The curve looks so much better than the boxes you had before, maybe create the radius only and cut it into the boxes if you know what I mean, once that's done so it to the sides and roll to the top, it won't look like a sub box then lol .
My last welding helmet cost a whopping $17 with a light ! Another cost $21 with a huge real colour screen. I seem to go thru them at a rapid rate, dropping them etc so I don't buy expensive ones, tho that $99 jobbie is dang good price and quality..

Thats a pretty awesome idea actually, especially if they were moldable. Maybe for the next project car because this was more of a pain in the arse than i thought it was going to be.

But as they say perfection is the enemy of done, so I cracked on a bit more today. The boot panels are getting close to done now, I can almost taste it. I wont be upholstering them though until the car is back from the panel shop and I've finished the deadening and electrical, cause I want to add a boot light somehow, I already have a hole in the channel from where they fitted the alarm boot switch so I'll probably use that since it's there, you can actually see it in the first photo up next to the drivers side hinge. The drivers side panel will have a battery kill switch mounted to it and the deadening will probably change a few of the measurements so a final adjustment to the panels will be required before carpet goes on.

I'll more than likely mount an extinguisher to the back panel and it will have an "access" hatch cut into it for hiding all the totally legit and legal things....  
 
Here is the back panel in place, there will be a floor panel too, that will be fabbed up last.


 
I marked everything up and took it all back out to mock up and fit the top panels.


 

 
Both sides are bolted up and glued, I've left enough wiggle room on both panels to trim as needed. Once the glue is dried tomorrow I'll mark up the top section relief for the boot hinges and cut them to size.
 
Oh and I know it's not a Escort but I bought a GTI as a run around, the Tiguan diesel I was driving was a good car but it was putting me to sleep. The thing is in great condition for its age, full dealer service history which blew me away . I can't imagine how much that would have cost them over the 200km its done.

I forgot to download the snaps of the car from the advert so I just grabbed a picture online of one in very similar condition and color so you can get an idea. The only thing i'll have to fix up is a bit of curb rash on one of the wheels and polish the headlights.



I pick it up Monday, Oh and it's a manual - NO WAY I was getting one with a DSG 

I was thinking about an XR5 as an option too, I ultimately decided on the Golf though because I know them inside and out. First order of business will be to strip the inlet manifold off, clean the carbon deposits on the backs of the valves and replace the high pressure fuel pump cam follower. 

That alone will turn back the clock on the motor a fair bit, the carbon gets so bad due to no fuel washing the valves and the cam follower is a known point of failure. But enough on the GTI!

THE BOOT IS DONE!!!! Well..... not really but holy moly the hard part is! I needed to do ANOTHER revision of the side panels due to the god dang thicker ply top panel, the boot was fouling on them when closing. So i recessed them 10mm into the panels and I think it made for a much neater finish anyhow.


 
Every bolt you currently can see will be countersunk M6 black screws so they will be really neat, I need to chamfer the edges of the panels for a nicer finish but that's easy enough, i'll do it all by hand with one of those little tools that you can set the depth.


 
Ill get one of those 25mm thick black foam strips to stick on the quarter panel to take up the gap at the top, that way i don't have to worry about making the wood panel have a "edge" to take up the gap, it's really solid the way it is now so it wont actually need securing to the guard. I may change my mind though .


 
There are a few things I still need to do but for the most part the hard part is done. I have plans on the way the rest will shake out.


 
I am going to weld a few strap mounting points back here so I can strap whatever I place back here down, probably the jack and a tool kit.


 
Tell you what though, I never want to do something like that again - give me a engine rebuild any day of the week!

Looks good Mark. Definitely worth all the effort and thought you've put into it.
Maybe you could start a line in bespoke coffins
Yes, good luck with the Golf. Looks like you have the technical mechanical faults down pat.

You cant make this stuff up.

I had the boot panels stacked against a wall in the garage, fast forward to today and I was grabbing some polish for the GTI and managed to bump them on the way past, they fell over and OF COURSE both curved panels were the ones that took all the impact from the pile falling over. They both snapped on the curve, so now I have to make new ones.... 

hey Mark, I was looking at some lining materials to do inside the van with, and found some black auto lining carpet and though of your boot project. $32/m 
https://www.homeupholsterer.com.au/apextm-unbacked-auto-carpet.html 

Started the pull down on the type 9 - I've got the longer layshaft needle rollers coming and a rebuild kit, also didn't have a 36mm socket on hand for the 5th gear nut so got one of those coming too.

They're actually a pretty easy gearbox so far, getting the speedo drive was a pain in the ass but everything else has been relatively smooth sailing. Apparently taking off the sandwich plate is where things get spicy. 


 
Once its stripped ill take the alloy housings down to a local mob to get some glass bead treatment. I'm keen to have a really close look at 2nd gears teeth, that's the only part I'm sketchy on so far. The front needle bearing has had it, way too movement coming from it - a new one comes in the kit so that will sort that.
 
 
 
5th gear synchro hub is in good shape, will go till the end of time and so far no debris in the box. All in all happy so far with the purchase, I don't think I'll find any surprises from here on out.

The wear on the outer points are my main concern, they're supposed to look like little coffins to draw in and engage the gear snugly, I'll be able to get up close and personal with them when this bloody socket arrives and I can disassemble the main shaft!

It was Taff's , do you know him? It wasn't a bad drive all told and I didn't pay for the accom so saved a bit of money there and the diesel didn't use much fuel so I'm telling myself I saved money on freight. I'll definitely keep that in mind though if anything else from there pops up that I need!
 
The spread type struts can be a real pain in the hoop, it's sometimes easier to just drop the whole lot out and do it in the vice. With the manual transmission on the MK5 they can be pretty agricultural, they rattle/chatter like all hell when you put a SMF on them, since it's a daily I don't really want the excessive NVH. The worst thing about the whole car though is the lack of LSD, even stock they will one wheel peel all the way to third with the traction control off and with it on the car suffers. It's a shame VW never bit the bullet with LSD for the GTIs until like 2015 because it really transforms the car - I have plans to rectify that though when the box is out!