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Reply to "Pantera # 5357 - Rocky's 1973 L model"

Jag, cutting the firewall bubble loose is something racers did in the '70s. The Gr-3s came that way, I'm told as running a factory 4-point roll cage meant the panel could never be removed unless the cage was first removed. Its quite simple: the leatherette upholstery is done separately on the bubble and the main panel. By unbolting the two metal strips and pulling on the bubble-upholstery, it comes off.

To cut the thin fiberglas, use a fine- tooth wood saw. Leave about 1" across the top. When the bubble is cut free, trim it until there's about a 1/2" clearance all around, and re-glue the removed upholstery back onto the cutaway bubble. Stretch & wrap the main upholstery as far as possible around the main fiberglas panel and touch up visible cut edges with semigloss black paint (or even a Magic Marker) so when the two panels are back together, the cuts are invisible. Two strips of velcro will hold the cut-free fiberglas bubble to the underlying steel access panel.

This has been the subject of several illustrated articles in the POCA Newsletter during the past 10 yrs, all done at home. It is also the first step in self-constructing a flat-firewall Pantera.
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