Upper and lower close out panel questions

[Mkraus01]

Does anyone have any pictures on how they installed the upper close out panels (basically behind your outboard shoulders as sitting in the car) and the lower body close out panels (behind the seat belt area)? The lower ones seem straight forward, except they don’t seem to have much to mount them to and they don’t seem to seal everything. The upper ones don’t seem to seal a lot of the area as well.

Just curious what others have done here. I can’t seem to find much in the forums on this topic.

Thank you
Mike Kraus
Gen II GTM Past go-kart stage

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

For the upper panels, we form the leading edge of the metal to tuck in behind the body so that that edge sits tight against the fiberglass. Top edge gets bulb seal. Fasten the top edge to the steel strap "cockpit sidewall brackets" that come with the kit that span from the rear window alum panel to the door jamb. Secure the bottom of the panel by drilling and tapping holes into the chassis tube.

For the lower (what I refer to as PITA panels) panels, those just rivet directly to the thin strip at the rear of the alum panels that surround the seatbelts. No, they don't seal as-is....but you will want to make a 100% seal with those panels. Get them fitted as well as possible, put bulb seal around the whole outboard edge where it meets the body and then take some foil tape or some of the butyl-backed foil stuff (fatmat/Second Skin) and cut small pieces to bridge between that panel and the chassis to completely seal up all areas where air could get thru. We do this BEFORE we put the body on the car for the final time, and then once the body is on, go in with silicone caulk to seal up any voids where the buld seal does not make a positive seal against the fiberglass.