Did a search and found some good ideas but mostly pics on hot rods. I'm looking to see what you guys have done on later wider firewalls (like my '63 catalina). Especially g***ers. I want to recess my firewall alot. Maybe 12 inches or more to get the carb center at the original firewall face. This will need the hump pushed back also unless I drop the engine/trans combo a little. I'm building a "Street Freak" (traditionalists don't like it called a G***er) Being a little higher up I can drop it a little. Anywho, any pics, explainations, and especially build threads would be really appreciated. Just a pic of the '63 so far. Thanks for any insites and help you can add. Mark L
I don't have any experience with this, but I've heard of and seen pictures of refridgerator/freezer doors being used. I heard of the wheelbarrow shell also, but have'nt actually seen it. Know any HVAC or sheet metal guys? Don't know where you're located, but companies such as Boeing have s**** yards you should visit. Sure you want to do this? The car looks too nice to me. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Street freak sounds gay. It's a g***er. Im just about to cut mine up too...i"ll post pics if I make and progress soon
I have started a thread on this forum under 51 henry j g***er build. Or you can go to my avitar and look at the pics. I posted some pics of the recessed firewall i did to fit a blown hemi in the engine bay. I didn't want to go with a set back as far as you are. It is very easy to make it into what ever you want, just do a little planning and start cutting. Have fun with your project and keep us posted.
Where are you going to sit? If you try to keep pedals at firewall/stock seating location then that much recess can cramp foot space..Just a plan ahead heads up..Pic shows just about 12 inch recess...This is a shoebox Ford so a little narrower than your car, I remember around 61" interior width at door jams and recess is 26" wide but only has to clear a SBF.
Not as far back as you're talking about, but here ya go. I tried to set it up so I could pull the distributor without pulling the engine. Larry T
Cut my stocker out, modified it & moved it back 3". I used sheetmetal from an old furnace. Gives it kind of a stock look.
Perfect pics and info guys. I remember seeing an early year nova with a giant et back. They had built the firewall out of aluminum and built a trap door or hatch in the flat of the firewall. I asked the guy if he had any trouble getting the distributor out. He told me none at all but he used to open the door and retard the disrtubutor on the top end in close races. Mark L
Mark, I've seen folks fabricate a firewall that drops straight down from the dash and use the top of the dash as part of the "box". Jim Zakia's 55 comes to mind. I think Dave McCauley, here on the HAMB, owns the car now. You might try to contact him for pictures. Just remember that the firewall is part of the structural support if you're using stock body mounts and build it stout. Shawn, Thanks for the complement. I've got to make my Vega box fit the 55 crosslink and rig up a steering column. Then most of the "engineering" will be finished on this thing. Just have to build the tubs and finish some welding and I'll be ready to start the finish work. You don't know a good welder do ya? Maybe someone who can build an exhaust set up to plumb 2 turbos in an Anglia. (G) I'm getting old enough my eyes and temperment don't work well enough for good welds. Later, Larry T
Your might want to read the 60's era nhra rule book on engine set back allowed. They'll give you a point to measure from and that way you'll go thru a lot of work but it'll be authentic. One of the things that are/were used was the spare tire well from a fifties-sixties station wagon (where the tire went into a space under the floor). They were naturals because of the hemi bellhouseing shape.
This might be a little extreme, but the Hemi didn't quite fit without moving the motor way back. Otherwise I would have had to poke holes in the side panels for the valve covers. I hope this gives you some ideas.
Mine was an extreme set back, but doesn't look it if you didn't see where it started: I thought about cutting it out and reversing it, but that would have been way too far back, and the inside just looked ugly too. I ended up just chopping it all out and going with new built from flat 16ga. sheetmetal with an offset to allow the distributor to come out easily.
Great pics and ideas guys. I think I'll cut and move the tunnel back to where I want it, then use light weight angle to form a box frame, fill it in with 22 gauge metal. I won't cut it until I get the motor mocked up and placed about where I want it (but forward without cutting the firewall yet) so I can see how high everything will be. I don't want to cut into the air plenum in front of the windshield unless I have to. But anything is possible. Keep the shots coming guys. Thank you all. Mark L
are you running a stock suspension in your henry j or going to a straight axle im building one trying to decide which way i should go with it
Ask yourself where your headers are going to go before you get too crazy. I had my firewall marked to cut and everything before I thought of that. I realized the engine was setting back far enough.
YES!!! I bolted the headers to my engine and set it in the frame before even starting the firewall. I then built a cardboard firewall from old boxes and used that as a template to have the pieces cut out. I don't have a plasma cutter, so I had a shop trace the cardboard on my metal and then cut the metal out. I also bent two pieces of my sheetmetal using wood and C clamps to form the offset for the dist. area out of the same material. That way it was all the same thickness for easier welding.
Damn swade beat me to the punch. I don't think that calling it a g***er is the problem, its when folks want to put traditional on on the name that becomes a problem. It all has to do with the line that was drawn @ '64. As of '65 from what I recall you could lift one as long as your crank center didn't exceed 24". But you could be original and call it a match bash car, its a catchy name, or if you wanted to start a real fire storm you could call it an altered. Anyway so much for the BS, I am interested in watching your build especially with the mega setback. Here are some idea for you: We used to use a wheel barrow for a fire wall cove as a matter of fact for on that I am working on now I am using a wheel barrow not a deep one as I am onlyu setting the one in question back engoung to get it all behind the axle center a few inches (about 8% setback). But wheel barrows come pretty deep and they can be found cheap at yard sales quite often. For your hump instead of lowering the engine why don't you just cut the hump loose and move it back? I see a lot of fellas go through a lot of fabrication when they have the piece right there to start with. You are aware that you are going to loose your heater right? You can still retain your defroster incase it rains or what have you where you live by snagging a defroster from a mid '50s Studebaker. The defroster was seperate from the heater was separate from the heater and is very small. Ok TMI with thr defroster I was just throwing that out there. Just food for thought. Have fun, if it aint fun there is no reason to do it.
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