Ok, lots of little areas that have been getting worked on.
First the engine came back out. It’s been funny, lots of people have come in the shop and been confused why I took the motor out when I was so close to being done. It was only in there for test fitting and to mocking up all the other bits that needed to be made around it. Now that I know where the engine sits, need to get it out of the way to finish the engine bay up.
First up, the firewall. The fuel pump on the driver’s side rear of the engine interferes with the firewall. According to V8R you can just do a little massaging with a mallet here and things will clear. I took a less gentle approach and went to town with the mallet, knowing I would repair this area later once I knew how much space the motor needed:
With engine out of the way, cut this section out. You can see the modified gas pedal bracket through the hole there:
New plate with better clearance in place. The hole is for the brake bias adjustment cable to pass-through:
Finished up:
That was the major part to do, but there were also a couple other spots that needed a bit of extra room.
On the driver’s side, a small notch in just the lip of the engine bay shelf where it gets close to the fitting on the top of the power steering pump. Welded the edges of the sheets together and primered:
On the passenger side, the alternator gets very cozy with the bottom corner of the frame rail. Took a small section out there:
Did the same treatment as above on the corners of the lower frame at the point where the side exhaust tubes get closest, just to be sure there’s enough space with engine movement:
Moving over to the fenders I did some stitch welding in the front wheel wells. Then painted the wheel wells and the side sills where the side exhaust will live, and finally applied heat reflective material to the lower sides to keep the heat out of the interior:
