Howdy I’m building a firewall and floor basically from scratch in my ‘54 dodge pickup. I ended up stuffing the rear two cyls of a v8 through the firewall- under the dash. I’d like to make a removable hump for access to the rear header bolts and sparkplugs but I want it to look right in the vintage interior. Anybody do one or have suggestions? Thanks!
Oh for sure I will be making a one of a kind piece I’m thinking more about possibly making a vintage looking setup to hold it down. I don’t want 90’s racecar fasteners or a row of self tappers I didn’t know if anybody could point me in the direction of some kind of latches or buckles that maybe would look right in there. I’m not going crazy period correct like making the seal out of leather or something I’ll probably use hidden foam rubber tape to seal it up but I am looking for a solution for maybe four or six latches or buckles or something I can leave visible that will look cool and fit in with a 50s vibe.
I made one for the 1937 Dodge coupe Dad and I are building, but not nearly wide enough to do spark plugs or header bolts. The last picture is the floor before the tunnel was made. The tunnel is bolted down with twelve 1/4-20 screws with u-nuts. The carpet is glued to the tunnel, but the sides overlap and can be pulled back to expose the fasteners.
small coachbolts painted same colour as firewall equally spaced look industrial to me,bodywasher and locknut on the inside
I'm planning a removable tunnel in my model A tudor. I picked up some aircraft thin u_nuts a couple years ago, plan on using those with button head Allen bolts.
I used a rivet nuts on my model A, on the interior and elsewhere. https://www.mcmaster.com/standard-rivet-nuts
Rivnuts/ Rivet threaded inserts in the floor with corresponding holes in the hump, and button head fasteners would be my suggestion. I bought a Marson set a few years back with the ribbed inserts that supposedly grip the sheet metal better, and its been a great addition and gets used for all sorts of projects.
Here are a few pictures of different fasteners that you can use to bolt the two pieces of sheet metal together. Ill do a separate post replying to your other thread about Firewalls and Floorboards with some ideas for you. When you both the two separate pieces together, you'll need a type of weather stripping between the two flanges. If you wanted to do it on the cheap, you can cut a bicycle inner tube into nice clean strips for your weather stripping.
How about 1/4 turn camlock fasteners? "Better" known as Dzus. They've been around since the 1930's. Can't get much more traditional than that - unless you want to use nuts and bolts.
My 65 Sunbeam Tiger had 5 inch rubber plugs in the 5 inch holes on the trans tunnel to reach the back 2 spark plugs from the interior
Homemade using 18 ga steel and fastened to the floor with 1/4" x 20 weld-nuts, stainless machine screws & finishing washers. More details here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/introducing-my-fuel-coupe-styled-tudor.132127/page-5
My engine on my '49 GMC is also shoved back into the cab and has a custom firewall and trans tunnel Here's a photo of the firewall from the engine bay side (you'll just have to use your imagination and think that motor is a SBC) Engine Baydone by e015475 posted Nov 14, 2018 at 11:00 PM This gives an idea where the bell housing and the rear cylinders are- Dash Polished by e015475 posted Nov 14, 2018 at 11:00 PM The close-outs in the cab is a two-piece sheet metal fabrication - one vertical and one horizontal, with a transition between the two. Both where wheeled to give them some contour and stiffness. A bead roller was used around the edge for additional stiffening. Full by e015475 posted Nov 14, 2018 at 11:00 PM Here's a little more detail of the upper close-0ut. The transition was made to cover the bell housing with minimal intrusion into the cab. Fasteners are rivnuts and 1/4-20 body fasteners (with captive washers) BTW, I hate rivnuts. A few of them always seem to loosen up and have to be swaged back into the hole again. They sometimes come out of the hole with the bolt attached and are a PITA to get unscrewed. Full by e015475 posted Nov 14, 2018 at 11:00 PM To access the Hydroboost and master under the floorboards, cut outs were made. The lip of the holes were reinforced with an "L" section spot welded into the floor pan to keep the floor rigid. The cover itself was stepped with a bead roller to provide stiffness. Handles were formed out of 1/4" rod to roughly simulate the battery box handle in the passenger compartment. The covers are held on with Dzus fasteners. Here's a photo- Full by e015475 posted Nov 14, 2018 at 11:02 PM Having the engine pushed back seemed like such a good idea at the time I was laying out the frame, but it is a total PITA whose effects rippled back to headers, steering, firewall, brake booster and brake/clutch pedals.
My floor boards and part of my transmission tunnel are removable for service needs. I built it that way for my 26 RPU and I used rivnuts and 1/4” button head bolts.
Explain what engine you put two cylinders into the firewall..I have a SBF two cylinders into the firewall and I can access sparkplugs from the outside, housing is 26" wide and still enough room for three pedals..Verticle cover and horizontal cover held on with 10-24 flathead SS socket head with finish washers and flush nut-serts..Pics will enlarge..
I Rivnut the hell out of everything. Having real threads allows a bolt to get properly torqued, and stay that way.
Some nice ideas with the same theme in the end and that is nuts of choice and machine screws the correct length. With out a big squishy seal I don't see those van dog house clips getting it to seal and the back corners of those are held down by bolts
I wouldn't recommend the Dzus fasteners as they are for something that you need to take on-off often such as race car body panels. Don't Dzus fasteners take up about 3/4 to an inch of space on the other side of the panel for the spring holder thingy? In my opinion, captive nuts or Rivnuts is the way to go. Also, for those that search and find this thread in the future, here is the link to your other thread, which is asking a similar question and has a lot of cross-over on the information shared. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...lling-newb-floor-firewall-50s-pickup.1129267/
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