With the engine out of the car, I'm making plans to re-detail the engine compartment and one of my goals is to really make my ugly firewall shine. How do you guys go about cleaning up the surface of the firewall, ie. getting rid of all the holes and small imperfections so that the entire surface is flat, clean and smooth. Thanks in advance.

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8-71 502 Rat Infested 1970 Malibu - Gold Member #39
Keep America Beautiful - Drive A Brute Force Chevelle!
http://bruteforcechevelle.freeservers.com/

what i did was sand blast the entire thing then small holes can be welded shut with a mig welder grinded and then some body filler larger holes greater than 3/8 to 1/2 inch usually have to be patched if you are or know a good welder you can use a copper or aluminum block to put on the other side of the hole then slowly close any whole it without a patch it takes alot of patience after the wholes are closed grinded and smoothed i put por-15 then there chasis black over it and it looked awesome

Wes, your car looks great! I'm interested in speaking with you more about your project. I bought a "grocery getter" recently and am in the process of a complete makeover to a real muscle car. I live in Katy (west Houton) and thought you might be able to provide me with some valuable info regarding my project. E-mail me if I can "pick your brain"....Thanks
John

Wes,

You can cover the firewall with a sheet of .032" aluminum with a minimum of work. Just make a cardboard template of the area to be covered, then trace that onto the aluminum and cut it out and attach it to the original firewall. I used Dzus fasteners to attach mine, but you can glue it on or rivet it. There are a few other details I can help you with if you want to do it.

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It's a BIGGER block!

Hey thanks John...send me an email anytime at wesnlinda@hotmail.com and we can chat about your plans. So, from a grocery getter to a muscle car? You've got ALOT of options to play with.

Wayne, I think I'm going to just use body filler for the small holes and imperfections and spray the whole deal semi-gloss black again. I guess what I'm really trying to do is get rid of the holes in the firewall. If I had your sheet metal experience and tools then I'd tackle what you've suggested. Stinks that you live so far away bro.

BTW, I spoke with Dave Gumm today and all is well with him. He may be coming out to our place this week to pick up some March pulleys I have for his '69.

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8-71 502 Rat Infested 1970 Malibu - Gold Member #39
Keep America Beautiful - Drive A Brute Force Chevelle!
http://bruteforcechevelle.freeservers.com/

Wes, I am in the middle of doing this on my 70 elco, ill tell you, what a lot of work, but should be worth it (haven't sprayed it yet)... I have never done body work before or used any bondo type filler, but its not hard, just time consuming... My compartment is empty and everything is out right now for a motor swap which is good because getting IN the compartment is the only way. I bought an angle grinder and attached a braided wire wheel, took the firewall down to clean metal to get rid of the globs of crap paint that was on it. I am now in the middle of filling and smoothing, each time I use filler I get better and less sanding was needed than my previous more sloppy application of the filler. I pretty much just skim coated the whole flat area of the wall, which filled all the dimples, small drill holes, etc. then sanded it down by hand, skim coated one more time, then blocked it down. Now i can tell it wont be show quality, but it should look pretty damn good, and the semi gloss im using shouldn't be as critical to the small imperfections as a full gloss would. ive now been working on my whole compartment, which i took almost all down to metal and did a lot of work in for the past month (work 40 hours a week otherwise it would be done) I cant wait until all the prep work pays off and its ready to spray, should look great with the new engine, restored booster masterclynder lines and all my new stuff!!!! hope this was some help

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Tom
1966 Super Sport (http://chevelles.com/showroom/myss.jpg) Now striped frame off Project
1967 Malibu (http://chevelles.com/showroom/hot66ss4) Getting there.
1970 Hugger Orange elco (http://members.aol.com/chvellss//newelco.jpg) 350/350 soon to be semi daily driver.
1997 Dodge ram FOR SALE
2002 Silverado LT ext cab (runs 15.2's) daily driver

Team Chevelle member #262

I went the patch/weld/grind/filler route. You can read about it and see some pics if you look at the Body & Electrical page on my website, then scroll down to the update dated January 1, 2000.

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JeffK ACES #01510
Team Chevelle Gold #72
68 350/700R4 Ragtop (http://www.72chevelle.com/jeffk/68ragtop.JPG)
72 496/Richmond 6-Speed
Jeff's Chevelle Page (http://www.72chevelle.com)

Thanks Tom for the feedback on your car. It sounds like yours will turn out really good. It's a lot of work when the firewall has never been tackled before...this I know first hand. I had already cleaned it up the last go around (2 years ago) so this session shouldn't be too harsh in the grease/gunk department.

This morning I finished filling the small holes with body filler and it turned out pretty good. That stuff sets up really fast. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/eek.gif Just need to hit it with some 80 grit paper and it should be good to go. Agreed, semi-gloss helps hide the imperfections and is exactly why I'm using it instead of a full gloss because once done this firewall will be far from show quality. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif Besides all of that, their won't be much firewall to see once the 'mule' is back in it's place.

Nice job Jeff. By the looks of your pics, that's THE way to do it. Want to come down to south Texas for a couple of weeks? http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif




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8-71 502 Rat Infested 1970 Malibu - Gold Member #39
Keep America Beautiful - Drive A Brute Force Chevelle!
http://bruteforcechevelle.freeservers.com/

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by robert defalco:
you can use a copper or aluminum block to put on the other side of the hole then slowly close any whole it without a patch <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Never tried it but wouldn't the high temp melt the copper or aluminum? I'll give it a try on my practice fender.



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OrrieG
64 Malibu HT Survivor (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/OrrieG1.jpg)

no it wont melt the copper use it because it because the weld won't stick to the copper