firewall options

[Think3205]

has anyone ever tired to weld up all these hole (almost all of them WON'T be used) or do you guys opt to get a whole new firewall and put it in... if you do opt for the new one, where do you get it and how hard it it to put in? do i have any other options?

Thanks,
Ben

[west]

I simply screwed some cover plates on with self tappers,welding them in and using mud would look way better though

[mopowers]

I like the way west did it.  You could always take the plates off later and fill the screw holes if you ever wanted it back to stock.  I seem to like to do things the hard way though.  I've never patched sheet metal before, so I figure the firewall was a good place to learn.

before:



during:



Here's my old man getting down with the flapper wheel.



after:



inside shot of the patches:



Whatever you decide, have fun.  And remember, its under the hood and behind the engine, so you can't really mess up that bad.

goodluck

[QK TIME]

Mine will done like mopowers

[ski]

Here's my old man getting down with the flapper wheel.

No fair mopowers.  Parents aren't allowed to go hands on with a science project.     I'm diggin your build just as much as Tom's.  Nice work.

[Bakaruda]

Carter and some one else posted pics of replacing there's and it looked great.

[west]

looks good mopowers,great work.

[flyboy01]

I would personally just bolt in some block off plates using existing holes, so that you can return to stock if you need to later.

WWFD 

What Would the Factory have Done

[jackie]

i welded up all of the small holes, made covers for the bigger holes and and used  pop-rivets to put them on with. mine is a street car, so i might want to put it all back someday..

[rjsjea]

Here's mine.....removed everything including the pinch weld at the top

[moparsky]

A couple of thoughts; You could reuse the OEM heater box mounting holes for a new mounting bracket to hold a more compact A/C evaporator unit from a third party company. On one Mopar site I ran across a fellow who moved his wiper motor under the dash to clean up the firewall (used a non Mopar motor) but keep the OEM linkage in place.   

[rjsjea]

Dont know if you are referring to me.....but I mounted a wiper motor from a Ford Ranger w/ the original arms under the dash.  I will post a pic if anybody is interested

[NYrr496]

And don't forget that 3 million dollar Hemi Cuda that had a firewall milled from a 3/4" thick hunk of aluminum. Ya know... If ya have a giant friggin' wallet.

[Think3205]

wow, i'd be happy if my firewall came out as nice as any of the ones i've seen. the pics deffinately help!

And don't forget that 3 million dollar Hemi Cuda that had a firewall milled from a 3/4" thick hunk of aluminum. Ya know... If ya have a giant friggin' wallet.

what cuda was that? have any pics of it? 

[rjsjea]

That car was frikkin amazing......a little overkill.   Bob Johnson's G-force Cuda, right??  Best part it was built to drive

[Think3205]

Here's mine.....removed everything including the pinch weld at the top

i love the way you set up your engine bay. looks amazing. how did you do it? want to come over and help me with mine? 

That car was frikkin amazing......a little overkill. Bob Johnson's G-force Cuda, right?? Best part it was built to drive

any pics of the cuda!?!?!? i feel like i'm missin out here...  or maybe even a link to a site that it's on? 

[rjsjea]

Sorry Im at work and cant post a pic.......search "bob johnson g-force cuda" will get u there. The car was in popular hot rodding....there site would have pics

[doug 371]

Here's mine.....removed everything including the pinch weld at the top

looks great!

[Think3205]

i saw the cuda... that is one sweet machine! 16" rotors!?!? them are some BIG brakes!

[Mopartist]

Here's mine.....removed everything including the pinch weld at the top

That is awesome! Got any pics from the other side? (wheelwell side that is) I wanna see the clearances for the AlterKtion

[rjsjea]

Appreciate the comments.....I'll post some pics late tonight, I am at work now

[A13Dart]

has anyone ever tired to weld up all these hole (almost all of them WON'T be used) or do you guys opt to get a whole new firewall and put it in... if you do opt for the new one, where do you get it and how hard it it to put in? do i have any other options?

Thanks,
Ben

My firewall had the extra holes for air conditioning like yours.  I'm going with a regular heater, so I welded in patches.  As you know, air conditioning has a huge hole where the blower motor goes through the firewall.  I filled this in and b569rr Tom made a beautiful template so that I can locate the proper size holes for the standard heater.

[mopowers]

Here's mine.....removed everything including the pinch weld at the top

That is beautiful work there.  What are you doing for brakes?  I don't see any hole for a master cylinder.  Great job there!  I'm sure that took a ton of hours.

[mopowers]

Here's my old man getting down with the flapper wheel.

No fair mopowers.  Parents aren't allowed to go hands on with a science project.     I'm diggin your build just as much as Tom's.  Nice work.

He's a carpenter Sean.  It's hard to keep the tools out of his hands.  You should see the things he can do with wood. 

Also, someone should get Carter to post his pics.  His firewall is out of this world!

[b569rr]

Here's mine.....removed everything including the pinch weld at the top

All great work guys. And after seeing this, I think I'll remove my pinch weld too. That looks ultra clean. Great job.

[moparsky]

Dont know if you are referring to me.....but I mounted a wiper motor from a Ford Ranger w/ the original arms under the dash.  I will post a pic if anybody is interested

Guess that was you I was thinking about, sorry I could not remember where I had viewed the post or whom had performed the custom work. Yes, please post some photos again, others will find it interesting. Which model Ranger wiper motors will work ?  Thanks !   

[rjsjea]

Mopowers.....Im using a Tilton pedal master cylinder w/ remote reservoirs.  Im gonna mount some billet reservoirs on the firewall.  I am still deciding on a 5/6 spd or 727with GV OD/4l60,4l80 trans. So I bought the pedal kit for the manual (clutch pedal and mc) and took the pedal off for now because this week I want the 4l80E. I need to decide soon

[rjsjea]

Moparsky...I cant remember which years the ford Ranger motor came out of, but a buddy had just totalled his and it was sitting in his driveway. So we took it out and decided it would work. Mid 90's ranger

[rjsjea]

Mopartist......pic you requested. I got 275's for the front and my clearance is gonna be with the fender and frame, not the inner fenders, I just gotta make them fit with the ride height I want.  I just got the tires, gonna order wheels around christmas time prob.

Not tryin to take over the thread Think3205, sorry

[rjsjea]

Mounted a Vintage Air GenII box under here as well......everything it attached to the cage bar.  It's way overKill in some places, ie the pedals attach to the column with three bolts and to the cage bar w/ 4 bolts sandwiched, but I can imagine stomping on the pedals at 60mph and it falls apart would be bad.

I cant take all the credit for the under dash stuff, I have some good help w/ this car (buddies and my brother is a painter)