Firewall Tubing

Well this is the first project I’ve ever had second thoughts part way through it.

That bottom section is a huge pain in the ass to get off. Also only managed to nick one ground wire.

Here’s what I had to cut off for my 38’s. I have to knock that corner off and a little section at the bottom then it’s welding time. Which I am super nervous about because I can’t get that insulation out of the way.

 

That's looking pretty good..

 

Pro tip. Make sure you are done setting up your suspension before cutting. I cut the hole and then realized I have more uptravel with the wheel gone. Probably added 1-2” of extra uptravel and had to cut more when I cycled it afterwards.

Also tubbing + daily sucks. Used my template for cutting the steel. Hope this holds for the commute next week. Added some more flex tape inside and out.

 

why did you have more up travel with the wheel on? What else were you hitting?

 

I didn't say anything, but it seemed like you didn't have to cut very much when I saw your last pictures

 

So round one I removed the coilover and bottomed out my bypass and the bump (bypass bottoms before the coilover does). Marked everything and cut. Perfect.

Then I realized previously I had everything set up to bump right before the upper arm hit the wheel well. Now that I don’t have that interference I had more uptravel. Moved the bump up about half an inch. Based on the extra I had to cut I probably got somewhere between 1-2” more. At this point I was sick of doing it and didn’t measure the full travel for the exact increase.

It fully cleared the first cut but that extra uptravel I gained made me have to cut more. Here’s the final cut (blue line is round about the first cut). Maybe I didn’t have to cut as much because I have a 3.5 kit and 1” whee spacers? Not sure but this fully clears my 38x13.50’s.

 

^^ that's a lot more than I cut... Wow..

 

Yeah the +3.5 probably made a difference

 

Probably not the best for weather protection but I’m so glad I decided to just chop off that entire middle section. So much less sheetmetal work. All I had to do was make an air box mount and a PS mount. Pretty easy.

You can see here along with what I left of the core support. Some u channel stuff for the ps mount and the airbox I used rubber mounts and mounted to the coilover tower and the wheel well thing. I’ll keep an eye on it for movement and maybe either fully mount from one or the other.



I think for the washer reservoir I am just going to build a smaller one from 3-4” ABS pipe.

 

right on! Very nice work. Good thing you caught that mishap before you started welding sheet in there. I get it’s never fun to do rework but imagine you going through this and not gaining your full travel potential!

 

Oh man if I would have welded in the sheet and then realized it, I might have left it alone.

I am glad I could move the bump up though. The ride height is a bit tall and I was pretty close to the bump as well. Hopefully that move fixes it.

 

Now you have the option to look into shortening the bump up to a 1" and you'll be set! Excited to see this thing run.

 

I feel that, until you start putting metal back and realize it isn't that hard it feels wrong.

 

I shortened mine to 1" and it works great

 

You and me both. I’ve had this thing built for like five years now and I’m finally getting around to setting it up correctly. Which in other words means I’m pretty much redoing everything.

 

I did the same. Very happy with the setup.

 

I love when guys go full send with the saw. It’s inspiring.

 

What pressure do you run yours at? Not many people run them that short so finding info is kind of tough. I think mine at at 80psi now for initial testing. But that’s just a guess from reading others posts about bumping off the lower arm.

 

Just finished mine, continued to take out where the red area as well

 

For cutting through that bottom piece with the different layers. What did you guys do to make it through that section?

The way I did it wasn’t even close to the most effective. I ended up cutting layers, drilling spot welds, and a bunch of hammering/rocking back and forth until I broke it off. I ended up with this mess and was worried I was going to to have to start cutting through the folded pieces.