Rear Strut Removal

[wild01ride]

I am planning out a strut replacement and would like to know if someone would be willing to outline a general plan of attack for removing the rear hat shelf to get to the strut tower mounts.
I have worked on cars since I was old enough to hold a wrench but I am perplexed by the fact that the strut tower mounts are buried underneath the hat shelf. I know, it's not something that you have to access very often, but it seems like a crazy task to remove interior trim like that to get to the strut towers.

I obviously haven't had it apart yet but I'm guessing there isn't room or a good way to add a strut tower brace (I know that part of the contruction of the unit-body inside the trunk acts like a brace, but it seems like it would be nice to have a nice cross brace in this car coonsidering it's a big boy for a performer.)

Any advice on removing that shelf would be greatly appreciated (I can't believe I haven't run across ANY mention of it before!)

Thanks!

 

[SHOZ123]

Take out the back seat. The bottom hooks at the floor like they have for years and then there are 4 bolts that hold the backrest on.

Then take off the C pillar trim from one side, the shelf liner will come out.

 

[wild01ride]

Thanks a ton- that's exactly what I wanted to know (don't want to jack up any interior trim doing a suspension job!)