MTFCA Forum

Does this new firewall look correct for a 1919. I have a 21 and would think this one should look closer to that one.
Many questions.
Is the outside edge correct? Seems like the angle to the bevel is greater than it should be.
He has new firewall brackets and should raise this a bit higher.
What are the notches on the sides?
Should there be holes for a terminal block?
Should there be holes for the choke bracket? Like on a steel FW.
Is this the correct piece that tops the FW? The width seems too wide.
Also, what is the notch under the steering column hole?
I would love to see some pics of your car's wood firewall. Not sure why the picture is showing 90 degrees or turned.
Click on the pic and it opens correctly.

The support brackets are wrong for 19. The terminal block was just screwed to the firewall. The top piece had the rain gutter added about 1921 and was used to last of wood firewalls, 19 would just have been a trim piece or may have just had the welting nailed on, it has been a while. I don't recall if the choke bracket was just screwed or bolted on.

Jerome,
The metal gutter bracket IS correct ( and extremely hard to find !) for a 1919 Ford. I am the 2nd owner of a ‘19 centerdoor and that metal gutter was on top of the wood firewall and centers the hood. Currently 8 hours from home returning from the Covered Bridges tour but I’ll try and send pics when I arrive...

I'd have to verify but I believe our '19 Centerdoor also has that gutter.

Ref: https://www.mtfca.com/encyclo/1919.htm

DASHBOARD (Firewall): Wood, fitted outside the front cowl, hidden by the metal cowl trim strip. This trim strip was redesigned to include a rain gutter to direct water to the sides, away from the coil box.

++++++ Hap's comment:++++++

Note you could probably make a case for a very early 1919 might not have had the rain gutter or it might have. I did not see any comments on when it was added. And the chances of it being added at all the Branch Assembly plants and the main Highland Park Plant in Dearborn on the same day would be really really low.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off

Correct, I just looked it up. The gutter was added in 1919.

I am not that familiar with 1919 models, but did they use plywood? On my 1915 the fire wall it is made up of 7 pieces of tongue and groove wood and covered with a skin of cherry veneer. The tongue and groove pieces would allow some movement, a solid piece of plywood may be too stiff, but on good roads it will not matter. When I dug my 1915 out of the mud where it was retired for 40 + years the wood firewall was still there, however it had been reinforced with two strips of metal horizontally across the top. I duplicated the 7 individual pieces and skinned them with a sheet of very thin veneer on both sides, the total thickness is just under 3/4 by about .030. I painted both sides so it looks like plywood. Over time and some abuse the veneer will come off leaving just only the 7 individual tongue and groove pieces visible. The continuous flexing will cause the veneer to separate and fall off. On my 15 only a small sample piece remained.

The notches on the side accommodate the hinge rods for the side panels. The notch near the steering column allows clearance for the back of the magneto horn. It is not that shape on our Canadian sourced cars. As well as the top cover/rain gutter, our cars had finisher pieces of thin steel covering the sides of the firewall below the hinge rod notches. Prior to the introduction of the starter there was no slot for the choke rod, just the one for the mixture control.
Hope this helps, Allan from down under.