drilling holes for trunk rack

whats the best way to drill mounting holes for trunk rack? i finally found a rack for my 83 and trunk never had a rack and any tricks you guys have to drill the holes without cracking the trunk lid?? before i go drilling

Masking tape on both sides.

Use a sharp drill bit and drill slowly and don't apply much pressure. Actually, not too slow... with a variable speed drill, I'd say appx 1/4 - 1/3 of the rpm.

measure 3 times, then test again and then drill.

FYI, the ABS plastic is relatively soft and not brittle as you might find on a windshield so it's not as prone to cracking when drilling it. At least that's my feelings and experience.

This thread shows how I installed my luggage rack.

Not sure if it is the best way . . .

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=57151

Couple other things to keep in mind....

it is preferable that the trunk rack has, if not on the top, an underneath metal brace that runs from the forward mount point to the rear.

Take note of the angle that the screws go into the bottom of the rack and try and angle your holes the same direction otherwise you may find you'll have to drill the holes bigger to get the screws in.

To take all precautions on drilling ABS plastic I strongly recommend using a step drill rather than a standard bit. It can cut at slow speed and don't pull itself into the material.

Not a lot of bucks, pretty cheap a HF. Don't need an expensive bit for this kind of work.

I've drilled a lot of plastic this way to mount racks and drill in pieces repaired with epoxy with zero problems.

Masking tape on the trunk will allow you to protect the surface and find your correct drilling positions to get it right the first time. Don't get much of a second chance on this stuff.

As mentioned support braces on the inside will give you a lot of extra support to prevent future cracking.

I used 1 1/8 chrome washers with a rubber bib washer under that on top of the trunk to add a little more.

Of course you will need to get some longer bolts to attach the rack after adding the braces and washers.

But that's just me. I plan on a little extra weight on my rack.

Mike

I will offer an additional comment to consider. I drilled holes for 5 items when mounting these on my 88VR - one on top of my trunk, two on the sides of tthe trunk, and two on the saddlebag lids. From all that, I found that because I didn't have the original templates to locate the holes to mount each item, my greatest challenge was to precisely locate them so the screws fit properly. I found two things that helped. One was to start with a single hole and mount the rack with one screw, and them mark the other holes from there. The second thing that I found that helped with this challenge was to insert screws (or something similar) in the rack that had the heads cut off and that were filed to a point which would precisely mark the plastic. I suspect others just drilled slightly larger sized holes to deal with this, but I did not want to do that and I can tell you from experience that the location of the holes needs to be fairly precise.

When I installed mine I drilled the holes a tad bigger than needed and used nylon washers on both sides to avoid any metal to fiberglass contact, which I thought may lead to cracking. I've since had more weight than I was comfortable with strapped to the rack, but have had no issues.

I will offer an additional comment to consider. I drilled holes for 5 items when mounting these on my 88VR - one on top of my trunk, two on the sides of tthe trunk, and two on the saddlebag lids. From all that, I found that because I didn't have the original templates to locate the holes to mount each item, my greatest challenge was to precisely locate them so the screws fit properly. I found two things that helped. One was to start with a single hole and mount the rack with one screw, and them mark the other holes from there. The second thing that I found that helped with this challenge was to insert screws (or something similar) in the rack that had the heads cut off and that were filed to a point which would precisely mark the plastic. I suspect others just drilled slightly larger sized holes to deal with this, but I did not want to do that and I can tell you from experience that the location of the holes needs to be fairly precise.

Glad you mentioned that coz that's what I did too ... but forgot.

( I did ... really I did)

When I replaced the trunk on the '83 I set the rack on the new lid and aligned it the way I wanted. Then drew circles around the feet. Took it off and drilled through the center of the circles. Worked for me...

When I replaced the trunk on the '83 I set the rack on the new lid and aligned it the way I wanted. Then drew circles around the feet. Took it off and drilled through the center of the circles. Worked for me...

--- and that is what I did for the first of the 5 items that I drilled to mount. I guess I got unlucky as the holes in the feet of the trunk rack (which was not a VentureLine rack) were not centered in the piping so I had to drill bigger holes than I wanted to compensate. That is why I tried to avoid that problem with the other items I mounted as I described in my original post. Again, this was just my own experience for what it is worth.

 

--- and that is what I did for the first of the 5 items that I drilled to mount. I guess I got unlucky as the holes in the feet of the trunk rack (which was not a VentureLine rack) were not centered in the piping so I had to drill bigger holes than I wanted to compensate. That is why I tried to avoid that problem with the other items I mounted as I described in my original post. Again, this was just my own experience for what it is worth.

Good thought. I guess checking each hole before drilling would be a good idea. I didn't, but it was a Venture Line Rack.... Lucked out..

You can get some RV butyl tape to put between the metal straps and trunk lid, will hold the straps in place, clean off easy. I did mine as described above, using blue painters tape. Position, mark and I drilled one hole, put one bolt in. Marked for second hole and drilled it. Then marked the last two holes and drilled them. The rack is a lot easier to put on with four hands.