Rear tray structurally important?

[Blue Plates]

How structurally important is the tray under the rear window? My only gripe with the PO is they hacked it up for speakers. I’m planning on covering it up but if need be i can reinforce it.

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Hi Blue,

While all the sheet metal is structurally important, on the e3 it is less so on the parcel shelf than in the e9. You could put a channel brace under there and weld to the cut edges of the holes if you were worried but other than that I would not be too concerned- it might even be easier to put a shock tower brace in the back to accomplish some additional rigidity. I'm not an engineer, just owned a couple of these so ......

 

[dang]

Unless you think it will contribute to fuel smell into the passenger compartment I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

[Nachtycoupe]

Lightweight for racing .....ditto what Dan & Peter said....

 

[Ohmess]

Unless you think it will contribute to fuel smell into the passenger compartment I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Even if you don't fill the holes, you should consider trying to seal them up with dynamat or something similar. Not only will those holes allow fuel smell into the car, if you don't have a tight seal around the trunk, carbon monoxide from the exhaust can be drawn into the car as you drive.