MK4 Drop Trunk Frame Mod

[MavTeam]

Just getting started on my build and trying to figure out if I should modify the frame and remove the cross braces in the trunk. If anyone has done this and had success without much flex after removing the cross brasses please let me know where you welded the supports.

Is this actually worth the hassle? I think it will look cleaner but don't want to compromise the integrity of the trunk section by removing the braces.

[gbranham]

I removed mine. Right or wrong, I assumed the lower trunk floor would help keep things rigid and square, and frankly, there's so little bracing back there, I didn't think the absence or presence of those small bits of frame would mean much in a rear collision.

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[rich grsc]

FFR designed and installed them for a reason. I didn't remove mine, if you get rear-ended every little bit can make a difference

[cc2Arider]

I kept mine as-is, as Rich mentioned. "Legacy" builders pointed out that the small triangle partition helped to retain "show-n-shine" products from other trunk items...if that's a consideration.

I saw it as a challenge to precisely cut the drop sections of the panels for the best fitment around those frame tubes :)

To each ... their own!

Craig C

[Rebostar]

I removed the left diagonal brace and added an additional brace along the right side of the drop trunk. I also made provisions for a battery mounted to the left of the drop trunk.

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[Jeff Kleiner]

The very early Mk4s had a dropped trunk without the diagonals (I built one of the first 50 for a customer) but FFR soon found that without them the rear wouldn’t stay square so they went back in. As Rich said they are there for a reason.

Jeff

[Norm B]

I have a fairly early Mk IV that was constructed shortly after the change Jeff mentioned above. My online manual I had purchased from FFR didn’t match my frame. I called FFR and they informed me that the frame had been strengthened to prevent it twisting.
I wanted the extra room without the frames in the way so I modified the trunk area frames. Here are a few pictures.
A storage compartment was also added in front of the newly created dropped area. I use this for tools and a small grease gun.

HTH

Norm

[edwardb]

Add me to the "Factory Five put them there for a reason" camp. I've done multiple builds and have installed the trunk mod in each including in a Gen 3 Coupe. Where the tubing is thicker than the material used in the Roadster. With the thousands of miles and multiple seasons for each, I haven't found the braces across the opening to be a big deal. Easy to use for the kinds of things typically in there -- tools, detailing misc, inflator, sun screen, towels, my wife's sweater or coat (important :p), you name it. Builders welding in replacement braces is perhaps better than removing completely. But not my preference plus I don't weld.

[Norm B]

With the mod I made my wife’s clothes for a road trip go in a regular suitcase and mine in a duffle bag. Both easily fit in the trunk along with the Whitby soft top and car cover. No need to pack stuff around the bars. It is stronger than the original Mk IV by a long shot and I bet every bit as strong as the FFR mod.
There is no real strength in that area until you hit the 2x3 frames that the roll bar rear legs attach too. The rest looks like a crumple zone with, unfortunately, a fuel tank hanging in it. Kind of like the Pinto.
One of the reasons I went with two roll bars was to provide protection in a rear end accident, especially from the pickup trucks so popular in Alberta, where I lived when I first built the car.

[CraigS]

I left the braces in. I didn't find them to be a problem. I just packed stuff in soft sided containers.

[OSU Cowboy]

MK3.1 here - I cut mine out and used the drop trunk offering from Cobra Earl.

[PG_Cobra]

The braces are there to support the aluminum floor. Without them it flaps up and down. I removed my braces before I removed the floor and found this out. No other structural value.

[TBull]

I cut mine out, but then welded them back in a lower configuration. replicated the same design in the new floor of my framework. The gas tank butts up against the bottom of it with a rubber gasket between the metals.

[JohnK]

... No other structural value.

I very much doubt this.