I'm going to put some venting in between my tail lights and want to cut out basically the entire area circled in pink to make it functional. My question is what all needs to stay back there for keeping the rear clip mounted or for support or whatever else I may not be thinking about. I've never taken off a rear clip so I don't know everything involved or necessary for keeping it on the car. Can I just keep the bottom plate, circled in green, since it looks like it has a couple mounting tabs on it. Should I keep the stock tail light mounting brackets,circled in red, in there for vertical support? Could I get away with just a couple of them? Could I get rid of all of those and go with just the thin ones, circled in blue? Do I need any of those supports or could I just use the outside supports that are behind my tail lights, in the area circled in purple but hidden by the lights?
Did you cut out the trunk? Opening and closing the lid will probably break the upper portion of the clip that meets the trunk. Maybe place a support all the way across from light to light. There are 6 bolts that hold the clip on in the rear.
The area circled in pink is basically just there to hold the tail light housings. If you're using different tail lights, you should be able to chop most of that out.
However, there is another hurdle you'll need to deal with. The back wall of the trunk is right behind the tail light support structure. So after you chop out that part of the rear clip, you'll be looking at a wall of sheet metal. Also, that part of the trunk wall holds up the decklid. So you can't chop it out, without some serious side effects. Maybe you can cut "speed holes" in it? If you do that, you'll need to do the same to the other side of the trunk so air can flow through from the engine bay.
Putting active "vents" there might not help engine bay cooling. IOW can make cooling worse not better. Unlike like most pushing Fiero engine bay is hot... Even hotter then most Front engines. I've done enough testing to show this claim is complete BS. Yes, Bay gets hot at idle but bay temp drops fasts moving even a few MPH.
Cutting out a car's panel(s) often means you need to replace the strength the panel(s) had... If you cut out front trunk wall then you loose structure for the rear of car like brace for strut towers. Cutting out glass etc where you think removes a lot of support for the rear clip and lid latch and likely will break things over time, likely sooner than later.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
The trunk lid has been cut. If you notice in the picture the lid is obviously open, but the rear lip is in the closed position. That piece will be molded in and will give the upper section above the lights the strength needed. It will also have a lip spoiler on it that will add both rigidity and strength. Not a Camaro lip though. I've been thinking about how to address the trunk. Either cutting it out completely or just in sections. I'll probably end up doing it completely just because it's easier and I don't ever use the car for anything that requires a trunk. With that being said. How have people addressed the the latch mechanism? It seems to be on a fairy light weight piece that wouldn't do so good long term without the rest of the sheet metal around it. As Ogre said, I wouldn't want to be slowly tearing that out of the car just from the pull of the lid springs. If I do completely remove the trunk I will be keeping the upper bracing that ties the frame together as well as adding in some additional supports to further reinforce the framing since the mass of sheet metal will be missing.
Below are a couple photos I took during a custom body work project. The rear clip is gone, so you can see the trunk structure. The hook for the trunk latch is just attached to the sheet metal, with no real reinforcement.
Also, the trunk weatherstrip helps to support the decklid. If you remove the trunk wall (and the weather strip that attaches to it), the decklid is going to lose that support. You'll need to figure out how to address that.
The weatherstrip helps to support the weight of the decklid. Although the torsion springs are also pushing up on the lid. Basically, the weatherstrip and torsion springs push up against the decklid and the latch holds it down, and that keeps the decklid held firmly in place. Plus the weatherstrip also dampens vibrations. So if you remove the weatherstrip, the decklid will be loose and will probably rattle. You'll have to figure out some way to deal with that. Maybe some strategically placed felt or rubber padding will help?
Yes, those 6 raised areas are for rear clip mounting bolts. There are more of them on the upper frame rails, near the strut towers.
[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 01-29-2017).]
I would make it look like it is for venting. Are you plan on removing portions of the trunk wall or ...? the picture shows above your trunk latch is there and I wasn't think clearly before that is the support for the deck lid.
[This message has been edited by LornesGT (edited 01-29-2017).]
Originally posted by mr_corean: The trunk lid has been cut. If you notice in the picture the lid is obviously open, but the rear lip is in the closed position. That piece will be molded in and will give the upper section above the lights the strength needed. It will also have a lip spoiler on it that will add both rigidity and strength. Not a Camaro lip though. I've been thinking about how to address the trunk. Either cutting it out completely or just in sections. I'll probably end up doing it completely just because it's easier and I don't ever use the car for anything that requires a trunk. With that being said. How have people addressed the the latch mechanism? It seems to be on a fairy light weight piece that wouldn't do so good long term without the rest of the sheet metal around it. As Ogre said, I wouldn't want to be slowly tearing that out of the car just from the pull of the lid springs. If I do completely remove the trunk I will be keeping the upper bracing that ties the frame together as well as adding in some additional supports to further reinforce the framing since the mass of sheet metal will be missing.
Latch shrike has no strength to speak of but to keep the lid shut. See my Cave, Jacking to Clear Engine
If you cut too much metal off/out of rear truck then the shrike etc can have problems when metal bends or new pieces fail to support the loads.
Support X change in the driveway is often way different then support when drive on the road, worse on bad roads. Figure too you have to lean over that to work on the engine. That alone can put a big load to any changes and make them flex or break. this is part of Why many Fiero taillight breaks.
