Metal rear seat support/pain in the ***

[TIMELSS_vert]

Hey guys, I have one main question about the metal plate behind the rear seats. How much support does it really give the chassis? I imagine its a lot, but I was trying to give my coilovers a little extra dampening, and I realized, damn this thing is a pain in the ***! So, would much strength be lost if I shortened it? possibly replace it w/ a latter style brace and cap it w/ a strut bar? Or does anyone have any tips adjust the dampening? thanks guys.

[onosqv]

Do you mean the metal support that is like a "box" between the 2 strut towers? That doesn't get in the way of the coilover adjustment.

Or do you mean the one that houses the rear seat belts? That can be sawed notched to allow room for damping adjustment - there's a write up for it somewhere pretty recent in this subforum...

[94_240sx]

That would be me. I just installed coilovers and had fun with metal support. Check this thread.

zerothread/200644

I forgot to tell you guys. Driver's side is even worse. Coilover knob will hit not only the metal support, but also plastic rear seat belt housing. I used Dremel to remove the chunk from corner. Luckily, seat belt still worked after all that. Once you done it right you should be able to adjust dampening with no problem. I even reused rubber covers along with the coilover knobs.
Modified by 94_240sx at 6:27 PM 10/28/2006

[madcowvert]

i used a air hammer and it cut right through the tin...

[slownslurious]

its really thin but it provides significant structural support. The same way the thin carboard that backs up an IKEA bookshelf makes the whole thing a immensely stronger than without it (try assembling one without that thin piece and watch it rip apart as soon as you put 10 lbs in books on it, but with the carboard it will hold like 100 lbs). If you take it out I'd advise you weld in some sort of X brace to try and get the structural integrity back. Also keep in mind that because there is no longer a roof to hold the car together you may sacrifice side impact protection if you remove reinforcement from that area. Just make sure you don't go backwrad (making the car worse).

[94_240sx]

slownslurious,I know exactly what you're talking about. When I looked at it, I was like... 'Wait, vert doesn't need rear strut bar. This is already enough!' Yeah, that tin metal bracing looked really strong. I just cut 0.5~1 inch in a couple of different places from the bottom up and push those flares back with the hammer. If you don't do that, there's no way I can install coilovers in the back, or knob has to be really short. You also can cut the knob, but it'll be hard to adjust.

[TIMELSS_vert]

sounds like i should just cage the thing and be done w/ it (one day it WILL be done)

[slownslurious]

anyone with any sort of performance aspirations for their vert should cage it. only problem with a cage is no more street use. unless you want to explain to the officer how you have to wear your helmet during your commute. I dont think that would go over too well.

[wirelessalpha]

eh... I'm feeling you (the dampers).

I have to put my fingers in a wrench position, and adjust the dampening sideways...pretty annoying and can get a bit straining on the fingers after a while.