meant for an audio equipment rack.

[ProfessorB]

This is a great idea. I'm going to look into this myself. I especially like the locking feature idea since roadsters are not locked.

[Rebostar]

Thanks BUDFIVE, railroad, Alan_C and Rebostar. These are all great ideas and well fabricated.

BUDFIVE and Rebostar, where did you get the door for the cubby?

I wont have a door on it. Recall it's the inlet for the footbox air.

[Wizbangdoodle]

I wont have a door on it. Recall it's the inlet for the footbox air.

Understood. I don't think I'll do the full air ducting you have going on. BTW, isn't there a mod for bringing air in the footbox from the front? Curious why you opted for the setup you have.

[Ducky2009]

You can have a heater and glove box. I pushed the heater into the engine bay 2 1/2" and made a glove box

201880 201881 201882

[Rebostar]

Understood. I don't think I'll do the full air ducting you have going on. BTW, isn't there a mod for bringing air in the footbox from the front? Curious why you opted for the setup you have.

I had planned on doing the front inlet untill I saw AAron's installation. Part of his comments were that the air 8" off the hot asphalt (where the intakes are) was blowing hot air onto your feet. Exactly the opposite of the intent. He put blowers behind his seats and had cooler air blowing into his footbox. I took it one step further and brought the air that comes over the windshield and into the cubby into the footbox. About the coolest air your going to find on a hot day.

[CraigS]

I did a near full width cubby. I cut the rear cockpit aluminum at the top of the 2x2 cross frame tube stopping to match the side walls of the trunk. I moved it back about 8 inches and secured it. Then lined the are w/ carpet. This left a 3/4x3/4 tube horizontal tube in place maybe 1/3 up to the top. I found this to be a great place to throw a jacket or sweater or small pack or wife's purse and the 3/4x3/4 kept stuff in place. Anything I needed to lock up I put in the trunk and locked it. Trunk latch already has a lock and I didn't need to find a door. Guess I spent enough time in MG Midgets, AH Sprites, MGAs and MGBs, a friends TR3, another friends AH 3000, to find this to be pretty normal.

[Avalanche325]

I did it the hard way. I have a full-sized glove box and a heater. The heater is in the middle, which took a bit of fabrication.

For jackets, hats, gloves etc. You can just stuff them behind the seats. There is a bit of space there. You would be surprised how may orange foam ear plugs end up back there.

[rich grsc]

I'm not surprised at all--------hundreds :rolleyes:

[Grubester]

silly question, but from where is the inlet air sourced form? Options/trade-offs...

[Avalanche325]

silly question, but from where is the inlet air sourced form? Options/trade-offs...

The engine bay. You want heat, right?

My first go-round of my center heater with glove box had the whole unit under the dash and pulled air from the cockpit. It was so crowded under there, everything would have been unserviceable. Then I turned the fan on, and it sounded like a blender in the car. All that custom aluminum went in the trash. V2.0, center, with the blower in the engine bay worked great.

I think I remember someone that built an enclosure and is pulling air from the side vent.

[JJK]

I decided to get fancy and have two heaters, one for each person, each with their own control and their intake air coming from the engine bay. I also put a bypass valve to the heater cores so hot water wasn't always going through them, thus minimizing hot air exchange in the cabin. I can turn on the heater cores with a switch on the dash. My initial thought was that I could use the fans for the heaters to separately blow (cool?) air on warmer days without the heater cores being hot from the coolant. But, the air temp under the hood is hot, so I am simply blowing hot engine bay air onto my feet and lap, even without coolant going through the cores. On cooler days, I will now have two temperature modes (engine bay air and warmer engine block temperature air) with three fan speeds. Not what I was originally planning, but making the best of the situation.
There were recently some good posts of folks routing fan air from the trunk/cubby to the feet on the floor by the seats, as this is probably the coolest air source you can find without AC.