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Ok, I've decided to create a steering access door in my frunk! I know I'm not the first to dream this up, but I have a hankering to do some fabricating. I think I saw Mike Pickett had one or something like it for his EFI system, but I can't find any threads on the subject of the door construction or design logic.

I'm thinking of simply cutting a 10x10-inch square (or rectuangle about that size) in the carpet and fiberglass. Attaching two hinges. Lining it with some kind of weatherstripping to create a bit of tension and seal. Then adding a simple latching mechanism to hold it all shut. Nothing fancy. I think this could be a fun little project that could yield huge maintenance gains for the relatively low cost of time and money. Frankly, jacking up the car, removing the driver’s side wheel and fiddling with a low-profile screwdriver with little to no solid vision on the components involved made my initial steering adjustment a nightmare.  

Has anyone seen this done well?

Last edited by JoelP
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OMG! That post helped. Tools-wise, it looks like I'll use a Milwaukee cut-off tool with a dust reduction hose attachment to do the fiberglass work. Was thinking of a jigsaw, but I really don't want those teeth to catch and cause a split/fracture. A bit of dust is an okay price to pay for avoiding that debacle.

A thought just came to mind: with  the access door will compromise structure? If so, how will I reinforce it to avoid that? Hmmm . . .

An access panel is fine, structurally. I’d keep it simple and make a panel out of .060 aluminum and just hold it down with machine screws going into riv-nuts. Absolutely use weatherstripping, but a hinge seems like overkill and needless complexity — how often will you need access? You won’t take that panel off more than once every few years.

I have had this idea for a while.  Have not done any cutting yet, and I did some searching and found a real steel 356 cover plate on e-bay and bought it.  So I'm ready for the cutting.  A Quick survey would suggest this real cover might be a little big, as I have a good size fuel tank and space is limited.  So on my end, a "work in progress".  And I gotta get familiar with rivnuts . . .

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