My 1955 Chevy 3100 build

[55 Chevy Dave]

I believe I have enough clearance for the engine with the factory firewall now.

I am replacing it primarily for aesthetics. I had planned on filling all of the holes in the firewall and also wanted to remove the pinch weld seams between the firewall and cab and smooth out everything. There is also some rust at the floor/firewall on the passenger side that I need to cut out and replace.

It seemed like the easiest way to accomplish all of this was to remove the existing firewall and install a new firewall. $400.00 seems a bit too expensive for an aftermarket smooth firewall, so I decided to make my own.

The firewall in my 71 Camaro still bothers me to this day. I know if I don't fix the firewall on my truck, it will always bother me as well. When the truck is completed, I believe it will be time well spent.

[ptc]

Lookin good Dave... I may still go the wheelbarrow route, but I am trying to get my motor moved forward enough to keep my firewall intact. Im anxious to see how yours looks now.... may just add to my LIST of things to do! lol

[Kim57]

Originally Posted by 55 Chevy Dave

I believe I have enough clearance for the engine with the factory firewall now.

I am replacing it primarily for aesthetics. I had planned on filling all of the holes in the firewall and also wanted to remove the pinch weld seams between the firewall and cab and smooth out everything. There is also some rust at the floor/firewall on the passenger side that I need to cut out and replace.

It seemed like the easiest way to accomplish all of this was to remove the existing firewall and install a new firewall. $400.00 seems a bit too expensive for an aftermarket smooth firewall, so I decided to make my own.

The firewall in my 71 Camaro still bothers me to this day. I know if I don't fix the firewall on my truck, it will always bother me as well. When the truck is completed, I believe it will be time well spent.

I have to agree with you on the price of aftermarket replacement panels.
I replaced my fire wall and floor with a piece like you're doing for a fraction of what replacement panels cost.
Good luck on it.
Kim

[Scott2]

Originally Posted by 55 Chevy Dave

Thank you Kim, Jim, Advanced Design and PTC for the positive feedback!

PTC, I thought about putting slight bends in the conduits and letting them die into the boxing plates without the 90 degree elbows, but I didn't want to be left with big long holes to seal up against the elements.

I also thought about putting pull ropes through the conduits as I installed them, but didn't think those would make it through the process and be usable after I got the chassis back from powder coating.

My plan (which may or may not work) to get the wiring through the 90 degree elbows is to push a piece of welding wire from one end of each conduit out to the other end and then tie the wires to the end of the welding wire and pull it back through. Combined with plenty of lube at each 90 and I believe it will work. Guess we will all find out in a later post!

Just found the build and read it thru. Great work! You did a ton of work on the chassis and I can only imagine the hours you put in but it really looks awesome!.

Also - a tip on pulling wire thru the conduit (neat idea on the conduit BTW) - I ride road bicycles and have to run new cables through closed up carbon fiber frames. Start with a pice of sewing thread long enough to go thru the conduit, stuff some in one end (be sure to tie the thread off!) and put your shop vac on the other end. It will pull the thread thru in a heartbeat. Then tie the thread to a string and then the string to a rope... and you're good to go.

I'll tag along and see where you go from here. Great truck!

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by Scott2

Also - a tip on pulling wire thru the conduit (neat idea on the conduit BTW) - I ride road bicycles and have to run new cables through closed up carbon fiber frames. Start with a pice of sewing thread long enough to go thru the conduit, stuff some in one end (be sure to tie the thread off!) and put your shop vac on the other end. It will pull the thread thru in a heartbeat. Then tie the thread to a string and then the string to a rope... and you're good to go.

Great ideal, thanks...Jim

[Nut Case]

55 I've pulled electrical like Scott2 recommended, just take a rag put some motor oil on the rag and coat the wires in a light coating of oil it will reduce the resistance to been pulled thru a conduit. Keep up the post. Nut Case

[55 Chevy Dave]

First, thank you again for the advice on pulling the wire through the conduit in the frame.

Second, I know it has been a while since my last post. As usual, the latest project did not go as planned and took quite a bit longer than I had hoped. The firewall project was a difficult one! Not to mention I had some other obligations that kept me from spending every weekend in the garage. With it being colder in Chicago now, it is difficult to get work in there during the week after work.

I started this project by pulling the engine and transmission out. I was getting tired of separating the engine and trans for storage when it was not in the truck, so I added onto a cart I had laying around the garage. It worked out well! The engine and trans roll around the garage nicely now.

I then pulled the cab off of the frame and put it onto it's homemade cart.

