Firewalls are not very sexy pieces on your average vehicle. They just aren’t. In many cases it is what it is, and it doesn’t really matter because we are paying more attention to the engine in front of it than the ugliness of the firewall. But in other cases you want to fill certain parts of the firewall in order to smooth it out or to provide more room under the hood for activities. On my own project Blazer I filled a few of the firewall holes that were left when I removed the factory air conditioning in order to gain underhood clearance and to install a new Vintage Air heat and air system. But sometimes filling a few holes isn’t enough, or won’t end up being as smooth as a project deserves. In those cases, the best way to go is to build a new firewall and replace the original with it complete.
But what about laying the new one right over the original? This is a no no, although we see it done sometimes, but in this video you’ll see the right way to do it, including tips and tricks to make the process not only nicer and smoother, but also easier. One of these tips is to cut the stock firewall out while leaving extra metal behind so that you can trim and grind to fit. This will keep you from having to figure out how to go back and fill in spots where you have cut too much material away. There are also a bunch of good welding tips in this one, so it is worth sitting down and watching.
