Remove spare wheel well

W

Wilzo

New member
Points
13
Location
Dorset
Car
Seat Ibiza 1.2
Hi, can anyone advise on whether cutting out the spare wheel well on my 1.2 seat ibiza mk4 would adversely affect the structural integrity of the car?
In a moment of mid life crisis induced hysteria i have bought a 5 inch, wide bore, twin exhaust!
Challenge 1: Hide the exhaust from the missus
Challenge 2: Lop bits off the car to make the darn things fit!
 
Unless you intend on keeping the car forever then leave the spare wheel well alone. Think about selling the car on and the hit you will take if they see the wheel well missing. I am assuming you want the wheel well gone to allow for greater flexibility for an exhaust system. Yes you can remove it and fit in structural braces to compensate, BUT, on a car of this size and stature do you really want to go to that much trouble for extra noise from the car and precious little performance gain?
Good luck my friend, don't let me put you off but all I ask is that you think it through thoroughly first :)
 
That is a fair point, you're not going to gain very much at all performance wise from this engine. If anything the big bore pipe could slow down exhaust gas velocity to the point that it harms performance. You will get lots of noise though. It's for you to decide if you want any more noise in a car that's already fairly noisy anyway.
 
Thanks for replying guys; my bad, should have explained a bit more. The car is a 2002 petrol, with 150000 miles on the clock, resale value negligible. Im using it to practice/learn about modding and detailing. Dont get me wrong, i have massive respect for that little car and anything i do to it needs to be safe and either improve it or at least not adversely affect it. But i wont be selling it on.
In two minds about fitting it now, but ive set myself the challenge which basically means i have no choice!
 
OK, see your perspective. I suppose if you'd thrown the question here firstly about buying a big bore pipe for the 1.2 we'd probably have steered you in a different direction. You might get away with returning unused of course.

Or, go ahead and let's all do some research into the safest way to fit it to the Seat without compromising the structural rigidity of the floorpan.

The engine itself is actually quite well designed - it's half of a V6, if you like, and as such is fitted with just one balancer shaft, not the two which a 4 cylinder engine requires. The camshafts are chain driven so no worries about belts and tensioners.

To make any serious performance gains will require forced induction - this is a serious piece of modding/tuning and not to be taken lightly. However, if you have the time, resources, and more importantly, another car to keep you mobile whilst working on this one, could be an interesting project.
 
Will you be welding a new boot floor in to replace the wheel well? if so, as long as you put in some beads into the replacement panel, then I can't see an issue.
 
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