Dear Ken,
I don't like your chances of removing the firewall without taking the wings
and probably the body off the car first. The way the factory puts the car
together the firewall goes on first, then the inner wings and the body. The
area around the bottom, where all these bits meet up is filled with lots of
nice waterproof goo, (silicone or Sikaflex in modern cars and something
more primitive in the older ones. There is no doubt a bead of this stuff
aroung the edge where the firewall meets with the wood frame as well. All
of this has to be cut with a knife before removal is possible. All the
wiring harness, steering column and other bits and pieces attached to the
firewall will also have to be removed. As you can see this is starting to
get bigger than Ben Hur.
I would have a close look at the bottom of the firewall from inside the
car. If you don't see any rust bubbles then I would be inclined to leave
well enough alone. Once you start on this path you are more than likely to
find yourself with a completely dismantled car and a long and expensive
rebuild in front of you (the voice of bitter experience).
If you do find rust at the bottom of the firewall it is possible to have
this cut out and repaired without removing the lot (a professional job). I
would guess that if the firewall is really rusty then the inner wings also
need attention and probably the chassis. Could be dry rot in the wood as
well! Do I seem to be going round in cirles?
Cheers
Steve Moore
>While the car is down to fix a simple vibration hunt (found a bad trans
>mount), I decided to clean up the toolbox/battery plate/firewall area. The
>toolbox & battery palte are off & both are a wee bit rusty. The firewall
>looks to be in amazingly good shape, all things considered.
>
>While I'm doing this, I'd like to pull the firewall & clean & paint it
>properly. Can this be done without taking the wings off and without pulling
>the engine? Anything a rookie Mog owner should know, that I'm likely to
>overlook?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Ken Payne
>'63 Plus 4 4 seater
Dr. Stephen Moore
CSIRO Tropical Agriculture
Molecular Animal Genetics Centre
Level 3, Gehrmann Laboratories
University of Queensland
St. Lucia, 4072
Australia
ph 61 7 3377 0476
fax 61 7 3377 0480
email Steve.Moore@tag.csiro.au
|