Back seat stiffness

[DarkoNova]

Don't really know where to put this, but it's kinda pro-touring related, so I figured this was a good subforum.

Anyway, I totaled my daily driver a few months ago and while I was taking parts out of it, I saw the sub box and thought what the hell, I'll measure and see if it'll fit the Nova. It looked like it would fit perfectly, so I took it out and a couple days ago I started working on making it fit.



First thing I had to do was cut this triangular reinforcement piece on the bottom of the package tray. Then I had to cut a 12"x12" (approximately) square in the middle of the metal behind the backseat for the front of the box. THEN I had to cut a line basically right at the seam where the package tray meets the vertical backseat piece. There were also two bumps in the floor between the wheelwells that I flattened out. I have no idea what they were for, I think they were to hold the stock transverse muffler in place, but I'm not sure.

That's probably hard to understand, so I'll get some pics tomorrow. But basically, the package tray is barely even held on right now. It's basically held on by the very edges, and a little bit is still connected to the vertical piece behind the seat.

The sub box is ridiculously snug fit, though. I could probably just leave it as is and not worry about it rattling or coming loose, but I'll get some L-brackets to bolt the back of the box to the trunk floor, and then I'll bolt the front of the box to the vertical piece behind the back seat.

Basically, I'm wondering how much of an effect this will have on overall stiffness/rigidity? Eventually (probably in 3-4 months) I'll get the package tray rewelded to the vertical piece, at least. I'll probably end up just making a whole new package tray piece while I'm in there.

Anyway I'm just basically hoping this won't cause the entire car to collapse in on itself, lol.

[justasquid]

a little late since the cutting has been done. But why not just modify the box? I think I would feel more comfortable cutting the box rathern than the car.

However, I use to run sub-boxes in the trunk of my cars without them being secured, and they never moved. But, I would hate to think the damage that could happen if the car was ever in an accident and loose sub-box flying around. I think I would try to secure if it can go into the interior of the car.

But without pictures, its hard to say.

[Derek69SS]

That's a pretty important structural area... it provides torsional stiffness to the body.

[JEFFTATE]

Weld some bracing around the box .
Or , weld some cross bracing in the trunk.

[The Stickman]

That's a pretty important structural area... it provides torsional stiffness to the body.

That's what I was thinking.

[DarkoNova]

Yeah, I probably should have asked before doing the cutting, but it didn't even occur to me until I already cut the crap out of it haha.

That's a pretty important structural area... it provides torsional stiffness to the body.

That's what I was afraid of.

But really, the way it came from the factory seems like it leaves a lot to be desired. It's all basically held together with a few spot welds and some glue/contact cement (I forget the actual name of the stuff).

I'm actually kind of glad I cut it up, though, because I can now see that my rear window isn't sealed worth a damn and all the metal was rusted to hell. I'll probably just screw the backseat metal to the sub box and then screw that to the floor to retain as much rigidity as I can, and then in a few months I'll fab up a new package tray and backseat.