Shouldn't be too hard to make an access panel, or else DeeGee can give you a Ferrari part for it. I say DO IT!
You know with the tank dropped in the 348, service is pretty easy, there is a shop that does it all the time.. when they do get a 348 in that is.. they very rarely pull the motor out..
First why would you do it? To Tube frame the car to build a dedicated racecar. To access for service? Where do you put the fuel tank? If you go to the front bonnet you somewhat compromise your crush zone. You might chase the balance of the car as you burn off fuel depending on your fuel load. For sprint racing and light loads maybe not an issue. For endurance you are not pushing so maybe not an issue. You would have to build it and test it unless others who have done it will tell you the straight story. If you keep the tank in the stock location with a custom $5000 fuel cell you keep the balance of the car but you have to design the tube framing to make-up and increase the rigidity of the noodle frame and more noodleness gained from the lost of the rear bulkhead. Lets talk about service. Yes you can get to things sort of. As a racer one of the things you do a lot of is maintenance like annual T-belt changes. You play with cam timing for specific tracks just like you play with alignment settings for different tracks. How can you get clear direct vision of your degree wheel and dial gauge while you are turning the crank? I think you need to clear out the entire rear bulkhead and leave the rear window frame and maybe you can get clear vision to read your equipment but I can't really tell until you try it. Then you need to triangulate the tubeframing to get your rigidity. Then you need to dszus fasten some kind of sheet metal rear bulkhead to be race legal separating the cockpit from the engine compartment. You will also need to make the rear tranny support bar area sectioned and bolt in like the Helms 348 Flag racecar. The cage is all wrong for this. It needs to be cut out and properly integrated with the chassis with tube framing in the design. This way you will get max stiffness which is one of the biggest failings of the 348/355 chassis, and minimum weight which is critical because today 300hp 348 or 375hp 355 motors just don't cut it. It looks like this car was an evolution like it had a challenge cage then someone added more to it. The rear cage stays or sort of unsupported and certainly will be if you cut more bulkhead for access. The cage rear stays should go to the rear shock towers. The door bar ears are just weight and not legal for any race rules in 2015. Doorbars appear non-existent. But we have no idea what this car was built for.
What he said. I sure would not be worried about removing that little channel member. Does not look like it does much. Pete
Well it appears the car is very unfinished and equipment can be viewed just fine. Caging apparently can be made to work...we need more pictures! One picture just leaves lots of questions and speculation and it looks like I'm making wrong ones. I can hardly wait to see how it turns out. I wonder what the minimum weight will be? Dang it Bruce post more pictures.
LOL! One of the things I learned about converting to racecars..."When it doubt cut it out." Every time I have left a questionable piece I have always ended up cutting it out then having to patch something.
Properly reinforced there would be no problem. I'm not sure why one would do it though. But it is interesting.
