Re: Ski Rack and retrofitting a Ski Sack, YES IT CAN BE DONE!

[Dave Conner <conner@cfm.ohio-state.edu>]

Marty wrote:
>        For 5Ks, the rear seat armrest is a must for this "conversion".
Otherwise the
>car will not have the sheet metal properly punched for the ski sack. We've
>looked at quite a few of these cars (and taken several apart as well), and
>that's what we've seen so far. I think that maybe it's the cars with fabric
>interior that don't have the fold-down aarmrest (or the "punched" sheet
>metal), and that leather interior cars do have it.

I've retrofitted ski-sacks into both my 87 5ks and 89 100.
The cloth upholstery is not an indication whether the punched sheet metal
is there.  My 89 100E came with cloth >and< punched cutout.
And if the punched sheet metal is there (and there is no gas tank in the
way), then you >could< just open up the hole with out having the ski sack
on hand to retrofit.  Then cover the sharp edges of sheet metal.
This allows carrying long loads of any sort, not just skis.  The armrest is
usually folded up anyway so the hole won't ordinarily be noticed.  The lack
of support behind armrest is a small problem and could be remedied with a
removeable panel of some kind.
You would likely want to wrap any long objects in padding of some sort to
protect the console, etc.  
Dave C.