I am mocking up my 32 roadster project and got to the point where I was positioning the engine with the fan mounted and the radiator in position. Quickly learned that the 8ba is a long engine and for the stock style United Pacific firewall to fit, I’d need to find about 3/4” somewhere or modify the firewall. I looked at the options of electric fan, single pulley system for fan and alternator, mounting fan on a generator, or doing the mods to make my 8ba take the shorter 59 block water pumps in order to gain the space needed to have the firewall fit without mods. Lots of thought and a desire to get better at patch panels and welding pushed me to go ahead and modify my firewall (plus I have a lot of the parts for the standard double pulley setup already and did not want to spend more money to go in a slightly different direction). So this is what I had to do to make the firewall fit for an 8ba with a double pulley setup. My fan is about 5/8” away from the radiator. The bump on the passenger side footwell area was hitting the head, so I zipped that off and welded on a flat panel. You can see another square cut out closer to the middle of the firewall - the block was just barely hitting there. So it was also cut and a flat piece was welded in. The intake manifold area was hitting as well as where the 8ba bell housing bolts onto the block. So I cut off the bottom area to clear the bell housing bolts; made some vertical cuts up the firewall a bit wider than the intake manifold; scored the backside of the firewall where I wanted to bend the metal back to clear the block/intake. I made and bent some patches to make a more gentle transition from the stock firewall to the bent-in middle area. Welded and ground down, I think it turned out pretty darn good for my first time doing any panel patches and welding (other than practice welding and a shoe rack I made 6 months ago). Should be a perfect fit now. Here’s a pic of the backside to show my lack of welding and panel-fit experience. I have a two more patches to weld in at the bottom of the bent-in middle section, but that shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll also need to figure out what to do around that threaded oil line fitting in the drivers side rear of the block. I will want to be able to reach that easily when the floor and firewall are installed. Question for the seasoned veterans of sheet metal work….should I dial back my settings and weld in where I scored the firewall for the bend? I probably cut in about half way into the 14 gauge metal and don’t know if that weak spot will split in the future while driving. I’d hate to see a crack in the paint there once she’s all put together and on the road for a bit. Does it need strength welded back in? Or leave as-is?
It is not an original Henry Ford firewall - those are rare and shouldn’t be messed with. Union Pacific make replicas of the original, so cutting and bending these reproduction parts isn’t a big deal.
@Crotty 32 looks like a cool build and nice work any reason the engine was placed in that position? The reason I say this a 8ba will fit into a 32 without any modifications. I know the aftermarket market firewall resembles the original but is it larger as I never had one.
Yes definitely weld any score you created in the new 14 ga. Vibration will cause work hardening and crack through in those areas. The patch work looks great for a rookie. Good job. Those fan blades look fairly short. I hope it’ll provide enough air movement for you.
I am not sure of the exact differences between an original Henry 32 firewall and the UP repop, but for my setup, I had to mod the firewall to fit the 8ba. I’m nearly certain that if I went with a single belt setup on my engine, I wouldn’t need to make any firewall mods. Or if I went with the electric fan, that would have gained me plenty of room.
Thanks for the advice and kind words. The fan in the pic is a cut down truck fan. I have a 47 Ford passenger fan that have the full blades. I’ll switch that over for the final assembly-should be moving enough air for me.
Crotty, feel the need to add this. I have a stock '32 body on the original frame. The firewall is original to the body. My deuce has an 8BA hooked to a '39 box using the original '32 transmission mount. Can the United Pacific firewall be that different from stock? Pictures added to show my fit. I did fabricate a fan hub to tuck the fan in as close as I could. Can never bring myself to use an electric fan. Ron
I've done dozens of 32 chassis with a stock firewall and Flathead. I use an 8BA with truck pumps for my mockup engine. I've never had any complaints about clearance problems to date. I leave about 1/4 of an inch of clearance between the firewall and right head. I suppose what you have for a radiator will make a difference. I have a United Pacific firewall in my new Flathead deuce roadster and it looks identical to the nice original I have. I have a new Brassworks radiator coming, hope it fits?
I see you are running a flex fan too. I looked into that myself to gain some space, but decided to just roll with what parts I had and make the minor firewall mods. An 8ba in a 32 can definitely be done without firewall mods, but in my set up, without making changes to the fan hub, it was hitting in a couple spots.
I hope it fits for you too! My brassworks radiator has the 2 5/8” 3-row core and they tried to sell me on the 4-row….”it’s only another 7/8” and it will cool better!” Sorry….can’t spare that 7/8”
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