Spare tire well: keep or toss?

[Seppi72]

Because I've been and will be doing so much work on my '72, I'm thinking about the spare tire well.

Firstly, there is absolutely no rust anywhere on the tire well. This is, frankly, amazing considering how much rust there is on other areas of the car and what I've seen in other S30s.

I don't intend to restore my car. I intend to rebuild and improve it as a road car. And I don't intend to have a spare tire on board. Thus, the car will never be "stock" and the tire well is thus superfluous. I'd salvage the part and make it available to someone who needed it.

In addition, I think there are a number of aftermarket gas tanks that would work quite well in an S30 and sit high enough that a dual exhaust could be run directly down the centerline of the car such as what BRE ran in #46 (not that that is my present intention).

So my question to you folks is whether you think it is reasonable to yank the spare tire well and replace it with flat sheet metal for the parcel shelf area and the other work that would be needed in doing so. I'd be happy to hear of experiences, pros, cons, options, etc.

[jmortensen]

I cut mine out to install a fuel cell in a race car. It was from a 70, and like yours was basically rust free. I had one guy mention in passing that he might want it, but never actually sold it. Even though the well is a rust prone part of the car, I don't think you'll have too much luck selling it, and re-engineering the tank just to run duals seems like a big PITA to me. I believe the BRE's ran the duals under the stock tank. From my own experience I can say that installing a 12 gal fuel cell adds about 20 lbs to the car vs the stock tank. The stock tank is LIGHT compared to most other options, although a new car plastic tank may save a lb or two.

[texasz]

You're building a street car right? I'd keep the spare! I don't see any advantage to removing the spare tire well and all the other work associated with it. Yours has no rust...keep it right where it is.

Just my 2 cents.

[mikewags]

You can use the spare tire area for storage space if you don't want to carry a spare with you.

[Oiluj]

I'm thinking that lack of spare tire storage will be a problem down the road when you eventually want to sell her. I suggest you keep the spare well.

Use it as extra storage, to mount a subwoofer, stereo amp, gps locator, etc...

[1 Bravo 6]

O.K, so, .....

The spare tyre well comes out, he goes for a drive and 20 - 30 - 40 - 50 miles from home, the tyre picks up a screw, hits the curb, gets staked etc, and you've got a flat.

Not having a spare is just plain stupid IMHO.

Rick.

:devious::devious:

[Rockr69]

Knock on wood here, but I've had one time when I needed a spare. OOps! Make that twice. Both time in a 4x4 in the woods. I've never used a spare on the street and took mine out of the Z 'cuz I got tired of lugging it around with gas prices shooting up. Stupid of me?, probably. However I know people who have needed their spare on the road and was grateful to have it. In the end you have to ask yourself do need a spare or not? Driving habits and trip length would dictate the need for me. My plan is to mount sub in spare enclosure and throw in spare if I'm going on a lengthy trip. It's up to you man, you do what you want.

[Seppi72]

I've decided that I will keep the spare tire well. I suppose that I can always remove it later, if I decide to do so. When the car gets roadworthy again I'll just create a urethane foam plug to put in the well to both dampen any road noise that might come up through there as well as support the cover.