I've seen countless pics of early stangs in this forum with the car on jack stands and the qrtrs, drop downs, and rear panels removed, yet no bracing or sheet metal supports welded in. Are these early stangs strong enough to withstand distortion? The last pic I saw was a few weeks back on a 66 with no L qtr, no L drop down and L side trunk, and no rear panel, with jack stands under the rear end, and rear subframe exposed. Final product looked great with the new panels. The entire time I'm thinking "holy cow!", that thing's gonna buckle like a pretzel. This is one of those "how's it done" questions.

 

I didn't brace when I replaced my floor pan or my drivers side rear quarter. But I did put in braces when I cut off my roof and I also put in a couple braces on the rear for a little support for my rear rotisserie bracket.

 

Depends on what you do really, and how much. Just one side of a floor plan, nope. Don't worry. Even a qrtr,wheel wells and such. But we just did 4 torque boxes, 2 frame rails, toe boards, and a one piece floor board all at once.....worry there, lol