Trunk Project

[TRBOBLU]

Well since Im waiting for my new motor I decided to relocate my battery to the trunk. I forgot that the rear of my car had been parked in the Atlantic Ocean for a year and everything was rusted bad. As you can see there is no way to mount a battery in my stock trunk. The solution: Cut out badly rusted area. Address minor surface rust. Bolt in a new piece of 1/16" Aluminum. Weld brackets onto new alumium piece for the battery box.

All I have done right now is the cutting. This weekend I will address the minor rust and start cutting the aluminum to fit the new area. I plan I bolting it in with 20 stainless bolts and sealing it with silicone.Tell me what you think of the rust problem More pics to come when finished.

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[fltblkteg]

aluminum on rusty steel / steel period will rot faster because of a chemical reaction bad idea

 

[TRBOBLU]

Im not worried about rust because it will be gone. That is the whole point of this project. I have a angle grinder to take care of the surface rust, and a strip of steel in case I have to cut out some rust and weld in a new piece. I picked up some nifty stuff at a body store that stops rust and makes it paintable, says the rust wont grow or your money back. My plan is to get rid of all visual rust and then put this stuff on to inhibit more rust.

 

[redeclipse7782]

I thought about cutting out that area as well, the only thing is since the car is unibody will cutting out that section affect it in any way? Also could you please weigh that peice that you cut out on a scale? Im curious to know how much it weighs, could be a good way to cut down on weight.

 

[92_75i]

looks cold there, your all bundled up , you look like you can barely move

-az-

 

[n0c7]

Couple of ideas for you you - a) reason to install custom fuel cell now b) junkyard shopping, find a new piece and reweld it

What caused it to rust like that? I had some major water leaks into the hatch area, but I've caught most of them and only have some minor surface rust to deal with.

 

[TRBOBLU]

The windshield washer resevoir leaked bad before I bought the car. It was totally rusted out when I popped the cover for the first time. The fuel idea is what I wanted to do but Im also buying a shep tranny and buschur stage 3 shortblock this month and funds will no allow for a race fuel system. Its in the future though, notice I said Im "bolting" the new cover in

 

[4g63swap]

just a suggestion: fltblkteg is right if you put bare steel and aluminum together the aluminum will oxidies like crazy. might want to use different screws zinc coated maybe? and make sure you paint those exposed edges now or they will just start to rust all over again. and it would suck to be rideing along and look out your rearview mirror and see you battery on a peice of aluminum dragging behind you held on by your power cable.


just a thought
Chris

 

[TRBOBLU]

Its being bolted with all stainless hardware. The aluminum will not even be touching the steel. There will be a layer of silicone between them and the underside of the aluminum will be painted with rubber undercoating. The only bare part will be the inside. Ive considered anodizing it clear also after I get the welding part done. Anodizing=no oxidation. I appreciate the help, and I know about rust. Trust me be this project is going to be done the right way so rust doesnt return while Im still owning the car.

 

[TRBOBLU]

Here are a few more pics of the install. I made the stencil today and cut out the aluminum piece with a jigsaw. It fits very nice like a factory piece would. I still have to drill the holes and bolt it in but I just placed the interior pieces in to get an idea of what it will look like. After careful consideration Ive decided to anodize the aluminum black because I dont think I like the bling factor of bare aluminum. The pics are crappy but tell me what you think so far.

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[zachakagoat]

That looks good but have you checked with any of the Race organization rule books to see if it will alter what class you run in at all? I know alot of them would consider it a major body structure change much like tubbing out your car because you are using aftermarket aluminum or sheetmetal to lessen the weight of the chassis. Just something to look into because you don't want to force yourself into a bigger class and have no chance at all to win big money....only if you race anyway otherwise let it ride brother

 

[1993eclipseGS]

HAHA, It's really funny that you did this, Because my car is down and I looked in the trunk while I was gutting everything from the back of the front seats back and said... " I'm going to cut that big well out".. So I cut it out got the sheet metal and did the same thing you did. I just got done primering it and the rest of the interior. I only riveted mine in though, Did you weigh that big piece you cut out?

