Quote:
Originally Posted by KITT222
Looks good! How stable is it? If you are still thinking about using a junk rear hatch for building on top of, I found a hatch in my area. If you could hold off until June on making a permanent hatch, I may be going to a Vibe meet in central Michigan at that time, and could bring it with. Or it could be FedEx'd. I could check the price on it if you're interested. Here's the link:
2007 TOYOTA MATRIX PARTS CAR
Regardless, you've got a good start there. Have you tried driving with what you've got on the car, just to check it out? How does the hatch open with that on? |
I looked into a spare hatch to use, my local junk yard wanted $400 for it. Ouch! So I went with plan B, using the trailer hitch. At the moment the hatch does not open but I did take off the glass portion so that is open.
How much do they want for the hatch? Thanks in advance for asking. I just would cut it so I had the latch and the outer frame. Then I would weld a boat tail to that (would give me the exact shape and a mount point right next to the car).
After looking at it I think I will try taking off the whole hatch tomorrow after church. That will give me access to the top bracket bolts so I could take off the boat tail without having to remove any foam (which will be fiber glassed).It would also let me use the new interior space for cargo. I am planning on making the new lexan area hinged to replace the hatch function. I might even get creative and reuse the glass hatch shocks to move the new lexan hatch
I have not tried driving it yet, with just the frame it would just be a sail in the wind. But I did try pushing on it in most places. I can make the car rock side to side and up and down by putting my weight on the back end of the tail. The tail seems to move in unison with the car. It does not move at the hitch (which is bolted to the frame of the car) and does not wiggle at the top mount points. It moves a little near the bumper but that seems to be minor and should be fixed by the outer shell.
I think tomorrow I will have enough done for a test spin. I might not have the lexan on yet ($60 I have yet to buy).
Any ideas for the exhaust pipe area? (no pic yet, might get tomorrow) I need to make it turn down, or get creative in my hitch cross brace to under side of car pieces.
How hot can Dow Styrofoam withstand safely? Can it touch the exhaust? Should I cover it with albumin foil first?