thinking of cleaning up the firewall

[CODYCODE]

I really want to clean up my firewall take the heater core all the wiring and everything I have about 3 sheets of stainless steel like to cover the firewall with so its nice and clean so I was wondering if any of you guys have done this before if so do you have any pictures the Ranger is 1983.with a built v8 351w 2WD

 

[Mark_88]

Wow...nice upgrade on the motor...

Stainless steel on the firewall may sound like a good idea but I think it would be a PITA to do...the firewall is not perfectly flat and would require quite a bit of sealing and/or special cutting/welding of the metal to fit...

What I would suggest is to simply clean it up by removing the undercoating and take it down to the paint...clean up any rust if needed and then prime it, paint it, and seal it with something like rubber guard or better. You may want to put some heat resistant sound proof material on the inside under the carpet otherwise since those panels are a bit easier to work with (the flat side, so to speak).

Anyway, there are other materials you can use...Stainless Steel can be a bit tricky to work with unless you have experience with it or know someone really good...but even then it won't be inexpensive...

 

[PanamaExpat]

I was giving thoughts to doing a mill turned aluminum sheeting on mine but decided that as Mark pointed out the firewall isn't flat, there is too much garbage attached to it, and you really don't see enough of it to make a difference I just cleaned mine up and painted it.

Stainless would look sharp though... But as Mark said would be one heck of a job to pull off. Would have been a lot easier to plate the firewall before you put the new motor in.

Your new motor looks sharp man. But I have one question. Won't that turnbuckle on the left side transfer a lot of vibration to the chassis? Back in the day we used to use a piece of chain as a torque snubber in the same location to keep from breaking motor mounts.

 

[94 lngbd]

SS takes more time to cut & drill & you would even need a very high quality set of drill bits & many cut off wheels. Aluminum DP would be much easier to work with for cutting & drilling, but as all have already said should of been done before the m otor went in & not a flat surface.

 

[CODYCODE]

I'm going to pull the engine and do the best that I can thats if i dont sell it first and my engine in chain down