Turtle Laboratories E46 Rear Seat Delete

[STAATS]

Just thought I'd let everyone know about a new RSD I found when scouring the internet for inspiration on how to finish off my Street Faction RSD install. I found this company called Turtle Laboratories making Aluminium RSDs for E46 cheaper than Hard Motorsport and Street Faction options, it's only a rear panel and has no bench delete option like SF but it is way cheaper then SF and a fair amount cheaper than Hard Motorsport if you get it raw, still cheaper, just less so if you get it coated.

https://turtlelaboratories.com/products/bmw-e46-rear-seat-delete-panel

They also do Rear Quarter panel deletes which I have never seen commercially available before (obviously seen heaps of custom fabrication jobs) and Front door panel deleted much cheaper then the competition options... although I do note that these are definitely more pure track car parts, the RSD you can install the bench seat and rear bolsters to dress it up but these would be very obvious... still cool to see this kinda stuff readily available and the prices are very reasonable compared to the competition.

https://turtlelaboratories.com/collections/bmw/products/bmw-e46-coupe-rear-interior-quarter-delete-panel

https://turtlelaboratories.com/collections/bmw/products/bmw-e46-coupe-door-panel-delete-cards

[jet_dogg]

The marketing copy along with the company name is abysmal.

If I were building a racecar why would I care about these rear panels? Genuinely curious because who cares about that aesthetic?

[lvm3sm46]

I appreciate this. I was thinking of getting the rear panel and making my own bottom out of MDF. Just not sure about the weight penalty of the MDF.
Did you install your Street Faction kit yet?

[STAATS]

The marketing copy along with the company name is abysmal.

If I were building a racecar why would I care about these rear panels? Genuinely curious because who cares about that aesthetic?

If you happen to have a Fuel Surge tank in the trunk like I do then you need to have a firewall. So aesthetics aside this is a functional firewall that is required by some categories depending on your regs and car build.

On a pure aesthetics basis, so ignoring and actual rule requirement to have one as discussed above, then I 100% agree with you, you don't need one and shouldn't want one...

My car is a Street/Track car built for Tarmac Rallies, I have never used the back seats but I use the car on the street so don't want it to look povo. hence for me the Street Faction kit made sense as it provided me a functional firewall, required by regs due to my FST and then the lower panels that are an option in the SF kit helped conceal the area so it didn't look gutted whilst still providing a weight reduction over keeping the seats, that I never used, installed.

[STAATS]

I appreciate this. I was thinking of getting the rear panel and making my own bottom out of MDF. Just not sure about the weight penalty of the MDF.
Did you install your Street Faction kit yet?

I have installed my Street Faction kit now, I just haven't got around to uploading photos and updating my thread on the SF kit. Overall its a reduction of about 10-12kgs over the seats (thats calculated by measuring roughly what went in and out, I will be going to a weigh bridge again soon but I have also done CF roof since last weigh in so it wont fully clarify what the RSD alone added to the equation)... I got the fixed back option, because firewall. and it looks like my bolsters will require some modification to fit and cover the wheel wells... I intend to have a bolt in cage in the long run so I will probably wait until I start fitting that and then modify the bolsters to accomodae that and still mount with the SF kit in place... I believe the folding back kit still allows the bolsters to be installed without any modification but might not give as much of a weight reduction.

Its $500USD for the back panel from SF but only $195 from Turtle labs (when painted) so if you could convince SF to sell you their bottom panels alone (not a standard option on their site) then there is potentially ~$300USD saved vs getting the full kit from SF if you want to go down this route. I queried them pretty hard on the steep price of the Aluminium rear delete option and then never gave me much more than to say the material is more expensive, which I could never wrap my head around when you see the cost of the Hard Motorsport and Turtle Labs options which are effectively the same quantity of material... my only justification would be that they are still trying to make back money on the R&D and scanning they did to develop the product and the laser cut files originally, as the pure material and labor alone now cant seriously justify their ticket price.

[Gt4]

If you happen to have a Fuel Surge tank in the trunk like I do then you need to have a firewall. So aesthetics aside this is a functional firewall that is required by some categories depending on your regs and car build.

On a pure aesthetics basis, so ignoring and actual rule requirement to have one as discussed above, then I 100% agree with you, you don't need one and shouldn't want one...

My car is a Street/Track car built for Tarmac Rallies, I have never used the back seats but I use the car on the street so don't want it to look povo. hence for me the Street Faction kit made sense as it provided me a functional firewall, required by regs due to my FST and then the lower panels that are an option in the SF kit helped conceal the area so it didn't look gutted whilst still providing a weight reduction over keeping the seats, that I never used, installed.

An aluminum panel bolted or riveted is considered a firewall for a trunk fuel cell or fuel surge setup? I would think it needs to be a sheet metal fully welded

[STAATS]

An aluminum panel bolted or riveted is considered a firewall for a trunk fuel cell or fuel surge setup? I would think it needs to be a sheet metal fully welded

Yer fair point, firewall in the truest sense it isn't. A dividing panel that should meet the intent of my particular regs given the small size and mounting location of the Radium Eng FST it probably is.