It has been some time since my last update on the 40 project. Between trips, car shows and repair work on both the Dodge and the Ford work on the 40 was put on hold. Glad to say that today I got back at it, even though I still have work to do on the 39, it can wait awhile.
First order of business was to get the rotisserie with the 40 body on it off the four post lift and on to the two post lift in the workshop. With Michelle’s help we put the 40 chassis in the garage bay without the lift, then used my truck to tow the rotisserie over to the workshop where I positioned it between the two posts. I then set the lift arms to contact the body at all four corners. I raised the lift enough to take the weight off of the rotisserie, then unbolted the body and lifted it up to clear the rotisserie. Easy Peasey.
To make the firewall removal easier I purchased a quality 3/8″ rotary broach to remove the spot welds, of which there were a lot. I marked all the ones that I could find with chalk and then started cutting, and cutting, and more cutting. After the welds were cut, I had to separate the old firewall from the body. To make the job easier, I used my plasma cutter to cut away most of the firewall so that I could have both side access to the joint.
It actually came out without a lot of fuss. The only issue was that when Ford assembled the car originally they had set the firewall in place then brazed it to the body in four places, which I had to end up cutting with a cutoff tool.
Once the remaining piece of firewall was removed, I used a grinder with flap disc to clean up the body prior to the initial fit up of the new 5″ recessed firewall. Happy to say that the new firewall fit rather nicely, I have some hammer and dolly work to do on the body to improve the fit. Then I need to clean the new panel with wax & grease remover and then sand blast it prior to installing it. After install I will paint it with epoxy primer like the rest of the body.
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