Rear Compartment Question
 

So I'm doing a restoration on a '79 Limited. My parts car is an '83. I would like to take the behind-the-seat compartments out of the '83 and put them into the '79. However, when I removed the shell from the back area in the '79 I found this:

https://i.imgur.com/g85LS.jpg

This is spot welded in several places and is not in the '83. Can this simply be removed? Is it structural?

I am looking to do the same in my 79', so I'm interested in seeing you complete this. Please keep this thread up dated when you complete it.

I went through this when I wanted to put storage bins in my '79. Eventough common sense says that if the fbs are ok without them then it shouldnt be a problem I was reluctant to remove anything that may reduce chassis stiffness. So I put the bins in and trimmed them around the braces. Who knows, the sa's may be stiffer than the fb's because of the braces.

i'd say it's structural. compare the underside of that area between the 79 and 83. the FB's may have gotten more structure from underneath to eliminate those bars.

I'm doing a project right now on making new SA-compliant "carpet bags" for modified FB bins; I should be able to post patterns when I'm finished. Week or two at the most.

That would be awesome, thank you!

Progress so far:

Step one (after cutting bins to fit) : Make wireframe to carry shape of "bin space" outside of car.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8010001.jpg

Step two: use posterboard to work out cloth pattern enclosing wireframe tightly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8010002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8010003.jpg

Next step will be to convert the posterboard pieces into templates for cutting carpet.

I'm trying to get this and four other projects all done in time for MazFest, a week from Saturday. Kinda a full plate.

i was reading a thread a few months ago about putting the OEM back seats out of overseas cars in a SA and the guy ran into the same problem. One guy said he just cut the braces out and put the seats in w/o noticing any problem. IDK if i would modify any framework myself but meh.

I'd be leery,too... there are a lot of things you can do without 'noticing any problem' right up until the time you experience a catastrophic failure.

General rule in engineering is "unless you fully understand the potential impact of a change, do not make it."

leave the brace in! it actually DOES do something structural, its part of why the SA has 5mph bumpers instead of the FB's 2.5 mph bumpers.

WHY does something in the middle of the car help in a 5mph impact? because its structural.

good work .......... evil monkey

Very evil indeed, that particular monkey.

Tonight's work:

Finished the pattern mockup for the left side (right should just be reversed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8020001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8020002.jpg

...took it apart to convert to flat patterns with markups...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8020003.jpg

...And cut a "test" set from some cheap old cloth I had. I'll stitch these up to check fit, so I don't ruin the harder-to-work-with carpet I've got set aside.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8020004.jpg

Attachment 437898....look he did it again...:icon_tup:

Proof of concept; pattern works OK. Next up: Actual carpet!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8060002.jpg

hey now, I'm an engineer! I thought the rule was "just screw with shit until it works how we want it too"

That's the rule for politics.

First one done:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8070013.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8070014.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8070015.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P8070016.jpg

Still needs proper fasteners for the top-most cloth flange. Fit is actually even better than the picture shows; I hadn't tucked it down yet.

On to make the 2nd, and then come up with a way to 'publish' patterns.

i put the same back compartment bins in mine and cut the bin in half and over lapped them and they fit perfect in and used the existing fastner holes but they arnt super deep only like 6 or 8 inchs, and it still fitted over top of the braces

Glen, you are a genius. end of post.

Awesome job! Thanks!

I love the ingenuity of these great work dd looks pretty darn good.

Both bins together, and back in the car; I'm pretty happy with the results:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/IMG_0112.jpg

To fasten the upper corners of the 'tunnel' of cloth to the plastic frames, I just used two 10-24 phillips screws with fender washers and flange nuts on the outside. A more elegant solution would be to glue velcro to the outside of the plastic, but I didn't have any on-hand and I'm pushed for completion time with an event coming up this Saturday. I'll probably pull them out and do the Velcro some point in the future.

I'll get some sort of printable pattern together once I get this event out of the way, and do a cleaner write-up. Some of the sewing & pinning up is a bit on the 'challenging' side if you haven't tackled running a sewing machine before. Definitely doable, though.

Of course, now I want to address my crappy back-area carpeting. (Sigh) it never ends.