How much of the vertical brace did you cut out on your 49-54?

The 2 braces that have to be cut on the 49-54 Chevy firewall. when installing a V8? Did you remove all or part of it ? Pics are helpful.

I am going to cut mine prior to engine mockup, so I cant paint the firewall and jamb it out.

 

I left about 1/4 inch lip on my '53, but I've seen several where the lip it totally gone, and one or two where they cut out whole chunks. My thinking is, that things supports the front of the body shell so leave as much of it as you can.

 

i trimmed the gussets off of firewall completely and the inside two "body mounts" dont know if you can see them in the pic. it fits pretty nice now that its all cut out.

 

I figured it was there for a reason. I hate to start hacking up integral parts of the body.

 

There was a cat here that went by Metalman54. He has owned 100s of them. In his research, he found that the only thing the braces really did was hold the body easily on the ***embly line. They were just used in the car because they were there and fit around the 6. I drilled the spotwelds and yanked em out on my 54.

 

That's exactly what I used miine for. Now that the body is back on...they can be removed.

 

I cut mine out completely... or at least mostly. I've put close to (maybe more than?) 100,000 miles on my car since doing so... and I haven't been able to see any adverse effects. I did put a piece of 1/8" aluminum sheet over the firewall, though. I'm sure this adds some amount of ridgidity, but still. If you are going to run a master cylinder on the firewall, and you cut this much of the braces out, I would definitely do something to shore up the firewall around the m/c mount area.

 

I have heard that without those you can crack you windshield due to lack of cowl support.

 

Read my post above

 

I have done both. On the ones we removed completly we skinned the firewall with sheetmetal to fill all holes. There were around 62 holes in the firewall on the last 54 I did. Never had any problems with support on any of them.

 

Plus, keep in mind the dash is welded into these cars, and is part of the structure and ridgidity of the cowl area.

 

I completely removed my fins and filled my firewall, but left the body mounts intact. Even if I did leave my fins, though, I wouldn't install a firewall mount brake booster and pedal ***embly without bracing it. Here's a pic of my firewall before I filled it:



I have a friend who removed his body mounts too...several years of hard driving with no problems.

Bryan

 

I did exactly like 51chevysled did. I've been checking out 49 -52 chevys for 30 years. I've seen them with the body mount portion removed and wouldn't recommend it. most are just like his and mine.

when they are removed there is no flex or weakness in the firewall, the indentation for the motor ads more strength than the braces.

one more thing, don't cut them out, drill out the spotwelds with a spot weld drill. much easier and a cleaner job

 

Great thread, and even better info from all.
both mine are rusted off anyway so I was gonna remove what's left of them.

 

This is the guy I'd listen to

Bryan

 

No doubt..

 

those mounts are mostly rotted on my 51, and my windshield cracked one day when i closed the hood

 

Do you have the stock windsheild or a one-piece?

Bryan

 

FWIW me too.

And I do drive my car pretty hard.... frequent "spirited" accelleration. Had a snappy TH350 for a while and a Muncie 4-speed now... so the car does get jerked pretty hard. Plus the pavement around here is pretty ****py. Lotsa potholes and stuff.

I would definitely leave the body mounts intact.

 

I cut out the inner one and the fins and left the other one that comes in from the toe board. Since then I have chopped it and put in a one piece windshield and it hasn't moved a bit. If you go with a swing pedal/ firewall mounted brake setup, brace it back to the dash. There is a factory brace there under the dash, so you know that it's OK to use the dash as a reinforcement. Mine is set up that way. Works great, doesn't flex..

 

stock windshield the p***enger side cracked

 

Nice air cleaner top!

 

Yep I had read that. I was also ***uming that he was removing the body mounts also since ther are kinda combined. I was not disputing it I just wanted to add that. With my luck it something bad happens every 101th time it would happen to me.

 

I heard someone say the engineers put them there because they didn't have computers back then to tell them they didn't need it. But I like the whole "it made ***embly easier" thought better!

 

I was planning on leaving the body mounts, just not the vertical piece. I'll radius it off.

 

my 50 coupe was done in the late 50,s for a 283 went threw 4 motors no problems with body flex

 

although not traditional as in a torch and hammer, why dont you remove it and fab a new one that fits your needs , that way you have support and dont have to listen to all of us ........

 

No room.

 

Thats right Tman, they do nothing and are not needed, get rid of 'em...

 

I've seen them with that thing rotted clean through. The only way it would be a problem is if your other body mounts were shot - on a nice, solid car with good rubber in the body mounts I can't see it being a problem even if you completely removed the front mount. Unless you put a monster motor in it and get a lot of torque flex.

I can't imagine the hood closing and a windshield crack being related without an existing flaw in the gl***, I've messed with some of these so rusted they were in pieces and the cowl itself held it's shape even cut clean off the car.