MGB: Firewall cuts

Got to the part that makes the purists weep. Hope to have some replacement metal in tomorrow. Anyone got pics of extra bracing inside the x-member?

That looks very nearly identical to the cuts in my firewall, although I eventually ended up extending the cut out on the passenger side all the way down to the floor. I didn't brace inside the x-member, but I used 1/4" plate to box in the cut.

Your pics are burned into my memory from studying them. I also liked how ed greene's looked (his is a cb - bopr conversion)

Makes sense you would have cut a little more on the passenger side with the motor offset. I'm a little torn on the crossmember. The quick route to the car is finish up plating the x-member and move on - the fabricator in me wants to build a tube x-member and use something like mustang II spindles.

Tom:

As a person who manages projects for a living, I will warn you that "project creep" is a project killer. Finish what you can when you can. In your case, the modified crossmember is an idependent project that can be contemplated after you start driving.

As a mtter of fact, unless you drive it with the stock crossmember, you will have no baseline against which to evalutae your suspension engineering efforts.

Or, save up your pennies and buy Ted's front suspension unit. I think it is a bargain to those who can scrounge up the $$$. I have yet to hear a bad word about his suspension and every customer who applauds it makes it more worth the money since the sale counts as "product testing and evalutation".

Pete

I think this is for a Ford engine change, and if so , it requires either cutting the crossmember or removing the heater shelf

I'm proceeding with the modified factory crossmember for the on the road quick factor as well as working out the geometry for a fabricated one- $$$ is not really an issue with Ted's suspension - more of a personal challenge and practice for a future project (Tom-built vs. Tom-bought). The firewall cuts/fill panels are pretty much the turning point moving from disassembly/destructive mode to reconstruction/build mode.