 

[TRBOBLU]

That looks good but have you checked with any of the Race organization rule books to see if it will alter what class you run in at all? I know alot of them would consider it a major body structure change much like tubbing out your car because you are using aftermarket aluminum or sheetmetal to lessen the weight of the chassis. Just something to look into because you don't want to force yourself into a bigger class and have no chance at all to win big money....only if you race anyway otherwise let it ride brother

Yeah I see what you are saying. The only racing I do that puts me in a class is at the SO and I cant run in the stock appearing anyway so I run bracket 1. It will be anodized it black and Im buying some black carpet to put over where my rear seats go. If for some reason I have a problem running it I was thinking I can just place some of the extra black carpet over it and it will look like the stock cover.

 

[sk8shorty01]

If for some reason I have a problem running it I was thinking I can just place some of the extra black carpet over it and it will look like the stock cover.

And then in the post race inspection you get nabbed for cheating and suspended from racing for a while, lose the money you thought you won, and your reputation takes a tremendous hit. bad idea just tell them its there if you have to because they will know anyways.

 

[TRBOBLU]

Ill check the rules. I dont see why it wouldnt be allowed. I simply mounted a plate for my battery to rest on and Ill tell them that if I have to.

 

[AWDGen1GSX]

this seems like something that may benefit me greatly. I was just trying to figure out a way to do a fuel cell. Still on the stock re-wired pump. Have a 255 i would like to make use of and we all know of the great fun involved in trying to change a 1g pump. But while i was doing some measuring today the damn bubble for the spare tire was constantly in the way. Now i just need to figure out how to cut the floorpan out and make a similar plate. I lack the air tools that would help greatly. But i guess we shall see what I can do.

 

[CyberEye]

Loosing the unibodies structual rigidity is the only thing i'm worried about with this.

 

[mopardwh]

And then in the post race inspection you get nabbed for cheating and suspended from racing for a while, lose the money you thought you won, and your reputation takes a tremendous hit. bad idea just tell them its there if you have to because they will know anyways.

Yeah hiding it would be a bad idea. I'm sure carpet looks good on top, but from the bottom I bet its obvious.

The idea is great, way better than welding in another heavy stock piece. I wouldn't worry about the structual integrity either. Although a unibody it still has a frame. I would also recommend a fuel cell since your back there. Or at least later on. The only problem I do see is a spare? I would suggest robbing a cable from any truck/suv and using the underneath mount. After all you should have plenty of room.

 

[IslanderTsi]

As far as a spare goes just get a can of that stop leak/inflate your tire stuff.

 

[TRBOBLU]

Yeah sorry to not keep up on this thread. Turns out the guy who was gonna weld it flaked out on me so I took it on myself to weld. Welds are strong, but not the prettiest since it was my first time welding alumium. Ill get up the pics of the finished product. As far as seeing it underneath, it really is not noticeable. It sits up well above the bottom of the bumper. I also applied some rubberized undercoating to give more of a stock look to the bottom.

EDIT: Yeah I cant run a spare anymore, but than again I havent had one in my car since I bought it in 01.

 

[TRBOBLU]

Here are some pics of the project so far. I still have to install the interior pieces but other than that is about done. Please dont flame on the welds. I have only welded about 10 times in my life and its all been steel. Aluminum is hard to do when you have no experience. The flash really makes it look crappy but Ill get some pics in the daylight to give a better idea of the looks. The white crap all over it is just dust. Let me know what you guys think.

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[91dsmtalon]

Curioius, I would LOVE to do this to my 1g, but We have some support brackets/braces, wonder if you can remove those?

 

[jott5555]

ya you can remove the support crap in the 1g i did it back in my 1g tsi day's

what kind of rubberized underbody coating crap did you use?

 

[Byrd]

I'm curious about doin this in my 1g AWD. We have the big "hump" in the back to make room for the rear diff etc. Could I just cut that part out like the fwd guys did and put a flat piece in or would it not be that easy? 91dsmtalon i was just wondering how you would go about doing this because in your sig you have an AWD as well.

Interested in seeing how much weigh one would save by doing this

 

[WMD]

The project is looking good.Just dont hit the NAWZZZ

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Now just take care of the other rust and youll be all set.