Aside from all of the wheel discussion, I've been working on filling the holes in the firewall. The passenger side holes are welded and now it is just a matter of smoothing it all out. I have started to address the driver's side now, but a bit of housekeeping was in order. First, I needed to remove the wire harness from behind the dash. No sense burning holes in a good harness.
Next, I needed to remove the brake booster to get it out of the way. In fact, the plan is to loose the current booster which is for a Mustang II, and install the booster and ABS motor from the Dodge donor truck, so I have the full braking system. To take it one step further than that, I wanted to find a way to use the Dodge brake and accelerator pedal assembly. When I moved the brakes to the firewall, years ago, I had a stainless steel support that went under the dash and incorporated the brake pedal swing. The accelerator was just something that was cobbled together from an El Camino. It was ugly, but functional, even though it was set off to the right and partly mounted to the transmission hump.
When I parted out the donor truck, I cut out part of the firewall that supported the brake booster and the cast aluminum bracket that made up the pedal assembly. Once trimmed down to what I need, it will be welded to the '57 firewall.
The gray piece is what was cut from the donor truck and will be welded in place on the Chevy firewall. This will help fill some really ugly holes when all is done and allow me to use the Dodge braking system.
This is the donor piece of the firewall before trimming and the pedal assembly. I ended up trimming off parts of the pedal bracket to make it all fit under the dash, and I had to cut off the brake pedal to extend it and clear the steering column. It does fit under the dash once I trimmed out some of the steel Chevy brackets. The remaining steel brackets will be bolted to the cast aluminum piece to support the steering column and steel Chevy dashboard. I may even try to put the stock Chevy parking brake handle back in place.
Here is the cast aluminum bracket in place, after trimming, as seen through the hole for the gauge cluster.
Here is the Dodge booster assembly mocked into place. I'm glad I found a way to make all of this work. This way I can keep the ABS system and will have the right size booster and master cylinder for the Dodge running gear. Obviously, doing all of this today, I got none of the holes in the driver's side of the firewall welded shut, but this was a big step that needed to happen first.
-Joe