I thought it would be a better idea to start a new thread rather than hijack the previous smoothed firewall thread. This section needs more threads to keep it fresh anyways. This section also tends to stick with one thread too long and get gets side tracked (IMO).

The car is a 1970 Nova and not "Pro Street" because it will only have 12" wide tires out back. Other than the tire size it will have all the goods (cage, blower, skinnies up front, etc..).

This is basically a step by step pictorial of how I like to fabricate and it might be helpful to others planning to try to do some fabrication but, don't know where to start.

Before: (I couldn't stand the "wrinkles") The previous owner also beat the firewall upi pretty good with a hammer for "clearance"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001285.jpg

Here we go:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001290.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001291.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001292.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001293.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001295.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001296.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001301.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001304.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001307.jpg



I'm not quite done yet. I will finish it up in the next day or two and update this post. I decided again a completely smooth firewall, I have had several cars with them and wanted something different. When finished this firewall will have a smooth lip running accross the seam. Ok I have to run tto work more on this later. I hope it halps some of the guys that don't have a bunch of experience. You can do it and it only takes basic hand tools and a welder.

Royce, thanks for sharing the pictures and knowledge:yes:.Keep the updates coming!!!

David F.

Nice work Royce :thumbsup:
Like the pattern details :yes:
Isn't it fun repairing some of the 'caveman' type hammer work you find sometimes :(

I was a bit confused at first - not used to seeing a Chevy in your shop :D
Wait !!! where's the Buick ??? ;)

Good idea to start threads on different aspects of fabrication :beers:

i like the slightly smooth firewall look.mine was rotted under so i replaced the whole thing with a repo.but still had tu fill a bunch of holes.
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr186/lafnrat67/004.jpg
http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr186/lafnrat67/S5030182.jpg

Great color looks amazing keep those pics comming!

WOW, my spelling was terrible. That's what happens when you rush. For some reason I can't edit the first post.

Here's a spelling key, lol "again" was supposed to be against, "halps" = helps, "tto" = to

I have a few screw holes to fill, no biggie and the upper portion of the firewall is in very good shape. I decided not to totally delete the wipers on this car. I will make a bolt on, block off plate for the wiper motor. That way if I want wipers later it will be a simple fix.

John,
I didn't even notice the firewall was "adjusted" until after I pulled the engine out and was cleaning up the firewall.

Nice job Royce, now you can come over to weld my subframe connectors. I wish i could fabricate and weld. You guys make it look easy.

Looks great Royce,

Have you thought about relocating the wiper motor to the firewall / cowl area under the drivers fender? I have seen a few pictures on here about it.

Nice job Royce, now you can come over to weld my subframe connectors. I wish i could fabricate and weld. You guys make it look easy.

Skip,
You can do it! Seriously it's not hard. TIG welding takes some practice/talent but, just about anyone can MIG weld. When I bought my first wire feed welder (long time ago) I had my wife welding in about 15 minutes.

Fabricating just takes an imagination and patience. If you can picture it in your head, you can make it.

Do you have bolt in connectors that you want welded or weld in connectors?

Looka great Royce,

Have you thought about relocating the wiper motor to the firewall / cowl area under the drivers fender? I have seen a few pictures on here about it.

Mike,
I have never heard of this. If you get time, share some info about this. I would be interested in taking a look. I normally don't run wipers (not really needed here) we don't have thunder storms for out of nowhere like other places. You know well in advance if there is a chance of rain and I usually don't drive my toys in the rain.

Skip,
You can do it! Seriously it's not hard. TIG welding takes some practice/talent but, just about anyone can MIG weld. When I bought my first wire feed welder (long time ago) I had my wife welding in about 15 minutes.

Fabricating just takes an imagination and patience. If you can picture it in your head, you can make it.

Do you have bolt in connectors that you want welded or weld in connectors?See there you go making it sound so easy... lol.. Yeah i have the Hotchkis frame connectors, that are both a bolt in and or weld. I think what im gonna do is grind and clean up the metal to be welded and bolt it in, then drive it to my buddy's shop and have him weld it... He wont let me touch his welder.

