I have to ask why are you replacing those braces? Is this because you are putting fox rear seats in it?
It would probably be easier to just make your own.
^^^^^ now that could be done!!! Get a hood from the junk er, sorry, salvage yard and cut the under hood braces out and fit them to the area in question.
BUT!!!!! Since you already have that big sheet that covers the hole up, that piece is actually for safety, in the case of a hard rear end collision the fuel tank, that is the trunk floor, can/will rupture and become a fireball inside the car, if you 'dimple' that big sheet of metal in an X in the center that takes the flex out of it and it will not make that drum sound.
Another alternative, they make a piece that covers the top of the tank that isolates the tank from the inside of the trunk, I think it is/was called tank armour, you could possibly cut that piece you have down to cover the tank. Just put some stick on heat shield on the bottom and it should be good.
Just some ideas, either way I would isolate the cabin/trunk area from the fuel tank.
In a couple months I’ll be cutting mine out of my ‘83 to weld in a tubular bracing.
How much of it are you wanting? I’ll need to keep the package tray upper in my car for seat attachment.
I could be neat and cut it out as one chunk.
You deal with shipping and you can have it. Tennessee isn’t too far from here.
Yes a fine little fab project.
I have seen the big panel get bead rolled too.
Ok, so I was wrong, just making some suggestions.
Angle Iron + Welder maybe a grinder and that can be fabricated easily
Meh, that doesn’t prove anything,..Ford made The Pinto, the Granada, the MII, the myriad of “other than a Mustang” fox bodies,the Probe, and a whole slew of open to interpretation other loser body styles, all now living their new lives as a Coke can, The fact that they did, or didn’t include bracing to the rear package tray on any given model, doesn’t lend any credence to whether or not it was right.Because the early mustangs don't come with this bracing....and while you can buy panels like this:
People who do so have reported a SIGNIFICANT increase in torsional rigidity....however, I think with bracing the results would be better...maybe it would give better rigidity than a floppy piece of 18 gauge steel, maybe not, but it would certainly take away the snare drum effect of a large piece of flat metal covering a large opening. I already have a panel like this....but I think it will be more effective in conjunction with foxbody-style bracing...after all,Ford obviously felt it had an effect worth the extra expense in 1979.
Meh, that doesn’t prove anything,..Ford made The Pinto, the Granada, the MII, the myriad of “other than a Mustang” fox bodies,the Probe, and a whole slew of open to interpretation other loser body styles, all now living their new lives as a Coke can, The fact that they did, or didn’t include bracing to the rear package tray on any given model, doesn’t lend any credence to whether or not it was right.
I’m gonna take a wild stab at this one, but I’m gonna say...to support the front if the rear package tray, and to add some strength to the back seat support..You and I know OEMs are notoriously cheap, they will not include a part that they feel does not do something for the car. Those braces certainly aren't there to aid in the installation of the seats...aside from unibody bracing, why would they install them? I am not talking the Mustang in particular...but ANY unibody car with a trunk(not hatch) and a non fold-down rear seat. I am willing to bet that if I could find pictures that all Ford cars with a trunk past a certain point would have them....but for some reason there isnt a lot of pictures of stripped interiors in say a fairmont....or any basic grocery getters of any era...for obvious reasons...people tend not to make project logs of throwaway cars. A Probe in your example wouldnt have them anyway...no hatchback car would because they are made for space. Frame cars like the crown victoria also probably wouldnt have them because there is little need in a car with a full frame.
I’m gonna take a wild stab at this one, but I’m gonna say...to support the front if the rear package tray, and to add some strength to the back seat support..
If there happened to be a side effect of added structural rigidity,...then yea.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?