I'm in the process of installing a S&W rear back half in my thirdgen. Got some questions and need some guidance on a few things.

In this first picture, is the inner structure of the gas cap hole just glued to the inside surface of the rear quarter? How did you guys remove it?



Take a look at the next pics and tell me if I still need to remove more metal and where.

 

You won't know how much metal to remove until you put the tubs in. The metal around the gas cap hole is left in place. It's not worth the effort to try and remove it from the outer skin. I simply ground down the edges where the tubs would pass through and cut off as much as I could. I glued the door back onto the body to fill the hole. Welding a filler plug into the hole to completely remove the look of the door would make it a neater job.

I see your markings in the last picture. They look very close and you can see they're not the same on both sides. Don't go by the positioning of the factory components to take measurements. The cars are not symmetrical from side to side. You'll need to find the true centerline by some other means and measure outward for the frame rails from the centerline.

To tub the car out properly, you should also widen the wheel openings. The wheel opening is cut out then cut in half. Both halves are welded back in with a gap between them and a piece of sheetmetal welded back into the gap. I never did this. I simply cut the bottom of the front and rear with a reciprocating saw to get the clearance I needed. I wasn't building a show car.

 

The shop that did mine removed the metal behind the fuel door, but I'm not sure how. I wonder if you could use a small propane torch to heat it up and soften the bond.

If you need some reference photos check out AlkyIROC's back half thread or mine here. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...o-project.html

 

Thanks guys, I've been looking at both of your builds. Thanks for posting them.

 

Maybe it's just not in your pics, but did you weld anything to those to keep them from flexing all over the place while you have all the structure cut out of it? I see the roll cage, but from those pics you posted it looks like it's only attached to the rear inner bumper area in two places.

Mathius

 

I never did when I cut out my floor for the back half. The main body structure is being held in place by the main hoop. The amount of sheet metal behind the main hoop is minimal. If that flexes or bends, you have more serious issues.

If you're building a show car and want an absolutely perfectly aligned body then braces should be added. Also if you do a back half to the car that doesn't already have a roll cage.bar installed, you'll probably want the extra support.