No Spare modification

[Suprlite_7]

I am going to go the no spare tire route, what do I have to do get rid of the carrier and mount the tag light? I'm guessing take a saw to the carrier but I would appreciate the guidance from someone who has done already.

 

Ron

[Suprlite_7]

Pardon the grammer my typing didn't match my intended message but I hope you can read between the lines.

 

Ron

[StewartG]

Remove the carrier with a hacksaw leaving stubs of about 1 inch in case you ever need to have it welded back on, unlikely. Take care to remove the wiring first. Paint the stubs and add some push on black chair feet from B&Q to tidy up. Remove the ali boss and nut that the spare used to attach to and stick the number plate light over the hole with double sided tape, feed the wires back through the hole and connect up to the loom having fed it up inside the car behind the tank. You'll need to earth the light as it was previously earthed by the carrier which you've removed and you don't want to drill extra holes to attach the light which would have provided an earth. That's it unless you feel that removing god knows how many kilos from the extremities of the car has affected the handling balance in which case it's back to tweaking the adjustable platforms.

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Have you seen Roger Swift's modification? He has a removable tyre carrier that can be reattached in seconds. I think he sawed it off and then fixed a solid cylinder of metal into the open ends of the wheel carrier. This was done so that it could be slotted back into the open ends on the car. A hole was then drilled though the car ends and solid metal inserts for a split pin to hold it all together. You could use some plastic caps to tidy up the holes in the car for when the carrier is off.

 

Alex

[murph7355]

I've had done almost exactly what Alex (and Stewart) suggest (I'm currently using screws rather than split pins/r-clips to hold it on when in use but the idea's the same).

 

I screwed my number plate light into the hole/boss that used to locate the spare wheel bolt. I also have the light connected via a spade connector under the rear of the car and have kept the light on the carrier itself. That way I can use it when the carrier's back on.

 

19mm blanking grommets plug the holes pretty well, but chair feet may be better (unless properly pushed in the blanking grommets have a tendency to go AWOL).

 

It's handy making it detachable as it allows you to carry "luggage" if needed.

 

If you want to see how it looks, I think there's a picture of the rear of the car on page 8 of the 7Gallery here. Doesn't show it with the rack attached, but you know what that looks like smile.gif. IMO not quite as Gucci as a fully smooth rear panel, but not bad.

 

C7 AJM