I got a little distracted from my main project when I traded my 39' Ford for a cool little roadster with a 401 Nailhead. After taking a closer look I identified some issues with the car that needed to be fixed. The firewall was far from nice and rubbing against the bellhousing putting a lot of stress on the cowl. I had a s**** Brookville firewall on the wall for years that was partially stamped. Time to take it off the wall... The firewall feet needed to be extended on both sides:
I think “far from nice” was a bit of an understatement You need to put the old one on the wall just so you can look at it every now and again and chuckle at it.
Next step was to make a steering column mount and a throttle pedal linkage through the firewall, the shape of the reversed firewall is perfect for the throttle pedal shaft.
Next challenge was to cut the floor and firewall support brackets. I decided to go with a wood floor plate...
Oh, I forgot the part where I spot welded the firewall back with a harbor Freight spot welder that works great
Interesting . I have 30 PU cab I may but a early Hemi in flipping the fire wall like that might work well as its all butchered now and missing most of it . I had planned on using a wheelbarrow tub I bought new years ago for it .
I think it looks better than a recessed firewall and it is not that complicated, I had to do a couple of pie cuts at the cowl radius. Once it is painted it will look like it rolled from Henry`s ***embly line.
Looks pretty clean to me . I have like a 3 foot open rectangle hole to its going to need a lot of attention . Originally I was going to fit a wheel barrel tub in what's left. The cab is painted and I hate to try and get the reminder out as it's going to be fenderless so the area were its spot welded in will show but I could cover it maybe. I kind of like what you did here. I'll need a new Brookfield fire wall with no holes to do it. I'm planning on channeling it over a A frame ( plan this week it changes every few months) so the feet needing attention are no big deal . A lot of good food for thought here . Good write up and pictures . Do you loose a lot of foot room? PU'S are cramped as it is. mine is pretty ugly right now. Been looking at ideas of how to this better with out some square looking recessed box. Hemi might be a BBC in next week's plans LOL.
I did not want to reverse my firewall and I had the same issue as you. I pulled the firewall in just above the bellhousing recess. You can barely tell the difference, but it gave me the needed clearance. Warren
I like that to also very clean . looks like I should look for a spare fire wall this spring at the swap meets . On my 28 PU the stuff is so tight hate working on it and swore ill do the 30 with more clearance . of course its completely different set up but I want to be able to run a physically bigger engine if I wish .
The food room is still good, I`m 6`3" so it is always a challenge to fit me in but it turned out good.
The Linkage is all part of a shifter that was availble years ago from Hot Rods and Custom Stuff I believe. They called it a T&F shifter (Top and Front) that let you put a GM 4 speed into and early ford and get the shifter in the factory location. Super slick.
The Jalopy Journal
