heavy85 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 I always thought the package tray area provided some level of side stiffness by connecting the wheelwell to each other and the tranny tunnel. However, after playing with it for a while I realized the metal is soooo thin that I can't imagine they could really provide much if any strength. I'm thinking why not just remove it and maybe run a tube across to tie the wheelwells and tunnel together. Thinking it might be a lot stiffer for the same weight. Could also potentially allow me to move the battery forward and down which would be good. Anyone studied or done this have some comments? Thanks Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 The package tray is one of the torque boxes in the Z chassis. The other is the cowl area. Don't cut it out unless you put something in it's place to provide some rigidity there. tube80z has a good idea of putting an X from the strut towers to the bottom of the main hoop of a roll bar. That should be sufficient to remove the rear deck area, you've probably seen it in some of the chassis threads. I think the section that goes over the tranny tunnel on the vertical area is reinforced, and I think that's about the thickest metal in the whole chassis, excepting maybe the TC buckets. If memory serves that plate is about twice as thick as the "frame rails". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted August 24, 2006 Author Share Posted August 24, 2006 The package tray is one of the torque boxes in the Z chassis....I think the section that goes over the tranny tunnel on the vertical area is reinforced, and I think that's about the thickest metal in the whole chassis, excepting maybe the TC buckets. If memory serves that plate is about twice as thick as the "frame rails". Are you sure? Mine is a '72 and the tray is very thin sheetmetal. Thin enough I can easily just push on it and it visibly deflects quite a bit. Definitely a lot thinner than the floor pans for example which I have to beat on pretty good to get them to move around. Looks like almost an afterthought to provide some storage and a flat spot for luggage as it's just tacked on top of the the more substantial floor structure below. Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 Pretty sure. I'm not an engineer. I could be wrong. Thinking back to a vague memory of the How to Hotrod book which I haven't seen in a good 8 years, I seem to recall BRE reinforcing the triangular end of the box which can be seen inside the rear wheel well. I don't think they would have bothered if they didn't think it would do any good. On the earlier cars they didn't have the storage compartments, just a flanged holed panel on top and a solid sheet with 4 flanged holes in the vertical area, and then the reinforcing plate in the middle. It looks much more businesslike than the 72 and later cars with the big storage compartment up top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlubes Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 You can safely remove it, it adds very little strength to car. I removed mine by using a die grinder and carefully cutting out the spot welds. It came out very nice and frees up a lot of space. I do agree that any Z could benefit from some frame rails or at least a bolt in roll bar to add some strength. You can see some pics using the Z car page link below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 I cut mine out with some reservation but I needed the space. The car is getting a full cage so I am adding a good bit of the structure to the car. Even thin metal that is bent and flanged can add some strenght to the chassis. I'm not sure if this is the case with our cars but I think it would be reasonable to think it would add some strenght in this area. Hows that for a vague answer:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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