i was in the trunk of my miata today, and realized how smart of an idea it was for mazda to mount the spare tire open side up, as this creates a nice cubby to store stuff in.... which got me thinking. Why did mazda not do the same on the FD? i mean, with the bose setup the spare tire area is a little inaccesable, but still, it would be a very handy place to put oil, tools, etc. since i bought some rear seats, i lost all of the storage space that i once had. my battery is also going in the trunk, so im trying to find any nook and or cranny to put things in.

so, my question is, does anyone have pictures from under the car with the gas tank out? reason i ask is because the sheet metal in the spare tire area is raised in the center which would prevent me from laying my spare tire in upside down. i have no idea if there is something important under that hump. im wondering about the possibility of bashing it flat, or even cutting the hump out and rewelding a flat piece of sheet metal over it, with a mounting bolt hole. Thanks, Heath

 

Nothing underneath the hump.

The dipshit that owned my car before me removed the spare tire to install a 15" sub in that space.
He removed the dome that secured the spare & flattened the sheetmetal in the cavity to clear the sub.

I removed all that **** & reworked the sheetmetal & fabricated a new dome to secure the spare.

Long story short, you can fatten the sheetmetal, if your so inclined, but it's a lot of work for a small benifit.