While I have the taillight panel and rear support bracket out

wareagle · 12-19-2012, 04:18 PM

Am thinking about adding reinforcement the the back area to disperse the energy in the event of a rearend collision (i.e., something to keep the tank from sploding...

I know someone on the forum has done this and was wondering if you could share your plans?

dzahm · 12-19-2012, 04:57 PM

Gun mount? then you could shoot the other car

wareagle · 12-20-2012, 12:29 PM

Can we put in a gun rack in NC

Seriously though, somebody posted some pics of their mod and I cannot find the thread.

Caper50 · 12-20-2012, 12:42 PM

I'd settle for a Trunk Monkey

wareagle · 12-20-2012, 12:49 PM

Trunk Monkey Compilation - YouTube

Ford Fan 1 · 12-20-2012, 01:52 PM

I fabricated a sheetmetal bulkhead behind the rear seat. This is in my '65 Cyclone. The main purpose was structural to reduce body twist, but it may also serve to help isolate the trunk in a collision. not sure.

wareagle · 12-20-2012, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ford Fan 1

I fabricated a sheetmetal bulkhead behind the rear seat. This is in my '65 Cyclone. The main purpose was structural to reduce body twist, but it may also serve to help isolate the trunk in a collision. not sure.

Am definitely going to do that to mine as well. I had previously bought the fiber board replacement from CJ's. Will prolly use that as a template for the new metal replacement.

What gauge metal did you use? Thinking the thicker the better?

yelostang · 12-20-2012, 02:17 PM

65-8' cvts. have a reinforcement angle piece as an add on to the existing cross piece behind the gas tank. It runs the entire width of the gas tank and is easily welded in.

65fastback6 · 12-20-2012, 05:27 PM

Are you using a fuel cell in place of the tank?

Either that or I seem to remember that someone sells
a heavy plate that goes on top of the tank.

GypsyR · 12-20-2012, 09:10 PM

The only real way to test such modifications is to modify a number of cars and figure out as many ways as possible to crash them so you can see the results. Anything else is mostly guesswork and often what appears to be a sensible thing to do to a car can behave very unexpectedly in a real crash situation. Even to the point of having the opposite effect of what you intended. Not to criticize the man's work but I just wouldn't really have real peace of mind with my car modifed this way. However, his car is his car and yours is yours. To be fair, Shaun knows a lot more about chassis design and building than I do. Race-testing he does a lot of. Crash testing I'm thinking not so much. Whether adding this particular kind of reinforcement is a good idea or not I frankly do not know.
Anyway, the thread you've been hunting is this one-
Rear fuel cell/tank 'bumper'

HanShotFirst · 12-20-2012, 09:15 PM

I'm planning to do the metal template idea mentioned above. I'm planning on putting metal on the inside of the trunk so that in the event of an accident the metal will have a harder time breaking free and killing me before the fire has a chance

If I ever get around to this mod I'll be sure to post pics etc of the entire process.

Caper50 · 12-20-2012, 09:39 PM

It drives me nuts how many people are tailgaters on our roads today. However you decide to modify the back end, be careful not to create something that has a shearing effect in the event of a rear end collision.

tooponies · 12-20-2012, 10:24 PM

Like already said, anything you do along those line are pure speculation until test crashed numerous times you don't know what the results wil be. I would leave well enough alone. Other than the CBS report on the couple tanks exploding how many others have you heard about. The divider plate thing across the back seat makes sense but other reinforcements that might shear open a tank is not smart.