Raised hatch floor in 1978

[FastWoman]

Hi all,

When I recently bought my '78, I kept mentally comparing it to my old '75 that I sold in the early 90's. It seemed to have less space in the hatch, even when taking out the subwoofer in the back. To my embarrassment, I now know why: It has a raised false floor. Weird. Why would they do that? The material is rather heavy, the floor isn't as sturdy, and most of all, there's not as much room in the hatch.

So has anyone converted one of these platform floors to a regular floor? Are there any surprises involved?

I suppose one issue is the spare tire. The one I have is the original style, stored deflated. It's quite wide and stands up to the height of the spare tire lid (or false floor). Is there a skinny substitute spare tire that can fit this space with a fiberboard cover such as I remember on my 1975? (I recall having a full size spare in that car, though. Am I imagining that?)

So what do people do, when they don't like the raised hatch floor?

Thanks!

Sarah

[WingZr0]

I have a 77 which i believe is one year only styled hatch floor. If it's the same as what your talking about, the carpeted side of the hatch, works just fine for me. Though my 78 is flat. What you hauling anyway, boxes?

[FastWoman]

Hmmm.... Mine was made in 12/77 (1978 model), so maybe it was a partial year thing.

I need room for groceries, of course! It's hard to stand up a bag at the very rear of the hatch area. A few extra inches of height would be great.

[WingZr0]

Hmmm.... Mine was made in 12/77 (1978 model), so maybe it was a partial year thing. I need room for groceries, of course! It's hard to stand up a bag at the very rear of the hatch area. A few extra inches of height would be great.

It's tough staying green with paper bags in a Z . My `77 is 10/76 and the `78 is 11/77 still flat floor. Maybe your floor was switched for a `77. Does the carpet sit flush against the interior side panels? Do you have a interior tail light panel under the floor board hidden? Edited August 25, 2009 by WingZr0

[TomoHawk]

The raised floor is to hide the spare tire underneath. You could probably make a cover to fit over the tub, but IMO you'll never get a carpet to lay flat and be smooth because of the frame rails along the sides and all the little brackets sticking up.

[MEZZZ]

I was looking at my 77 last night, I have the interior out to remove the insulation, etc, do the POR15 and Dynamat thing.

My car has a raised masonite floor to accomodate the spare tire. If I remember correctly, some '77 models came with a floor that "sweeps" up toward the rear and is held down by 2 knobs mounted above the lights. There is no taillight finisher on the car, the swept up back negated the need for it.

This is how my car is and I think it was a partial year thing. I remember reading about it shopping for carpet last year.

You could always do what Im thinking of doing, going spare less. A can of fix a flat and my cell phone to call AAA if that doesnt work

[WingZr0]

MEZZZ if your 77 and my 77 are same as FastWomans 12/77 1978 Z having the two tie down knobs, than why the gap with my 11/77 build date 1978 Z with a flat floor and all interior panels and flush mounted carpet?

[TomoHawk]

My 11/78 had the entire rear floor on one plane, and it was flat, which was nice.

Edited August 25, 2009 by TomoHawk

[FastWoman]

I think my 12/77 '78 is the same as TomoHawk's. The floor is all in one plane, but with wastage of maybe 3" all over. All the trim work is there, extending down to the metal floor. The carpet, which the PO replaced, extends throughout the entire hatch area and drops over the edge of the masonite false floor, which comes just short of the trim all the way around the back. The spare tire recess is maybe 3" into the metal floor. The spare tire compartment lid is hinged about midway in the hatch area, with quarter-turn latches on either side.

I haven't tried taking it all apart, but the metal supports beneath the masonite deck all seem to be bolted in place. I don't know whether the threaded holes open to the underside of the car. I can't really see very far forward (haven't tried very hard) to know what lies under the forward part of the deck. In my '75, I had two nice hinged storage compartments behind the seat that were difficult to access because of the carpet. Anyway, it sounds like there were all different designs in this short production period.

MEZZZ, with the masonite floor stripped out, is your floor flat enough to simply lay down a carpet -- perhaps with a smaller masonite panel to cover the spare tire dish? I notice the wiring harness runs conveniently towards the righthand side of the hatch area and shouldn't be too badly in the way. Maybe with a thick mat carefully inserted, it would all flatten out.

So is there a skinny spare tire that would fit better in the shallow spare tire recess? (The "spareless" approach is tempting.)

[MEZZZ]

Fastwoman, I would imagine you could do the flat floor id you wish. You would have to remove the supports that raise up. Also, the tailight area would need some sort of a finisher panel. The raised part in front of the tool storage, if my memory is right, would have to be cut.

I dont think you would find a spare to fit in the new reduced area though...seems pretty narrow.

Not worth it IMHO to pick up a few inches for groceries. Just eat out instead

Edited August 25, 2009 by MEZZZ

[FastWoman]

Oh wow! Interesting. Thanks for the photo. I don't have one of those big curved shield things -- only the little vertical supperts. I presume the two supports in the front are bolted like the ones in the rear. Then there's that forward bulkhead, which I don't mind having anyway. I could probably just wrap it in black carpet.

My trim is complete to the metal floor, including the tail light finisher panel. I'm wondering whether someone added the raised floor because they thought it would be better that way. I think I still have the PO's email. I'll ask him what he knows about it.

Yeah, it seems silly not to use all that good space. You can actually pack a lot into a normal hatch -- like photographic gear. (I'm a photographer.) This ain't no sissy weekend car. It's my primary ride!

[FastWoman]

Interesting note: Those forward storage boxes look like they would be great as speaker enclosures -- perhaps a couple of compact subwoofers?