Mike,
I have never heard of this. If you get time, share some info about this. I would be interested in taking a look. I normally don't run wipers (not really needed here) we don't have thunder storms for out of nowhere like other places. You know well in advance if there is a chance of rain and I usually don't drive my toys in the rain.

Royce,

The one I saw was they cut out the mounting flange for the wiper and moved it to the cowl area under the drivers fender. That way the factory motor could be reused. Then they modified the arm to reach the motor. I looked for the thread but could not find it.

Here is one way of doing it.

http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=3922&highlight=wiper

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=116998&highlight=wiper+motor

See there you go making it sound so easy... lol.. Yeah i have the Hotchkis frame connectors, that are both a bolt in and or weld. I think what im gonna do is grind and clean up the metal to be welded and bolt it in, then drive it to my buddy's shop and have him weld it... He wont let me touch his welder.

I just put in the DSE subframe connectors in the protouring 69 I am doing. They are the weld-in type. It wasn't that hard to do. The only thing I dont like is they stick up about 1-1/2" into the rear floorboard.

See there you go making it sound so easy... lol.. Yeah i have the Hotchkis frame connectors, that are both a bolt in and or weld. I think what im gonna do is grind and clean up the metal to be welded and bolt it in, then drive it to my buddy's shop and have him weld it... He wont let me touch his welder.

Skip, It's always good to have friends like that. I wouldn't have a problem doing it for you but, my little shop is full of Nova right now. Better yet I would let you do it that way, you would be hooked.

Royce,

The one I saw was they cut out the mounting flange for the wiper and moved it to the cowl area under the drivers fender. That way the factory motor could be reused. Then they modified the arm to reach the motor. I looked for the thread but could not find it.

Here is one way of doing it.

http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=3922&highlight=wiper

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=116998&highlight=wiper+motor

Just great Mike! Now I have to add that to my list, I was trying to keep this built simple and short, lol. Thanks for looking that up for me. I like the idea of sticking the GM wiper motor under the fender. I'll look into it, for sure.

Royce... I'm doing it on my Camaro right now, very simple. Let me know if you have any questions

Larry, It seems pretty straight forward. I can't believe I have never seen this or thought of it myself. Did you or are you going to get the extra linkage from a donor car?

Hi Royce,

I'm doing the same to my 68's firewall and been following the thread as it progresses. Took me a while to find it again, Terry's thread on his rebuild is getting big, but if you start looking about post 343 there are some really great pics of the relocation of the wiper motor should help you out.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=121480&page=23

Nice work on your car btw.:thumbsup:

Hi Royce,

I'm doing the same to my 68's firewall and been following the thread as it progresses. Took me a while to find it again, Terry's thread on his rebuild is getting big, but if you start looking about post 343 there are some really great pics of the relocation of the wiper motor should help you out.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=121480&page=23

Nice work on your car btw.:thumbsup:

That was the one I was talking about, post 343.

I'll take a look thanks guys.

Thanks for the compliment Kevin.

No problem. Don't forget to keep photo documenting it while your working on it. Always nice to have a few different views on what worked out for different people and how they overcome the issues involved in doing these outside the box mods.

here is mine.....

before

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc184/Matts01ES/motorout001.jpg

after

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc184/Matts01ES/firewall001.jpg

Matt nice work you got going on there...

Matt nice work you got going on there...


thanks skip

Looks great. I have a question, why not remove the sheetmetal at the master cylinder mount and flush the whole firewall? Any special reason?

I was thinking of doing and sectioning the brake pedal mount. Been wondering if it would have any negative effect.

Any thoughts

Looks great. I have a question, why not remove the sheetmetal at the master cylinder mount and flush the whole firewall? Any special reason?

I was thinking of doing and sectioning the brake pedal mount. Been wondering if it would have any negative effect.

Any thoughtsI personaly like the MC in the stock location for one if move you will need check valves on the brake lines and this will just add to more problems.

Royce ,looks real clean without the rinkles but how does the trans fit did you do a test fit.Just curious what you did...I agree keep this forum running....

Mines goes around it.

