fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

alright guys, since i'm waiting for the green light to buy my gen III motor/trans i have decided to start on the next portion of my build. FIRE WALL & CAB! i have never done anything like this and i need a bit of help here. i have started taking it apart and i need to know what is the best way to clean things up. i want to move all the wires coming out of the fire wall if possible and have a mostly smooth clean look. here's some pics of what im dealing with.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4901.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4906.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4907.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4905.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4903.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4902.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4920.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/IMG_4915.jpg

i want to know what steps to take and what you all are doing with all this stuff. i'm keeping the a/c & fan box, brake booster & mc, and wiper motor. i know i need to clean all the black stuff off and sand it down. will i need to stitch weld the seams and fill all the holes... just tell me what your plan of attack would be. i want to do this right and i want that ls motor to look clean sitting in there. THANKS BIG TIME! Dennis

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...rmarch0608.jpg

peice of .063" alum. sheet cut and ciliconed in place with set screws around it. my original plans were to remove everything and skin it with 20ga. Ran the wires either behind the fire wall or underneath around the trans tunnel

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...k/DSC00030.jpg

painted it black shortly after... and just cleaned up the drivers side

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

are going to keep the factory air and factory style wiring,

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

I'm curious to see other's opinions on this topic as well.

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

There are different levels depending on what you want from the end of your project. I have seen completely smoothed with heater-AC box removed to cleaned up stock. Mine I plan to use the heat and AC so I will go for a cleaned up stock look I plan to clean all the black goop off and clean the HVAC box and shoot it with a low gloss clear so it will have a satin sheen. As far as the wiring I'll hide what I can and loom the rest. The wall it self I will sand and repaint to give it a fresh clean look. I'm not looking to win the Oakland roadster show I'd just like a clean neat cruiser. Good luck with yours! It will be nice to see your progress. My 85 did not have factory air so I copied some of your pictures for my reference files. I will have to open up the rectangular hole for the AC. I do have a question if I can? Is that the radio antenna wire running across the top of the fan motor on the heater box?

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

Bob, that looks like the wiring to power the fan. The antenna is in the windshield.

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

Well that's what I thought but I haven't seen that setup on my fan motor. It looks like they may have an in line capacitor to take away the motor whine from the radio. Anyone have a clarification?

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

I think some did, some didn't. There are a lot of random things on these trucks like that.

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

you can see the antenna in the windshield on the 1st pic

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

i'm keeping the a/c & fan box, brake booster & mc, and wiper motor.

thanks for the input so far guys. keep'em coming.

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/Zi6_9859.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/Zi6_9860.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/Zi6_9862.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/Zi6_9861.jpg

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

thanks Aaron and moostifer for the pics. i need to see how and where to route the wires. did you just extend the factory wires? and run them under that lip at the bottom of the wall with that 2 prong thing that is bolted up top? also will welding that seam and grinding it down make it smooth? i dont want to put a sheet of metal up to hide everything.

i dont plan on winning the riddler or anything but i want it clean as possible so when the hood comes up you can tell there was alot of work and thought put into it...

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

on my truck I have a universal wiring harness and I routed all the wires that leave the inside of the truck through the floor behind the lip also the speedo cable was done the same way

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

You have already seen my 'wall...so I won't bore you with pics.

My biggest advice for you...buy a 73-87 Painless wiring kit. Not only is everything new and easy to install, the wires are clearly labeled, LONG, and will allow you to run the wires anywhere you want. One of the best investments in my '73 body off resto!

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

I just got finished cleaning up my 85's firewall. As far as wiring, I ran it up under the lip and am making a cover for the harness like bigblock73 did. If I had it to do over again I would definately have gotten the painless kit.

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/w.../454After1.jpg

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

NICE engine Blue Gas!!!

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

Thanks man. Every time I get on your site I find something I want to do or wish I would have done to my truck. Keep up the excellent work and thanks for having the site.

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

What color is your truck going to be? That has a big impact on what color you paint the components that are going to stay on your firewall. Since mine is black, I chose stain black to clean things up but make them blend. Anything bright, or light will draw your attention, anything dark will blend in.


We made panels to go against the inner fenders. This covered all the holes and gave a place to hide the wiring. Hide it or loom and tuck it low where you can.

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

Jeff, awesome tip and thank you... i never even thought of that. does the kit come with everything from power windows to underhood wiring?

that is very nice and clean. thank you for the input. i am going to get the painless kit now!

thanks Ken. its going to be metallic red jewel. i'll probably do everything black except the wall and inner fenders. thanks for posting the pics. it really helps me get an idea of how to go about this...

alot of awesome feedback! thanks!!:metal:

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

No problem man. The Painless kit has 95% of everything you need. You need to re-use your bulb sockets, and I believe some of your original A/C wiring..but everything else is there. Wiring my truck was a lot of fun, because I could run/hide the wires wherever I wanted, without having to splice a single wire because it needed to be longer. IN fact, I had quite a bit left over in areas, and clipped the excess and saved it in case I ever needed to make repairs or add on.

Order the kit from Chris (CaptKaos), he has hard to beat prices.

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

i was just searching his site and could not find it. i did however find it at summit for $575. do you have a link to get in touch w/ Captkaos? and i wonder if this is going to effect the ls wiring at all? i know i need the harness out of an '87 for the sending units... just thinking out loud not sure if the kit will have it?

so the plan is finish stripping her down on the cab inside also and weld up the holes. i'm also wondering about the small vaccum tube that comes out of the firewall like on Kens, if i should fill that hole and reroute the line...

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

heres a look at mine

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

hope you guys dont mind. i was digging around old threads looking for more firewall pics and found my old thread. i'll bring it up with a couple current pics:D any more pics guys?! post them up!!

Re: fire wall... help, advice, and suggestions needed. (lots of pics)
 

This is one I did
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...0-IMG00527.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...9-IMG00528.jpg