an L or I beam would've been far more effective at the top

Agreed.

Flat bar will have piss poor structural integrity. Period.

ooooooooo

Edited May 7, 200817 yr by Rawr-dq

Doesn't matter where you bolted it.

Seriously, if you were to do this right, you should have went with at least 1" square tubing, welded to the strut towers & trunk floor.

Flat bar will have piss poor structural integrity. Period.

Yep, it doesn't stand up to any kind of stress: axial, bending, or torsional

Doesn't matter where you bolted it.

Seriously, if you were to do this right, you should have went with at least 1" square tubing & brace it to the strut towers as well.

I would've framed the whole opening in square tubing and then braced that to the strut towers and the rear deck

you need to stiffen up that whole area as much as possible

Not to be an ass, but you realize if your insurance company sees this, they will cancel your coverage. You have in essence, totalled your car, and legally cannot sell it aside from scrap.

ooooooooo

Edited May 7, 200817 yr by Rawr-dq

he may have killed the buzz, but its definatly food for thought, because he is right. hide all pics from your insurance agent.

lawl, dang, what a bummer

ooooooo

Damn. This is sweet.

Talked to a buddy of mine that's an engineer for GM and showed him some pics of the "cut out" of this vehicle. He said this could pose a major threat to the integrity of the vehicle. Lots of bumps and potholes in the road with the weight of the box over time could and probably will have the rear body of the vehicle buckle or misalign the body, making it impossible to align. He wasn't positive as this is the first he heard about this being done, but said there is a reason for having the support in the middle-rear of the car besides ride comfort, seat support, and handling. This is a major safety issue. Sorry to rain on your parade. Your stereo equipment is worth more than your car now.

Dayumm, you better go all out on equipment now! nothing to lose!

damn this thread got depressing real quick... hey jazz u should ask ur engineer friend what he thinks of what i had to cut out for my second alternator

You've seen the bridge that fell in MN? Less structural material was missing from it than is now in your car.

The amount of FE modelling, modal analysis, and other structural testing on vehicles is enormous. Considering this is what I do professionally I have first hand seen all of the tools that the auto manufacturers currently use. Of course, unlike the hot rod industry the OEM's are trying to make things as light and gas efficient as possible using NO extra support if they don't have to. Cutting out any portion and not overdoing the reinforcement is an idiotic mistake. You really, really, really need to reconsider your methods for insuring your car doesn't buckle in half. To make matters worse you did this to a car that wasn't ever so good in a crash anyways, how do you think it is now?

You're all succubuses

/log

I personally think this build is very good so far, i also know what its like to have to do some cutting i drive a pontiac with 2 18's, dont worry your car will drive fine but it WILL handle a lil weird but youll get used to it. keep up the good work.

I personally think this build is very good so far, i also know what its like to have to do some cutting i drive a pontiac with 2 18's, dont worry your car will drive fine but it WILL handle a lil weird but youll get used to it. keep up the good work.

Ya... sure.

I thought I had seen it all.....wow.....just ...wow......what more this there to say......**walks away shaking head**....wow

Ya... sure.

What dont you believe?

Cutting anything structural from an unibody vehicle is about as stupid as someone can get.