Fellow builders,

Looking for some opinions on the following issue. I'll soon be putting on the car the ally exterior panels. I'm doing a LHD car and the passenger side offers no doubts: PU and pop rivets.

On the drivers side, I have an issue. Besides the peddles, in front of them I have the master cylinders, the exhaust pipes leaving the engine, the steering column passing between both and the oil filter under it all. It's crammed because it has all the stuff a RHD car has there plus what a RHD car has on the other side.
I tried to imagine accessing the reservoir for the master cylinders or the oil filter without taking the engine out and it does not look easy.

So, I considered either cutting the side panel in two, on a vertical line where the dash is, and PU+poprivet the rear part and rivnut the front one. But that will affect the chassis stiffness, won't it? The other option would be to PU+poprivet it all and when I need access to any area, cut a hole and make an access panel to cover the hole afterwards.

I have the central tunnel all rivnut'ed, so there is no stiffness coming from that area.

What would you do? What is your opinion on what I should do?

Thank you!
HappyFather

Some people split the side panel exactly as you described, at the scuttle/dashboard area, usually so that the front section sticks out a bit and provides a vent for the engine bay.

I personally wouldn't have any reservations about holding the front section on with some rivnuts. You might lose a little bit of strength, but even rivnut'd panels are stressed and add to the rigidity (think about bolt-on x-braces on some production cars!)

Alternatively, you can try and engineer remote cylinders for your brakes, and use a remote oil filter.

Thank you for your reply, PSpirine!

And also for the idea to take the opportunity to open a vent.

Cheers,
HappyFather