Toe board and dog house

[tenbears]

Hello,
My flathead T is progressing well with much advice from the Youngster. I am looking for advice and photos of how others are building thier firewall to floor connection. Just finished building my master cylinder bracket which I used a modified A Model brake pedal. I need help with the design of toe board and bell housing cover. I read this forum alot and have not found the photos I am looking for.
Mike

 

[EX JUNK]

Maybe these pictures will help.

I first made a skeletal framework out of "plumbers strap." I did this so that I could make my cover as close as possible to my transmission to maximize my foot room.

I them covered it with gall tape or you could use duct tape.

I then proceeded with the fibererglassing.

What I ended up with was a removable cover that allowed the maximum interior room for the way that my engine and trans were mounted.

This shot shows the finished product in primer. As you can see, it is flush mounted on the interior but it is also flush on the exterior also.

As for toe boards, I simply cut and fit aluminum pieces that screw into blocks that are bonded to the firewall and floor.

Here is the finished product.

I hope that helps or at least gives you some ideas.

Jim

 

[benT]

I built the lower toekick as part of the firewall on my 27 . I glassed in wood and reinforced it. As for the tunnel, I made a cardboard template then bent up fairly heavy some aircraft aluminum. It is screwed to the floor and seam sealed. Here are a few pics. What you can't see in the pics (as they wern't installed yet) are the mini-toe kicks made from aluminum that cover the brake lines that come up from the floor on either side (my MC is under the dash). With the undercarpet padding, the hard edges of the bent aluminum were softened.

 

[tenbears]

Thanks Jim and Ben for the great photos. My body will rest on top of the frame so the tunnel will be short. I am an old welder and not very imformed on fiberglass so I hope to accomplish most of the job with aluminum and plywood. Your photos really help, I thought the toe board would go all the way across. Again thanks.
Mike

 

[all-world1]

From looking at the pics, it appears that the toeboard sits somewhere around 30 degrees from the vertical. Correct?

 

[EX JUNK]

From looking at the pics, it appears that the toeboard sits somewhere around 30 degrees from the vertical. Correct?

Mine sits at about 45 degrees and feels very comfortable. I might also add that my '37 Chevy and '02 GMC Denali measure almost exactly the same.

Jim

 

[all-world1]

Mine sits at about 45 degrees and feels very comfortable. I might also add that my '37 Chevy and '02 GMC Denali measure almost exactly the same.

Jim

That sounds good, I was looking for a comfortable size....likely do it out of plywood. What does your toe plate measure from top to bottom and does your steering go thru the plate or above it?

Craig

 

[Northstar T]

That sounds good, I was looking for a comfortable size....likely do it out of plywood. What does your toe plate measure from top to bottom and does your steering go thru the plate or above it?

Craig

if you're not comfortable with fiberglass for the tunnel you can build one by laminated 3/4" plywood together. the different levels of plywood were cut out on the bottom side for trans clearance. once the piece is roughed out like shown below, you prune it down and smooth off the steps on both sides. you can get it down to about 1" thick without a problem and still retain plenty of strength.
I ended up building one out of fiberglass just to save that extra 1" of foot room, but.........

Russ

 

[Northstar T]

with glass cover and toeboard installed. I layed up the glass one over a piece of masking tape covered insulation mat. the mat was used to gain the clearance needed, but still follow the contour of the trans closely.

Russ

 

[all-world1]

if you're not comfortable with fiberglass for the tunnel you can build one by laminated 3/4" plywood together. the different levels of plywood were cut out on the bottom side for trans clearance. once the piece is roughed out like shown below, you prune it down and smooth off the steps on both sides. you can get it down to about 1" thick without a problem and still retain plenty of strength.
I ended up building one out of fiberglass just to save that extra 1" of foot room, but.........

Russ

That's a pretty cool way of doing the tunnel with lots of strength...thanks for that

 

[EX JUNK]

That sounds good, I was looking for a comfortable size....likely do it out of plywood. What does your toe plate measure from top to bottom and does your steering go thru the plate or above it?

Craig

If you look at the last picture that I posted you will see that the toe board does not go all the way across but is actually only a footrest for the left foot. If it were to go all the way across it would interfere with the travel of the accelerator. Beside that, it would serve no purpose as my right foot is either on the gas or the brake.

