I have an 83 sport coupe and I am gonna build a road warrior like in the mad max movies. I need to know what I can get away with in terms of what can go.

I was planning on stripping the interior and giving her a shot of rockgaurd (spray can rubber goo) and I basically just want to make the interior as lean as possible when I put it back together. So aside from the obvious seat removal, what else can I tear out of the interior?

I'm thinking:
Back seat
Carpet
Headliner
Door panels
some of the Speakers...
and maybe the Console

what else can I chop outta the cockpit? I should mention that I do want to keep the passenger seat and I do need an operational stereo (heavy metal combats road fatigue)

 

rubber liner? thats a new one, ive seen people line the doors with sheet metal, and make a lightweight metal dash, if your going for a stripped interior are you gonna shoot for a cage too? thatd be awesome to have a gutted interior with a cage IMO you can shed some weight by ditching all the un needed wiring, if your gonna cut up the dash im guessin youre goin for aftermarket gauges which can rid you of a rats nest of wiring if you do it the simple way

 

Yeah like I'm thinkin when you look down into an old roadster or an old truck, how the dashpanel was just a flat sheet basically. Mount something like that up, I was gonna just re-use all the gauges cuz I'm on a no-budget budget, but hiding the wires is all in how you mount the gauge.

As far as a cage goes... my insurance won't cover racing modifications... that's not stopping me in other less visible areas however... but I can get away with adding support struts, I'll just have to give them a thicker coat of rubber goo so they look like part of the frame.

I'm bringing the car home tommorow, so I'll upload some pics of the interior before I tear it up. If all goes well then by the evening I'll have a few pics of the gutted interior too!

 

How is a cage a "racing modification"? It is a Safety Item, regardless of how te car is used. Unless your policy SPECIFIES no cage, and you signed up for the Policy with that already spelled out? I don't see how they can do squat about you having one.

Don't forget all the plastic panels that can be removed, ditching of power widow motors for manual ones, fiberglass hood....Look at the Weight Reduction tread of what you can do to lighten a car.

 

The Ins company would have problem with a metal dash pad then too, its like that so its semi impact soft.

 

hahahaha, well scrap this project! It was a neat idea, but today will be spent re istalling seats and door panels.

Was wondering why my Camaro was so cheap... the previous owner decided the car wasn't worth the $1200 bucks it's gonna cost to replace the transmission... If a car ain't worth a $1200 repair to the last guy why should I spend MY money on it???

Sorry no pics!

 

To some, a working play car is priceless.

 

hahaha! I should learn to hold my tongue some days! A quick search on Kijiji soon yeilded a mid km 87 sport coupe with the same 2.8l and the mighty T5 trans... I called the owner and turns out he lives an hour away! The new project car shows up tomorrow!

But back to the bare bones interior topic.

Does anyone know where to get new steel army ammunition boxes? I was thinking of one to replace the cubby behind the shifter box, just bolt it to the floor where the old one sat. I believe the newer ammo boxes have rubber seals on the lids to prevent moisture, but the rubber would also prevent road rattle if the box was used as a car cubby.

 

It's the six cylinder? If the trans in gone, for that 1,200 but in a used drivetrain. In my area, I can get a complete 350 with wiring harness for 500 and find a trans for the equivalent. You would appreciate the would-be beast more. How's the body?

As for ammo cans, they are readily available from numerous sources. Clicky to see what I mean. Plus if they don't come with the rubber seal that would be an easy fix if you have a steady hand. They sell 1/4" thick rubber mats on the cheap.

Not sure how comfortable it would be but it would be different.

Are you doing this for weight reduction or is the interior trashed? Either way, save the pieces you'll be glad you did.

 

Any army surplus store or ebay but note those things are super monster heavy, got one to see about making some side luggage for the motorcycle but to heavy.

Suppose to be some newer plastic ones but they cost allot.

 

You sure about that? According to http://100dollarman.com/ammocans.html they only weigh 5.5lbs.

Whatever the case, I love this idea and I've wanted to do this for a while but I've never got around to it. (Though, I'm sure I will get around to it whenever the engine calls for replacing.)

My advised is to look at some rat rods for inspiration. Though, I wouldn't go so far as to replace the seats with lawn chairs.

 

Honestly I'm gutting the cockpit for the weight and fuel economy too I s'pose.

This car is definately gonna get called a Rat Rod, and thats cool but I gotta stress this point here.... If it's not absolutely 200% drop dead won't work without it essential to my driving needs then it's gettin scrapped!

I wouldn't even consider ADDING to the interior except that I need somewhere in the car to put my phone and smokes and whatever. The only reason there's gonna be a passenger seat is cuz the Ol Lady won't do that while I'm driving.

Eventually my ultimate goal is to go the total opposite of conventional builds. You always see a 32 Duece with a 350 crate motor, or an old Apache with a 454 big block... I want to find an old chevy drivetrain and make my 3rd gen completely computer free! I was thinking an old inline engine or maybe go right off the wall and drop some kinda flathead in her that'll mate with one of those old powerglide slushbucket trannies.

I will be keeping my interior parts and selling them soon once I have em all tore out of the 87. Keep an eye out for the thread!