major fab to my firewall

[85 ranger btm]

before

after/ during

[carvinmark]

Lots of work there, why did you modify the firewall

[85 ranger btm]

I didn't like the look of the firewall being all smashed back with a hammer and I thought that would give the truck a real clean look when its finished. and by modifying the firewall I know i will have plenty of room to not only work on it, but for the future if i ever decide to stick a bigger motor in it. Plus it's also something I haven't seen anyone else attempt.

[carvinmark]

My 88 has all kinds of room and no hammering done to the firewall.

[cgrey8]

The only times I'm ever aware of firewalls needing to be modified like this are for Big Block conversions. Most Windsor conversions don't require this. I only had minor hammering to my firewall to make some clearance for the header, of which later I found would've cleared without all the hammering. And as it turned out, I had to hammer some of the firewall back out where it was because it was preventing the gas pedal from being pushed all the way.

Now where I did the vast majority of my hammering was in the center of the truck where the drive shaft went. I got a good deal on a used 3.5" drive shaft. The problem is the larger diameter wanted to scrub on the underside of a body cross member. I had to go in and flatten out that cross member to make room. It's been fine ever since even with some pretty big loads.

[85 ranger btm]

The firewall was hammered on my truck and i wanted more clearance to work on it plus i don't know what the future holds for my truck but i don't wanna go back and have to modify it again after it's painted. there might be a big block in the future. plus i think it is a cleaner look than being smashed with a hammer. i guess i'm picky about the way i want something done.lol

[cgrey8]

To each his own what he wants to do with his project. I don't think anybody here was criticizing the effort. I think most of us were just trying to understand the reason you'd go to such lengths.

Oh yeah, I do remember using a hammer to fold down the seam in the transmission well and that left some hammer marks here and there. That wasn't on the firewall directly, but I'm sure there are some scar marks from bounces and missed-hits. That seam was folded down to allow more room to the top bolts on the bell housing. Also I'm using L&L mounts which locate the engine much lower than the stock motor mounts in the stock location on the crossmember do. So getting to my top bell's bolts isn't nearly as difficult as other swaps that reuse the stock mounts.

[85 ranger btm]

lol. i understand. i wasn't talking it offensive. to me the fun is building something different and the reward is driving it when it's done. still got get to that second part tho. haha

[MalcolmV8]

So how does that affect the dash going back in? or are you doing something custom there too?

[85 ranger btm]

The firewall still fits like normal. i just had to modify the heater box inside the cab a little bit. i also re-mounted the gas pedal on the boxed out area, but that will also insure that i won't have any trouble pushing the pedal all the way to the floor haha

[MalcolmV8]

Oh ok. For some reason it looked like it stuck into the passenger's compartment a lot more and would interfere with the dash but if not that's one less issue to sort out.

[85 ranger btm]

yeah. i think when it's done it will have a real clean look and will be a lot easier to work on the motor.