The toe board on the passenger side measures 11 3/4", on the 45 degree, with a 7/8" return that is bent towards the firewall and matches the return on the removable trans cover.

Depending on how low you want you car to sit, your measurements may vary. I like my cars low so consequently my engine and trans must sit higher in the chassis and take up some interior room. My car is only 29 1/2" at the body side just below the rear view mirror. Check the picture below.

Jim

 

[one finger john]

"TOE BOARD and DOG HOUSE", sounds like a movie detective duo.

John

 

[all-world1]

If you look at the last picture that I posted you will see that the toe board does not go all the way across but is actually only a footrest for the left foot. If it were to go all the way across it would interfere with the travel of the accelerator. Beside that, it would serve no purpose as my right foot is either on the gas or the brake.

The toe board on the passenger side measures 11 3/4", on the 45 degree, with a 7/8" return that is bent towards the firewall and matches the return on the removable trans cover.

Jim

Now that you pointed those out, I can see what you did and it makes a lot of sense.

 

[ruggs]

if you're not comfortable with fiberglass for the tunnel you can build one by laminated 3/4" plywood together. the different levels of plywood were cut out on the bottom side for trans clearance. once the piece is roughed out like shown below, you prune it down and smooth off the steps on both sides. you can get it down to about 1" thick without a problem and still retain plenty of strength.
I ended up building one out of fiberglass just to save that extra 1" of foot room, but.........

Russ

Russ,
This all sounds like the same principals used to make a canoe. Only take some wood and remove everything that doesn't look like a trans tunnel....cool

 

[Northstar T]

Russ,
This all sounds like the same principals used to make a canoe. Only take some wood and remove everything that doesn't look like a trans tunnel....cool

Yes. it's a very similar endevor, except you don't have to deal with that darn bark on the trans tunnel project.

Russ

 

[PotvinGuy]

If you look at the last picture that I posted you will see that the toe board does not go all the way across but is actually only a footrest for the left foot. If it were to go all the way across it would interfere with the travel of the accelerator. Beside that, it would serve no purpose as my right foot is either on the gas or the brake.

The toe board on the passenger side measures 11 3/4", on the 45 degree, with a 7/8" return that is bent towards the firewall and matches the return on the removable trans cover.

Depending on how low you want you car to sit, your measurements may vary. I like my cars low so consequently my engine and trans must sit higher in the chassis and take up some interior room. My car is only 29 1/2" at the body side just below the rear view mirror. Check the picture below.

Jim

Jim, an outstanding job. Could we have some more pics of the cockpit? I'm redoing mine this winter and want to change the bench to twin seats like yours, add a toe board and new hump, as I'm raising the engine and tranny (tired of replacing oil pans). I like my car low too; I'm 30" at the same point.

 

[EX JUNK]

PotvinGuy, I started out with was some discarded pieces of foam from an upholstery shop.

I then added some more foam and cut and shaped it with an electric kitchen knife and a 4" grinder.

I then took the panels to an upholstery shop along with my design and had them covered.

The seat itself is made of aluminum.

It attaches to the body in seven places, two of which are to the frame.

The foam that I mention earlier is glued to plywood panels so that the upholster would have something to staple to. (This is the ONLY wood in my car.) The panels install much the same as a back seat in a "regular" car. The backrest has an aluminum "tongue" that drops into a receiver on the aluminum seat base and the bottom piece slips under the backrest and has two pins that lock it in place on the bottom part of the seat base.

I hope that this helps.

Jim

 

[all-world1]

Fabulous job Jim, and thanks for posting all those detailed pics.

 

[EX JUNK]

Fabulous job Jim, and thanks for posting all those detailed pics.

I have several more detail pictures of the building of the seat if you think that they might help you. Just give me your e-mail address and I'll send them to you. You can do it with a private message if you don't want it posted on here.

Jim

 

[PotvinGuy]

I have several more detail pictures of the building of the seat if you think that they might help you. Just give me your e-mail address and I'll send them to you. You can do it with a private message if you don't want it posted on here.

Jim

Yes, please, to dr.kerrysmith@gmail.com. I'm very impressed with your work. And how does it feel? Would you change anything? Lumbar support?