73 Cuda rear deck mangled

[GreenFishie]

Last weekend's stripping down revealed that the previous owner decided to take a reciprocal saw to the rear deck in order to "install" 6.5 inch speakers. I guess they thought the the hole had to be 6.5 inches and didn't know about plates. They covered the mistake up by dropping the speakers onto some plywood and using that over the deck.

This strip is going to the bones ... so I need to know if the rear deck is part of the unibody. How hard it is to replace ... and if it is too much of a headache I'm just going to center bore out the colossal screw up and drop some 8 inch Focal components in there and fab a deck cover. 

[E-Body Products]

Depends on if you want an original look or not. Either way is fine if you are happy with the outcome.


Daniel
www.ebodyproducts.com

[Moparparts]

If you decide to change it i have a very nice original full rear deck shelf from a 73 Cuda i parted already drilled out and trimmed ready to install. PM or e-mail me if interested

Last weekend's stripping down revealed that the previous owner decided to take a reciprocal saw to the rear deck in order to "install" 6.5 inch speakers. I guess they thought the the hole had to be 6.5 inches and didn't know about plates. They covered the mistake up by dropping the speakers onto some plywood and using that over the deck.

This strip is going to the bones ... so I need to know if the rear deck is part of the unibody. How hard it is to replace ... and if it is too much of a headache I'm just going to center bore out the colossal screw up and drop some 8 inch Focal components in there and fab a deck cover.

[GreenFishie]

Outside of the jagged and irregular cuts and a few holes they drilled to secure the plywood ... it doesn't appear to be too bad. I'll know more the deeper I dig.

In some cars the rear interior deck plays a structural role in the unibody. I didn't know if that was the case with e-bodies.

At first blush it looks like I'll just have to plug some holes and grind time clean and then weld in some plates to make a clean circle for mounting once I bore out the reciprocal cuts.

I always wanted to install 8 inch drivers but could never bring myself to actually hack into a car to do it.

[torredcuda]

Every part of the unibody shell is in some way part of the structural strength but in reality I doubt the rear deck is too signifigant. I would either find a good used piece and replace the whole thing or just splice it in or if you don`t care about how original it looks than just clean it up and live with it.