Featured Art & Inspiration Firewall Management

Here's mine:






I'm a restorer by trade. It has indeed shaped my outlook and I strive for a nearly OEM look to most endeavors inside and out, and that's regardless of a restored proper part or something new and added to. Of note, yes I foraged and found nice era proper clamps. Go ahead and rag me for the long screws on the brass heater clamps, but not for long. Already cut down to accurate size. Note the brackets holding the Oberg filter. I smashed the edges of the hole in front for strength and that OEM-ish look I strive to hit. Yeah, stainless fasteners, but they're brushed or wire wheeled to remove the freshness and try for as close to a common plated look as possible. The lacquered looms and retainers were used to cover the new Rebel Wiring harness used. Yes, the slots on the screws follow the stamped ridges vs vertical or horizontal. The studs on the heater will be relieved of length too. Not all the way back, but enough for tidy, and more importantly enough that I don't rake my flesh across them in the future if I'm servicing something in the region. Yes, I am indeed that asshole type that thinks of that shit. The jerkoff switch (battery main shut off) showing on the firewall will get a PVC cover to assimilate into the rest. I like nice. I like OEM. I like clean especially starting fresh. That way if oil, coolant, etc shows up you have a path to WTF-ville. And yet none of it will be uber-holy-butt munch show level. The OG paint will be freshened up and some touch-up done, and of course I must add my Alliance tag(s). Shit, I gotta renew that too. Later on I might slap up a few restored OEM 30s cars that might drive or inspire our HAMB bruthas and sistas. Kool topic Joey

 

Here is the engine compartment/firewall in my old 32 closed cab, as built in the 50's. I just rewired it, but left the battery box, horn, solenoid, V/R, etc as they were.



I always like the firewall in the Neal East 5w. It looked like they just masked it off and sprayed the whole firewall, horns, master cylinders in place.


That was my inspiration for the light purple firewall and horns in my 5w, but I just couldn't bring myself to do the sprayed in place look with the horns...so did the modern over detailed deal.


There was a flathead powered, full fendered 32 roadster that was featured in a ?Hot Rod? magazine road test in the early 50's. I tried to find the feature, but am still looking. The engine compartment was a wiring and plumbing nightmare. It always surprised me...but is the point of this whole post.

 

I got the idea from Mike's truck! Haha! He is a ruler!!

 

Here is mine.

 

seeing as how me and joey have discussed this before, I can relate to what he is looking for.

I think alot of people have misunderstood it as sloppy workmanship, when its more "busy" and "purposeful" that we are talking about here.

I look in the little books, and nearly all the cars have regulators, fuel blocks, master cylinders, and the associated wiring ON the firewall and not tucked away like a modern "traditional" car

I think that difference is what joey is looking for. @NealinCA and @cactus1 hit it spot on with a purposeful, easy to work on, vintage firewalls from back in the day.

This is the look I went for with my car, its not as nice as some, but very easy to work on.



Drivers side has the throttle linkage, oil pressure line and water temp wire, master cylinder, and under that, a small VW horn.



Passenger side has the coil wire pass through (its under my dash to stay dry), heater hoses, fuel block/ fuel pressure gauge, fuel pressure regulator, and a pass through for the body harness.

There's alot of stuff, mostly out of necessity, cause a T roadster doesn't have much room.

but when I look at old photos, most of the old hot rods look the same. busy, but tidy.

The only other thing that shows here is personality, I think the wiring and plumbing of a car shows the personality of the owner quite well.

If you are a very organized and clean person, you will probably not have wires strung everywhere.

If you've seen my shop, you understand why my firewall looks like it does.


.

 

How's this for busy and purposeful...

 

“To build a truly traditional hot rod, I should be more abstract in my wiring. At this stage of the build, I don’t know if I have that in me. I still have a lot of research to do.”

“So, to get things rolling, I’ll ask you this: how did you set up your firewall back in the 1950s/’60s? How about today? And if you have any pictures, please post them up!”



Hello,

Wow, I constantly think of the 1940 Willys Coupe that my brother had planned out and that we learned together as we went along. But, he had his own particular way to do things. The design and rules allowed street legal builds to move the motor back 10 percent. We cut out the original firewall, since we were going after the allowable setback for class racing.

After the new steel wall was put up, it made the interior a little smaller. But, the motor compartment with the fenders off was large enough to easily put in an SBC motor. The generator was as low as could be and out of the way of the blower drive. The voltage regulator was placed on the left side low between the Joe Hunt Magneto and the short hood latch area.

All necessary wire went through the rubber grommet on the voltage regulator side. Now, one can admire the clean flat surface of a new metal one piece that was sprayed a red primer paint to match the whole car.
Everything fit as if the motor was a stock set up and all coupes of this style had SBC motors.

Jnaki

It was a clean appearing firewall. But, the one mistake was where we put the gas line from the firewall outlet. All of the hoses ran back to the gas line block. Then, the line ran inside of the firewall. The location was directly under the dash and over the hump. The line then ran across the firewall to another “L” fitting and then a line to the Moon Gas Tank.
Similar photo from a Corvette cockpit installation.
The mistake should have had the gas line in the engine compartment running across and down to a lower fitting past the motor and off to the left side. Then, going through the firewall inside across the floor to the Moon Tank fitting. Not running on the inside and going across the wall to the Moon Tank.
For us, at the time, it was a nice neat installation as if it was stock and the way all Moon tanks installations were put into the car interiors.

