I worked several hours Saturday and several more Sunday repairing and then welding in the center section of firewall that the PO had removed with a cutting torch. I had to cut it to fit the bell housing and repair a bunch of holes - some factory and some not. I got it welded in but I still have to finish cleaning it up. Here is a couple of pics where you can see how the section was opened up by the PO... And here it is at the moment with still a lot of work left to be done.....
Getting ready to tackle that myself. Picking up a Transmission on friday then I will see how much trouble i'm in. Get out the grinder and it will look like it belongs there.
It's always a ***** trying to do firewall work while the engine and trans are in place. Keep posting any progress. Frank
Yeah definitely tough installing this with the engine and ****** in place. Especially welding along the center behind that 3rd carb air cleaner. I left it in place just in case something was to pop off the welding and end up down in there. And , of course, the grinder doesnt fit in there very well either. I didn't get full days to work on this, so it took the whole weekend to get it this far. I'll get more done on it soon and I'll post more pics. Hopefully it will look as good as I see it in my mind and I won't be too ashamed of showing it off.
Thanks man! It is tight, but there is clearance behind the distributor because when I redid the rear section of the frame I stretched the rearend location back a little over an inch and then I mounted the body on the frame about the same amount further back so the rear axle still hits the center of the wheel well so that effectively gave me about an additional inch of clearance between the firewall and the engine. Like I said, it is still close, but I think it will work and I can keep the factory firewall for the most part without an insert in it.
The Jalopy Journal
