The spare wheel well - 308 gtb 77

I don't know if you can remove the spare wheel well with all that stuff in there. @BLACK HORSE , what did you do when you had your car out?

 

When I took out a wheel well for a mondial ...T (if I recall), the seam sealer had to be pried loose and some creative trimming had to be done. I think you might need the same thing.

 

You can weld that header from under the car if you are good and careful.

 

Bur a replacement coolant tank. It costs more than the metal but that cannot be fixed. The aluminum one sold in Europe tends to expand under pressure so buy a steel one.

 

The steering rack and bushings can be replaced without removing the spare tire tub.

 

On the GT 4 I replaced the rack + bushing from underneath. Removed the access panel behind the spare wheel well .

I replaced the expansion tank with a Superperformance alloy . It’s been fine it’s even black painted .Ok you could argue it’s slightly expanded but that’s 8 yrs ago .It wont develop pin hole rust holes like the steel .Modern cars remember are plastic = end of issue .

You fuel filler horizontal pipe is typical , they all go .
You may as well replace the small hoses that connect to the alloy pipes that run in the center of the chassis too .They will be crusty inside ….” while you are in “,

 

To do a similar project on my car, after drilling out all the rivets I was able to remove the tire well by sliding it forward before lifting. But at the time the radiator, AC condenser, fans, etc were all off of the car.

 

If you have removed all the rivets and cut through the resin where it joins the front bulk head and around the post for the spare wheel bolt, you can get it out with a little flexing. Mine was very tight around the post. I took mine out to get easy access to the steering rack and front frame when I restored that part of the car in 2012. When I put it back I used screws rather than rivets is it was removable in the future.

I can't find any photos of after refinishing it (including repairing the fiberglass) and screwing it back in but it looks good.

 

Found an old photo of the restored spare wheel well with the refinished, removable fiberglass panel held in by screws rather than rivets.


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Looking back at my photos, I had to remove a fair bit of glass fiber around the spare wheel post in order to have that panel removable.