I flipped over the frame and welded the underside of the engine and trans mounts now that I know they are in the right place.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I then proceeded to cut the pinch weld all the way around the firewall. I tried to keep as much material attached to the cab as I could. I hammered the leftover metal from the pinch weld flat so that I would have something to weld the new panel to. This worked out well as it would have been so much more difficult to butt weld the new panel to the cab.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I then made a cardboard template to get the right size for the new firewall.

When cutting out the old firewall, I cut around the factory transmission cover in an attempt to save it. I was hopeful that I would not need to fabricate that also. I had some rust holes in the floor on the passenger side where it met the firewall, so I decided to cut out the floor on both sides and replace that at the same time. The metal was solid at the cab braces, so I didn't need to cut any more of the floor out than what you see in the third picture.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I then cut the top section of the firewall out of 16-gauge sheet metal from my cardboard template. After fitting the piece, trimming it down a bit, fitting it again and trimming it down a bit again, I screwed it into place and welded it in. In the second picture, you can see how much the flattened pinch weld metal helped in the process.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I then cut out the pieces for the floor. I scored the metal with a grinder and cutoff wheel and bent the metal up on the line where the metal was scored. This worked out really well as the bend ended up perfectly straight. I guess this is the next best way to bend 16-gauge sheet metal when you don't have right tools for the job!

I welded the pieces in on the passenger's side and on the driver's side.

The four square holes in the floor on each side are from the ribs in the factory floor. I cut the floor about an inch in front of the cab braces so that I had some material left to attach my panel clamps. The ribs go all the way back to the cab braces so I had to cut those areas all the way back to the braces. I'll fill these in later.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I checked the first piece of the new firewall to make sure it was straight. It was bowing out a bit in the center. The come-along, clamps and metal shelf standards did the trick to flatten out the metal so that I could weld in the metal from the top piece to the two bottom pieces.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I cut out the "intermediate" pieces of the firewall and welded them into place.

I left these pieces 22 inches apart as I knew this was how wide I wanted the indented area of the firewall to be.

After grinding all of the welds, I was fairly happy with how straight everything came out. It shouldn't take too much body filler to get them perfectly straight.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I cut the rounded portion of the wheelbarrow rib off so that it would smoothly transition into the firewall.

The $10.00 wheelbarrow bucket that I bought was 26" wide, 4" wider than the 22" opening that I needed. I cut the wheelbarrow down the middle, removed a 4" strip and welded it back together.

I then welded it to the top section of the firewall. It looks pretty odd with a wheelbarrow welded onto the firewall!

[55 Chevy Dave]

I was a bit nervous about cutting too much of the wheelbarrow away, so I took my time and removed a little bit at a time and then stopped and looked at it for a bit before cutting more off.

[55 Chevy Dave]

I made some more cardboard templates to fill in the last of the holes and welded them in place. Of course, I ran out of welding gas before I could finish weld everything into place, so the final welding and grinding will have to wait until next weekend. I will also cut out the holes in the wheelbarrow bucket and fill those in next weekend.

I am very happy with the final product and think it was well worth the time and effort. Thanks again to the members of this forum commenting on my thread and providing the wheelbarrow idea (specifically Kim57 in this case). I never would have came up with that one on my own!

[Advanced Design]

Nice work Dave! Well done and well explained. Looks really good.

[Kim57]

Looking real good.
Kim

[RockinKees]

Great work Dave!
Nice tutorial!

[ptc]

Nice job Dave.... came out real nice. That small block will sure have some room now!!!

[II_Slow]

I have heard of people using them (wheelbarrow) but never thought one would turn out that nice. I suspect that most did not. You, sir, pulled it off nicely. Great job!

[ptc]

Hey Dave those two holes in the top of the wheel barrow ... you can put some 'back-lighting' into them so you see your motor at night....

[55 Chevy Dave]

That is a pretty cool idea PTC. I may just do that!

Thanks again,
Dave

[55 Chevy Dave]

A friend stopped by the garage to make sure I was had at work, so I asked him to help me tip the cab on it's back side so I could get the some of the underside welding done.

This is the first time I have gotten a good look at the cab underside. With the exception of the holes in the cab braces, I am pretty happy with everything I see down here!

[55 Chevy Dave]

I previously ordered a set of Patriot exhaust headers and a polished stainless steel Flaming River steering column from Summit Racing.

After a long search on this forum and hunting up and down on the internet, this is the only set of long tube headers I could find for my application.

The steering column came with a dent in it, but Summit promptly sent out a replacement at no charge. UPS wanted me to take some pictures and e-mail them, but to date, they have not indicated that they want the damaged column, so I may end up with a spare!

I have always had great success with Summit and would highly recommend them. Whenever I have a choice, I always order from Summit. And no, I don't work for them!