Planning rhd conversion.. I heard on a forum that the whole firewall is spotwelded in place. Is this correct. Or do i have to cut both firewalls for the swap?

 

It has 60+ spot welds.

 

Am i able to grind down the sealant, drill the 60+ welds and simply pull the whole wall out?

 

bump, dont wanna cut the damn thing! can i do this^^

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by swanny &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It has 60+ spot welds. </TD></TR></TABLE>

so.. drilling these out, the wall will come right out?

 

If you haven't had experience with this sort of thing before I wouldn't suggest trying it. I've done an assload of structural repair (quarters, rails, uni-sides etc.) but never a firewall. If your the DIY type and are pretty skilled go for it, but make sure you buy a 8mm spot weld bit, drill slow, pay attention to what layers need to be drilled out, and make sure you start drilling in the center of the spot weld. If you need any more tips/ tricks shoot me a IM either on here or xyswany on AIM.

 

yeah the fire wall and the front radiator core support are put on with spot welds simply drill the spot welds out u can take it off the fire wall.

 

alright well sounds good to me. thats what i wanted to hear. THANKS!

 

there's some kinda rubber coating around the seam of the fire wall too just use a sharp razor blade to remove them.

 

great info. I suppose it is hidding a few of the spot welds.

 

the rubber sealant is seam sealer. Be very careful if your taking it off with a razor blade is very strong material.

 

I think i will be using a light rotory tool. Thanks for the heads up.

 

hybridc2;

It may not be possible to remove and replace (with a RHD) firewall as a complete section due to the sequence that Honda assembles the body. In other words, they may weld three items together with the firewall section in the center. In order to get to it, you would also have to remove the outer section. You have to think of what is layered on what.

The factory "body" manual will show this and you can order one from Helm's.

Wes

 

I might be retarded.. But i am having trouble finding helms manual. Anyone have a link? I know what you meen on sandwiched metals i saw my boys hatch today. I might just cut it.

 

damn.. getting a helms tommorow. I am still not clear even after seeing my buddys. Do i have to take rails off too? and do i cut anything. holly ****.

 

who has accually done this completely?

 

the link for Helm's is;

http://www.helminc.com

I have done a complete roof skin swap (on my 89 hatchback), so I kind of know what you are facing.

http://www.performanceforum.co....html

My feeling it that it may be easiest to just compare the two panels and just replace the section that is different. This means that you would have to butt weld in the replacement section. It wouldn't be that hard if you can use "backing plates" along the seam that would be visable under the dash. If you are trying to generate a clone that passes a through inspection, then your welding skill requirement just took a major jump.

Wes V

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ek four &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i am in the process of doing a rhd conversion on my project eg. the firewall is spot welded on by LAYERS. and no, the firewall will NOT "pop out" with just drilling out the 60+ spot welds. if u want the firewall COMPLETELY off, there are other layers u have to go thru.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i have pesonally "thinned out" the multiple layers of the firewall for weight reduction, it is PIA. i would not suggest doing this for a RHD conversion. i would suggest having an experienced body guy do the clip instead. it will cost you money but you will not have to worry about the structure of your chassis.

 

s<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ek four &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i do have experience with body work.. the firewall swap is'nt hard. but sure is alot of work. "worry about the structure of your chassis".. whats there to worry about? as long as u dont tweak the frame and spot weld everything back into place, everything should be fine

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Should be....... Ide do it on a Frame machine. where the machine bolts to the frame at key points. cut it, weld it in. the drop it from the machine. it shouldnt take more then a day to do that.

 

definitely want to do it on some sort of jig or frame machine, even if just doing the firewall.