Full cowl replacement

[matt159]

Okay here are some photos of my cowl and firewall as are for comparison and the inside pillars as they have rusted and been treated previously, but as there is clearly structural metal missing im considering using the pillars on the firewall cut.

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And here is the firewall im replacing it with.

IMG_1429 (800x600).jpgIMG_1431 (800x600).jpgIMG_1433 (600x800).jpgIMG_1436 (600x800).jpg

theres a few small spots the need attention on the new cowl but still a good improvement.

IMG_1430 (600x800).jpgIMG_1435 (800x600).jpg

any advice on where to cut?

[HK1837]

Have a look at the firewall to floor join and maybe join along there and a stagger join through the pillars. That way you replace the whole cowl top and bottom plus the hinge pillars at the same time. As long as it isn't a Pagewood body or a Pagewood firewall going in will be fine.

[matt159]

Thanks Byron,
Should I separate the sheets along the seam or cut just below out of sight? What do you mean by a stagger join? Overlap part of the pillar sheets? Is there Any way to tell if it is a pagewood? What is the problem with pagewood?

Thanks

[HK1837]

Pagewood bodies have an assembly plant tracking number on the firewall. It belongs to the tags.

You'd cut the floor off the donor a few mm below the seam and grind off the remainder to leave a clean top half of the join attached to the firewall, then do the same on the car but above the join, and then drill the spot welds out of your car's floor. When you put the donor firewall in you weld through the holes in the floor half of the joint but the top (firewall half) remains as original.

Yes for the pillars. That is how I've seen heaps done, using the stainless windscreen moulding holes as a reference point on both original and donor cut the car's "upper" half of the 2 piece pillar up at a fixed distance down from the uppermost hole. And cut its "lower" half a fixed distance up from the lower hole, then unpick the spot welds in between the cuts. This will leave you with the lower half of the pillar protruding away from the upper half like if you are sticking your lower lip out. Repeat on the donor but the opposite way about. When you sit the firewall on the pillars will overlap, whack a tek screw on each side through a spotweld hole and align it all up using stripped doors to get the gaps right before welding at the 2 x joins and plug fill the spotwelds. There is no exposed steel on finished & painted surfaces except for the small area across the 1 x lower half of the pillar join where the door closes, the rest is covered by the windscreen, pillar mould, pinch weld or stainless screen surround.

Before you attempt the above though try and find an old rusty wreck and cut its pillar out and cut through in a few spots, you'll see there is a re-inforcement in it that has big spotwelds to join it to the 2 x halves of the pillar, just make sure you are familiar with how it all fits as it will be obvious how to do it once you get your hands on it. From memory you can leave this re-inforcement attached to one half of the pillar by removing spotwelds up the pillar. Talk to panel beater mates too, they are probably better placed to do proper structural welds or you too.

There is some welding to do between the firewall joint and the door opening or elsewhere depending upon where you do the joint. The ones I've seen they used the whole firewall and front floor and joined them across the sills and at the factory joint between the front and rear floors but you don't have this much in the donor cut.

[ambientgoat]

Hi Mate,

Is this the WB van you've posted up before. Looking at all the work, while it'll be rewarding you've got to weigh up the time, money and effort of doing all that work. Also if you're going to have to sell one day, what that WB is going to be worth?

It's why I've ended up driving around in my white replica for the last few years, it just wasn't worth it to fix up the hx I had. I bought myself a fairly solid example, put some stickers on it and have enjoyed. Meanwhile the hj sandman and the hz ute that sit in the shed needing rust repairs like that just keep on sitting while I have to much fun driving the replica around.

Just a thought.
Goat

[Valencia]

Wow big job your taking on i will never complain on how little rust my van has again
good luck with the work

[matt159]

thanks guys and goat I can completely appreciate the idea, honestly I started this idea as I need to do a front bushes kit, then thought it would be fun to do a quick engine swap from the 202 to a 308, 12 months later im still going- I definitely could/should have started with a more solid starting point, I definitely know what to look for next time I buy something to work on. But all that said, now its completely stripped there's only forward to go with it, im in a fortunate position that ive got the space and enjoy the grind/weld and im looking forward to taking pride in the end product.