MTFCA Forum

Ok - I'm making a new firewall for my '17 and have a newbie question. I bought a metal shield from Birdhaven (FP) that apparently fills the gap between the wood firewall and the engine and I have two questions.

1.) Does it go on the cabin or the engine side of the firewall?

2.) How close should it be mounted to the engine? I assume it needs a little room to allow for vibration.

My car had a homemade firewall and was lacking this piece which is why I'm asking.

Thanks again.........

The dash panel goes on the cabin side of the firewall. It sits down low to fill the gap between the floorboards and the firewall. The screws to fasten it go into the firewall. The notch on one side goes on the drivers side.
Keith

It goes on the cabin side.

Fun Projects was originally and accurately reproducing those shields and I believe there was an instruction sheet showing exactly where to locate the screw holes on the firewall as well as exactly what size screws to use if you are a purist.

Otherwise, the factory blue-prints for the firewall does show exactly where it goes.

If you look at this thread, you can see where the screw holes are when my father re-did the firewall on his 1917 touring. We had two original firewalls as references/patterns as well as the factory blue-prints in our possession. My dad has the original dash shield for his car and I also have the original dash shield for my unrestored '17 roadster.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/17 ... 1294979916

Note that my father did not put the data plate in the correct location. It should by higher so when the firewall is installed on the cowl, the data plate is partially obscured in the upper left-hand corner. He wanted the whole plate to be seen so he shifted its location.

Unfortunately if the dash is not made with the exact correct radius on what is sometimes called the "doghouse" portion of the dash then you can't make it mount totally correctly since the 3 small holes are made to exactly line up with the wood dash pre-drilled pilot holes. I am talking now about factory made dash. The dash shield is made EXACTLY to ford drawings including the screw hole locations but you might be OK if your dash is not a copy of a copy of a copy...etc. Here is a way to get it very close if not in fact right on the money.

First find the centerline for the center hole in the shield. I would recommend you use some masking tape on your raw dash so that you don't have a lot of lines to remove later. A center line should be equidistant from left and right side and vertically intersect the radiator mounting rod hole near the top edge of the dash. This is that counterbored hole up there. The 3 holes are typically drilled at a distance of 1/4" from the doghouse edge so a lead pencil compass can be setup with a 1/4" distance and you can run that along the edge of the dash to locate the centers of the 3 holes. DO NOT DRILL pilot holes yet. Place the dash shield over those holes and see how well they line up. An arc slightly higher or lower may be a better fit but you need to be very very careful not to get so close to the edge that it splits out. This can happen if your dash is not an accurate copy of the Ford drawing. I have a laser cut full size pattern for the wood dashes and that plate will line up with those 3 holes exactly so fudge it as necessary but if it is miles off then you likely will have other issues of fitment and might want to see if you can find a more accurate dash. The dash shield is screwed tight to the "people" side of the dash and not the "motor" side. It should have been supplied with mounting screws which for a 1917 would have been #6 round head steel slotted.

I can personally assure you that ALL of the plates made by Fun Projects were laser cut exactly per Ford drawings in every detail except I powder coated them for better strength of finish.

My shield came with a certificate of authenticity but no instructions (from Birdhaven.) It's a really well-made piece. With John's info I should have no trouble installing it. Thanks!

What years was this used? My 1921 had nothing but a disintegrating plywood firewall. The data plate was on the cabin side.

Note:

If you purchased a new firewall from one of the vendors, they are "generic" and incorrect in a number of ways including the lack of a beveled outer edge.

If you read my posts in the link I provided above, I mention some of the other problems with the firewalls.

I made my own firewall from baltic birch, referencing a pdf I found online and an original 1919 firewall I was able to examine. Since I added a starter to my 1917 the 1919 was appropriate.