I went around the boss for the master cylinder and steering. I would have easily made the whole thing flat but, then it just looks like a sheet a plywood, you need some shape and contour, this is what gives it detail (IMO). My other car has a completely flat firewall with the M/C under the floor. The firewall is stainless steel in that car. I just wanted something different that will make this car different than the others out there.

I personaly like the MC in the stock location for one if move you will need check valves on the brake lines and this will just add to more problems.

Royce ,looks real clean without the rinkles but how does the trans fit did you do a test fit.Just curious what you did...I agree keep this forum running....

If anything there will be more room than before. Shouldn't have any issue with the tranny fitting. I actually made the "notch" deeper than the stock one. It just doesn't look as deep because the stick firewall is tapered, I started with a 1/4" step at the top and tapered back from there.

I'm still up in the air on the wiper motor. I did make a partern so it would only be a matter of a couple hours to complete the modification. For now I filled in the original location and finished up the metal work on the firewall.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001315.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001319.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001320.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v117/camaroman7d/IM001321.jpg

I drilled out the weld nuts that were used for bolting the wiper motor on. I filled those in by backing up the whole with a piece of brass and then welding the hole closed. I built up enough material so I could grind it flush. I basically want it to look like the upper portion of the firewall was never cut or drilled, I want all the bosses there though.

Lookin' good Royce:thumbsup::thumbsup::yes:.

David F.

I personaly like the MC in the stock location for one if move you will need check valves on the brake lines and this will just add to more problems.

Royce ,looks real clean without the rinkles but how does the trans fit did you do a test fit.Just curious what you did...I agree keep this forum running....
I understand the detailing issue, sometimes things look better with some surface height differences.

Another question though, why would you need check valves if you move the master cylinder about 1/2" back?

Firewall is looking good i like the clean satin black look to it:D

The only reason you would need check values is if the master cylinder is lower that the brakes them selves like on mine i moved my master cylinder to my frame and it keeps the fluid from draing back and loosing initial pressure.

Looks good.

Here is a Nova firewall we are doing.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y299/screamindemon1/IMG_4841.jpg

Your right fresh new threads are way more fun to check out!
Love the job weve done so far! whats the specs on the engine going in!
Heres a few pics of my 72 nova Glad to see another Nova on board!
I did a lil smoothing all over on it lol Firewall cowl panel all the marker lights no wipers locks and the triagles under the hood and trunk and last but not least the entire sub frame! :)

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/Mall003.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/BlueCar028.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/BlueCar008.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/BlueCar025.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/FestivalShow2024.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee87/Fleetline48/FestivalShow2026.jpg

Your right fresh new threads are way more fun to check out!
Love the job weve done so far! whats the specs on the engine going in!
Heres a few pics of my 72 nova Glad to see another Nova on board!
I did a lil smoothing all over on it lol Firewall cowl panel all the marker lights no wipers locks and the triagles under the hood and trunk and last but not least the entire sub frame!

I'm not sure who this was directed at but, if it was me. The engine is an 8-71 blown 400ci SBC (Dart block), 230cc Dart Pro 1 Platinums, race port blower manifold, custom ground solid flat tappet cam (from Cam Motion), etc...

The progress on the car right now is, it's cut for mini tubs, I finished narrowing the read end, made sub frame connectors, moved the rear springs in, installed rear spring sliders. I'll be building my 9" center section this weekend and installing the roll cage. After that it will sit for a while. I have to finish my 1961 Buick Skylark before I move forward on the Nova.

If you follow the link in my signature that says "pictures", there are plenty of pictures of both projects.

Sweet sounds like a couple fun projects i just finished a 406 for my pro street aswell god luck on the build,
Dude tell me your keeping the orginal green on the nova looks great ecs with those new bs wheels!

Sweet sounds like a couple fun projects i just finished a 406 for my pro street aswell god luck on the build,
Dude tell me your keeping the orginal green on the nova looks great ecs with those new bs wheels!

I am still up in the air on the color. Sometimes I really like that green and sometimes I can't stand it. I am not really a green fan but, I do want some shade of green on this car. I'll have to decide on color when the time comes, it is always a tough decision for me.