Fixing the firewall

The firewall I bought to replace the original firewall (which was cactus and long gone to the tip) was in overall good condition, but needed the footwells replaced.

I bought a pair of new footwells from Land Vehicle Spares, and set about getting them installed.

I got the old ones out without too much difficulty, about an hour for each side. It was made easier when I bought a spot weld drill bit, which did a good job of getting rid of the spot welds.

After drilling out the spot welds, I had to take a couple of the long welds out with an angle grinder, and used a cold chisel on anything that was left.

Even after freeing everything up I still had to cut the footwells in half with the angle grinder to get them out. You can see the order in which things were put together in the factory, and the footwells were put in halfway through the firewall build, so they don’t just slide in and out. Anyway, I got them out in the end.

Unfortunately I never took any pictures of removing the footwells, so that effort is lost to posterity.

Once I got the footwells out I hauled the firewall and new footwells down to Steve at Ultimate Strippers. He blasted the firewall, then welded the footwells in. I took the chassis down as well, to make sure the firewall fitted on the chassis after the welding was done.

When I got it back, I gave it a coat (several coats actually) of cold gal, then a coat of etch primer. The renovated firewall is now safely stored away, ready to be painted.

Some photos:

Steve, who owns and runs the shop, on the right, and Justin who does most of the blasting on the left.

Justin loading the chassis and firewall back onto the trailer with the forklift.

On the trailer, ready to go home.

Doing a bit of linishing on the welds.

Finished and ready for painting.