2b Firewall

[Guest Phil Slater]

Hi Folks

 

I made up and fitted the front tunnel top today, i.e. forward of the dash and over the gearbox. As have others, I decided to make it so it fits inside the front tunnel sides rather than over. This way I can fix with nuts and bolts, (I trust them more than self tappers) and take it off if necessary in the future. It all went pretty well, no problems, so feeling confident and positive I then moved onto trying to fit the fire wall panels.

 

My understanding is that a door seal from the donor goes around the top edge of the firewall and creates a seal with the bonnet. The problem I have is that if the main firewall panel sits across the tunnel sides it lines up reasonable well with the top edge of the panel that fixes to the servo/pedal mounting plate. Unfortunately the cut out for nearside chassis tube is then .5 to .75 of an inch to high. On the other hand if the main firewall sits in the, now recessed, tunnel top the cut out is near perfect on the chassis tube - but then it doesn't line up with the top edge of the smaller panel!!

 

So, to trim or not to trim that, is the question, and if so, whether it is nobler to trim the sevo firewall or the chassis cut out...... oops, sorry fellers I think I need a beer!!

 

Has anyone had a similar discrepancy? If so how did you resolve it?

 

Is there a "standard" height that can be measured from some point on the chassis tubes for the firewall to ensure it will seal OK with the bonnet? Or am I going to have make up my bonnet and nose cone to test fit it?

 

Any thoughts/comments/pointers will be most gratefully received.

 

TIA

 

Phil Slater

[Les Welsher]

  My understanding is that a door seal from the donor goes around the top edge of the firewall and creates a seal with the bonnet.

 

That's the idea, but on mine there was at least a 1" gap between the seal and the bonnet.

So I put a 15mm fold on the bottom of my main firewall panel so I could screw it to my tunnel top over the gearbox, the cutout on the near side panel then lined up with the chassis tube. I then trimmed the one for the servo so it lined up with the rest of the firewall.

Once I fitted the bonnet, I measured the gap between the top of the firewall and the bonnet and made up a new piece of firewall to fill the gap.

 

firewall

 

Les

[Guest Phil Slater]

Les,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

I made a start this afternoon and fixed the servo plate with firewall panel and then moved to the other side of the car and roughly fitted the battery tray - not very big!!??!! The next jog will be to fit the main firewall. I think I'll follow your lead, put a fold in the bottom and bolt to the tunnel top. As I 've fitted the tunnel top so it can be removed, I'm considering Rivnuts to fix the firewall to it.

 

By the way, I think you may have included a link to a photo of your firewall or something - unfortunately I'm getting a message from Yahoo saying the page is not available. It would have been good to see how you dealt with it.

 

Thanks Again

 

Phil

[Les Welsher]

Phil,

I put a link to a photo of my firewall and it worked ok when I did it, but when I tried it just now I got the same as you. Apparently Yahoo doesn't allow files on my site to be linked to message boards.

Go to the link to my site on the bottom of this message then go to diary eight then nine (have to update it) and there is a link at the top of the page for the firewall, or go to pictures, there are two pics of the firewall near the bottom of the page.

 

Les