Gutting an FB
 

I'm in the process of stripping out the interior of my FB, and I have a couple of questions.

When pulling out the dash and all the metal supports, is there anything in there that is structural? Can all that metal come out? What about supporting the steering column?

Long term plans are a full roll cage, but short term, I will be putting a bar across the front, where the dash used to be, and putting a support on it for the steering column, as well as something to hold gauges.

My question, though, is once I pull all this stuff out, can I drive the car safely and without damaging anything to the place where the welding will be done?

I dont think any of it is sturctural. Doesnt seem to be to me. You will have to support the steering column though.

Get yourself two nuts that fit those bolts and just tighten them down in place of the dash structure.

Ok, as I took it all apart, I realized what you meant there, nimrodTT. There already IS a seperate support for the steering column. I just left that in place, and now it's fine. Looking under the dash before I pulled it apart, I thought the steering column was supported by that steel piece that supported the dash all the way across.

Thanks for the help.

Apporximently how much weight difference does stripping your interior make in peformance, can you feel a difference ?

Depending on how extreme you go, you will. I removed the AC and everything that goes along with it, including the thing inside the car. I also removed the heater. I pulled the dash and all the steel dash supports. The storage bins are gone, along with the steel there. I went so far as to remove wires that weren't being used. I don't know how much weight came out, total, but if you won't miss the interior, it's worth the time to do it. Personally, I don't care whether the carpet is there or whether the dash is there, and I don't need the AC or heat, so there was no point to keep all this stuff, so any gain in performance is worthwhile.

brakes for first gen
 

i see youre building a first gen...what did you do about the brakes? i am building one for a drag car, and i dont want to use the stock brakes....do you have any idea what kind to use?
chris

Why do you want different brakes? What are you trying to get out of changing them?

I haven't changed the brakes, so I haven't done anything to them. If I were building a drag car, though, I would only touch them if I could find something that was significantly lighter.