Note:
If we had put the gas line on the firewall motor compartment side, then when the clutch exploded, after many months later, there would have been no gas line to cut and resulting fire. My brother could have stopped our 671 powered SBC Willy Coupe on the dragstrip with a giant hole in the floor, but not resulting fire from the cut gas line.

Perhaps a stray piece of the clutch, bellhousing or scattershield could have flown into the Moon Gas Tank.
At least, the gas line would not have been cut, spraying gas all over the interior like it did. But, mistakes were made… there was a huge hole where the hump was and the clutch was no where to be found, also, the approved scattershield was also nowhere to be found.

That damage we could have easily fixed. Including a new 360 degree one piece bell housing scattershield just on the market after our accident. And a new floorboard. YRMV

(Just after our clutch explosion and resulting fire, the 1320 rules were changed to require all Moon Tanks to be removed from the interior and placed in back trunk area or in front of the motor. The tank was not to be placed outside of the grille, as it was a street legal car and no one wanted a gas tank to be the first thing damaged in an accident collision)

 

My 30 roadster, no wiring yet and early 60's show car from NZ.

 

Firewall on my '31 roadster. I know the cable throttle isn't traditional, but it worked well so I left it...

 

I love the idea of having engine temp and earl pressure on the firewall...

What a fine line to walk... Things I've considered for my firewall: Chevy brake/clutch MC, Voltage regulator, coil, plain fuel block, fuel block manifold with one cushman sediment filter per carb, gauges, horns, wolf whistle, Bermuda bell- could you imagine all or most at one time? ha!

Great thread btw!

 

I liked the OEM pressings however not all the OEM holes, I welded up every unnecessary hole for a smooth finish. Clean and uncluttered with bare essentials; ID tags, fuel pressure regulator.

 

Do not know in other states / places
Is early 80 I was told by quite a few just to use a wheelbarrow ,
That's what was done switching from
The F-H to modern other New more power full V-8s of time ,
I am thinking start early 50s

 

What type of Master cylinder is that. Firewall looks great and it stands out because its a different color. I've seen others use different colors before, but I think your choice really looks great.

 

That master is a 1962 Chevy truck, brake on one side, clutch on the other, and is paired with a slave cylinder. In order to use this set-up, the internals must be switched from side to side. Thanks for the compliment, it definitely makes a difference!

 

Yes, you can go from steel 90 to flex line, is that what you mean? I did this off my fuel tank in the roadster, they are -6AN 90's.

 

On my roadster I kept the firewall hole free other than the throttle and chole cable. Barely visible in the lower right hand corner you can make out a ring that I fabbed and welded to the firewall (it is tapped and threaded to receive the steering column base plate without seeing hardware. You can also see another plate that is welded alongside, that the gas pedal bolts to. Again, no hardware in the engine bay and one man R&R. .

I didn't even want heater hoses in there. I run an electric heater that works better than I thought it would.

 

Good to see an Old Fillister Head Slotted Screw! Socket Hex Head, Not So Much!

 

I do everything as neatly as I can. It's how I, and my car are wired.
Photo credit: Travis Scanlin

 

Firewall on my 51. Was cruising a 2 pot flatty with headers back in the 60s.
All it had for bling was a chrome regulator.

 

I like a firewall to look like it is part of the original car, not just a fabricated panel. I had to cut my firewall to get the motor to fit, so I used something as a recess that could have been laying around the farm in the 50's (end off a Fordson tractor fuel tank). When putting the car together, I tried to get in the mindset of a WW2 veteran that had just got home and wanted to build a hotrod. he would have some skills and technical know-how, but not necessarily a ton of spare cash.
So wiring was braid and applied with some care. I welded up a few unnecessary holes in the firewall and tried to make it neat and in-period. In my opinion there is a fairly big difference between a half-assed rush job and a budget build done in period. And like someone mentioned earlier in the thread, some people just keep bolting shit to their car that is totally unecessary and doesn't add anything to the asthetics.
Here's my effort fwiw.......

 

Looks great. Very tidy! What is the original application for that cover out of which the wires are routed? Are the brass bits just fancy nuts to hold it together?

 

Brass thumb screws is my guess

 

It’s a Model A Junction box…..
https://www.millworkshotrod.com/products/a-ddition-a-438-x5

 

No Phillips heads on my build, and all other fasteners were all from the same manufacturer

 

Ah. Very cool. Thanks!

 

Great job! I share your vision on what I'm trying to doing with my '47.

 

Thank You for the information. Looks great........

I agree with you. I think having some raised bead accentuates a firewall and makes it look more natural. Then the addition of a few components further breaks up the "big slab" behind the engine. Just the addition of one or a few things tends to make it more interesting. I do think too many things added to a firewall to get all the cute nostalgic parts on display can detract from the engines look. It's a balancing act to put just enough stuff in place to complement the firewall without over populating it with contrived nostalgic excess.

I think @NealinCA did an excellent job here with just enough firewall modification to look kind of believable as something from the fifties. The wiring is a nice touch along with believable beads and the horns being chrome kind of highlights it all. I just think it looks clean but also kind of original.....and it doesn't compete with the engine for attention, it just highlights it. (IMHO)

 

Not the best firewall views. But I like a clean firewall, only some cloth wiring, stock throttle linkage, choke cable, solenoid down low and fuel block. Every thing else comes through the kick panel and up under the cowl behind the dash.

 

Very nice!